A high-speed shoe sorter is the heart of the operations at Access Business Group's 650,000 square foot distribution center in Ada, Mich. The system routes up to 134 packages per minute to the right shipping lane.

But after a decade of operation, the warehouse control system (WCS) needed to be replaced. The old WCS could easily handle the facility's throughput. But maintaining the system was an issue.

"We were constantly rebooting the system," says Dick Vander Warf, distribution supervisor. "Plus it was on a UNIX server. Finding parts and people who knew how to manage the system was a problem."

What's more, the old technology was incompatible with a new Ethernet communications network.

The solution was a Windows-based control system that integrates with the AS/400 enterprise system (Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems, 877-725-7500). "Now we can send information about shipments directly into our enterprise system for processes like manifest billing," says Vander Warf.

One of the advantages of the new system is the availability of more real-time data for more effective operation and maintenance.

For instance, the system provides visibility into key performance indicators such as cartons per minute, no reads and full lanes. For each carton sorted, the WCS records the date and time when the parcel was sorted in addition to the outgoing parcel weight captured at a weigh scale. "Instead of an estimate, we're getting an accurate weight for anything that's going out of the facility," says Vander Warf. "That information is used to update the freight manifesting system."

While the new system is very reliable, if there is an equipment failure, the vendor can remotely dial into the system to diagnose an error. Meanwhile, the new control system enables easy changeover to alternate lanes. "Our operators can divert cartons or lanes based on templated information," says Vander Warf. "If we have a break down, we can quickly make a change to another dock door and then have trailer equipment moved over. That ease of use has been a big benefit."

The system has been so successful that Access has employed the WCS at four other sites across North America.