Successfully managing multiple brands and multiple processes under one roof begins before inventory even arrives at the distribution center. American Eagle receives an advanced shipping notice (ASN) from its suppliers detailing all of the cases in a shipment before any product is received. That allows the system to pre-allocate how the inventory will be handled and stored prior to arrival.

Merchandise for all three store brands (American Eagle, Martin + Osa, Aerie) arrives at a common receiving area. Operators place floor-loaded cases onto a receiving conveyor that then travels overhead to the receiving sorter. Bar codes are automatically scanned to determine how the cartons will be sorted.

Approximately 70% of the product received at the DC goes directly to a store. Depending on the store location, those cartons are crossdocked to a shipping area shared by all three brands; cartons destined for stores in Kansas travel across the bridge conveyor into the adjacent building where they are combined with other orders. Crossdocked material can be shipped out in as little as an hour.

The remaining cartons are sorted to a pallet-build area. There, operators scan carton labels and build pallets by brand for putaway in reserve storage and in the high-bay active picking areas. Pallets are delivered to pallet racks by lift truck. In storage areas, operators, rather than the WMS, determine the storage location based on which racks are empty.

Once an operator scans a storage location, the inventory is available for picking, which is directed by the warehouse control system. Each business unit has a 600-foot multi-level, rack-supported pick module for its products. Depending on the business unit, orders are delivered to the operator on an RF scanning device; over a voice headset; or via digital displays in front of picking bins in the pick-to-light areas.

Totes are delivered to the picking modules by an empty tote sortation system. In the pick-to-light area, the operator scans a bar-coded address label attached to a product, carton or tote box. Digital displays in front of each pick bin tell the operator what to pick and in what quantity.

Operators using voice-directed terminals receive instructions via their headset on what to pick.

Operators using handheld or ring-scan RF devices are directed to a location via their terminal where they scan a bar code to confirm the location and then again to confirm the pick.

In all cases, items are picked to totes. The totes travel down the center conveyor to the next zone where an item will be picked. In total, there are 13 pick zones in the DC.

Once a tote is full, it is routed by conveyor to one of several induction areas for the tilt tray sortation system. There, operators manually unload the totes and position items on a belt so the bar code can be automatically read in a scan tunnel. Items are then inducted onto a tilt tray sortation system that delivers them to a packing station. There, they are prepared for delivery to the customer.

Packaged orders are placed on a conveyor that delivers them to the shipping sorter. The shipping sorter includes a combination of cross-belt, shoe and tilt tray sorters. Packages are sorted to the right chute, where the product is collected in large Gaylord boxes for shipment.