Forzani's Mississauga distribution center uses materials handling automation, put-to-light order fulfillment technology, and warehouse control and warehouse management software solutions to manage the delivery of several hundred thousand SKUs across 16 different store and franchise brands spread across Canada.

Receiving: To streamline receiving, Forzani gets a combination of manual and electronic advanced ship notifications (ASN), which are entered into its warehouse management system (WMS). Inbound shipments are sorted in the receiving area by purchase order and by product line. ASN information is used to create a bar code label that is applied to a carton and scanned. The product is now received into the WMS.

Putaway: Once product has been received, it can be put away in one of three ways.

1) Crossdocking: Up to 70% of incoming inventory has been pre-allocated to a store. And, 40% of those pre-built casepack cartons are loaded onto a roller conveyor for crossdocking, known as the “slapper line,” that bypasses the order fulfillment system and conveys the cartons directly to the shipping sorter. Prior to induction in the sorter, they are automatically scanned and then diverted to a packing station. Cartons are then floor loaded onto a trailer.

2) Reserve storage: The remaining inventory is palletized for putaway into pallet rack in the 120,000 square foot reserve storage area. When available, pallets are putaway in an assigned location for a product; otherwise, the driver chooses an open location. Either way, the driver scans a bar code location label to confirm the putaway in the WMS.

3) Picking: Pallets are pulled from the reserve storage area and delivered to the first level of the mezzanine where store orders using that inventory will be assembled. A typical shipping container holds 50 items. A bar code label with order information is applied to cartons, which are placed on a belt conveyor that serves the mezzanine and are transported to the second level. From there, they are transferred to zone conveyor that feeds a sortation system. Carton labels are automatically scanned and sorted to one of two put modules. When the carton arrives at a put module, the label is scanned again. A bidirectional belt sorter diverts the carton to a put zone within the module.

Once the carton arrives in a put zone, an order picker scans the label. Lights tell the picker how many items to put in shipping containers for specific stores. When the order picker is finished, the carton is put back on the conveyor system to be delivered to the next put module. If all work zones are busy, the carton will recirculate until it can go to an open zone. If there are any items left in a carton after all orders have been filled, the carton will be conveyed to the third level of the mezzanine. There, it will be stored for unit picks at a later date.

Shipping: Each put location can accommodate several shipping containers. Once a shipping container is full, the order picker pushes it to the back of the put location and begins to fill another container. Meanwhile, another picker removes the full case and places it on a takeaway conveyor. The carton is automatically taped and labeled for shipping. It is then sent to the shipping sorter, where it is diverted to the packing station assigned to that store. Like crossdocked inventory, the cartons are floor loaded onto a trailer for delivery.