How Solo Cup maximizes throughput
Solo Cup's new facility serves as both a finished goods warehouse and distribution center for 17.2 million cases a year.
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/2007
Solo Cup's new Social Circle, Ga., warehouse and distribution center was designed to store 2.4 million cases and drive throughput of up to 17.2 million cases annually. The Social Circle facility receives finished goods from manufacturing plants located around the country.
The 1.3 million square foot facility was built following the merger of Solo Cup and Sweetheart, two of the best-known names in the plastic, foam and paper dinnerware products industries.Prior to receipt, the plants send an electronic advance ship notification (ASN) that alerts the warehouse to what's in transit.
At the receiving docks (1 in illustration below), lift truck drivers scan a license plate bar code on a pallet. With that information, the warehouse management system (WMS) determines how the pallet will be put away.
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Product that will be stored for a longer period is placed on the four-cart automatic guided vehicle (AGV) system (3). Once a total of 16 pallets have been loaded onto the carts, the AGV delivers the pallets to a storage zone (4) . There, a lift truck will store the pallets designated for that zone. If the pallet is stored in a rack, the driver confirms the putaway by scanning a bar code and keying in a check code. Other pallets are stored on the floor with the same check code confirmation. Product is available for order fulfillment.
Orders to be filled are received in the WMS from the order management system. Pallets are picked by lift truck drivers. The pallets may be delivered directly to the dock (5) by the driver or may be placed on a cart and delivered to the dock by AGV.
Before a pallet is loaded onto a truck, the lift truck driver scans a bar code on the dock door to confirm the location. Then the pallet is loaded onto the truck. Once the truck is full, the order is closed and the information is forwarded to the shipping office.
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Automatic Guided Vehicles: Dematic, 877-725-7500 System Integrator/Warehouse Management System: Catalyst International, 800-236-4600 Lift trucks: Yale, 800-233-9253 Battery Change System: Sackett Systems, 630-766-5500 Dock Equipment: 4Front Engineered Solutions, 800-558-6960 Rack Storage: HCM Systems, 630-734-1093 |
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