All distribution centers are a composite of hundreds of devices working together. Redcats UK, the world's third-largest player in home shopping, is no exception—handling up to 30,000 items per hour.

Redcats UK's 90-year history began with selling watches by mail order. Today, with product lines that include apparel, home furnishings and décor, and operations in 18 countries, Redcats UK has developed a multi-channel distribution system that combines catalogs, specialty stores and e-commerce.

Single site savings

Bringing the multi-catalog operation onto one site creates operational efficiencies, increases site security, and reduces intra-site transportation. It also provides Redcats UK with significant cost savings in delivery and increases their number of next-day deliveries.

“We wrote systems and operating specifications, then went to the materials handling marketplace looking for a supplier big enough to accommodate up to 30,000 items per hour output,” says Andy Parker, head of Redcats UK warehouse and planning engineering.

Redcats UK integrated backward into the picking systems and forward into the dispatch systems. Also important was the design of the picking conveyor systems, vertical elevators, and the feed and buffering systems to batch up the work and feed the sorter machines.

Designs on the future

Before the equipment was installed, it was tested with computer-generated operational research models. Parker explains, “This helped us validate the designs and locate areas of weakness or bottlenecks. It also allowed us to develop the system so there's room for future growth.”

The design called for building out the DC to an 807,000-square-foot developed area and expanding the existing building to accommodate product for all catalogs.

The new system includes two high-speed cross-belt sorter units that use mini-belts on each carrier allowing for tighter centerlines from chute to chute. The result is a compact layout that uses half the space of a tilt-tray sorter. The picking system is on three floors of the new extension and can handle up to 30,000 items per hour.

Dematic Corporation 877-725-7500 www.dematic.us