Quality Bicycle Products relies on a combination of manual and automated materials handling systems and a warehouse management system (WMS; HighJump Software, 800-328-3271, www.highjump.com) to manage receiving and picking processes at its Bloomington headquarters.

Receiving: The facility receives both palletized and containerized shipments. Palletized inventory is unloaded by lift truck, while floor-loaded cartons are placed onto mobile conveyors. Operators scan a UPC code when possible or key a product code into a mobile computer to receive the inventory into the WMS. The system then generates bar code labels that are applied to the carton.

Putaway: Once inventory has been received, the WMS determines whether the product will be delivered to a very narrow aisle reserve storage area or directly to a forward pick area. In the pick area, inventory may be stored in pallet or carton flow racks, a horizontal carousel system, or small parts shelving. Regardless of the storage location, the WMS directs the operator to a storage location, where putaway is verified by scanning license plate and location bar code labels. Inventory is now available in real-time for picking.

Picking: Orders are downloaded into the WMS from the ERP system every two minutes. Orders are pooled to create order picking waves. Picking is done to totes, which are held in a consolidation area. The WMS evaluates the cube of an order, determines how many totes will be required for that order, and then conveys the first tote to the picking zone furthest upstream where product for that order will be picked. Items being pulled from pallet and carton rack or shelves are directed by scanning; operators picking from the carousel system are directed to bin locations by lights. Once all the items from a zone have been picked, the tote is put back on the conveyor system and is sent to the next zone until all items for that order have been picked. Totes are then conveyed to a crossbelt sorter.

Packing and shipping: Single tote orders are conveyed directly to a packing station. When the first tote in a multi-tote order arrives at the sorter, it's directed to a recirculation conveyor. When the second tote arrives, both are staged in a sortation lane until all totes for that order have been collected. They are then released to a packing station. Operators select a shipping container, load the products into the box, and then apply a license plate bar code. From there, cartons are conveyed to a shipping station where the license plate is scanned to create a packing list and a UPS shipping label. Boxes are then void filled, taped and conveyed to a UPS truck for delivery.

Quality Bicycle Products