Mobile robots and goods-to-person picking power order fulfillment at BHFO

BHFO
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Size: 250,000 square feet, including 200,000 square feet of warehouse space
Products: Designer clothing, shoes and accessories
SKUs: Varies but approximately 6,000 new items run through the facility per day
Throughput: 1,800 orders/5,000 items per day
Employees: 180 employees and temps
Shifts per day/days per week: 1 shift, 5 days per week (Monday through Saturday with one day off during the week); 2nd shift (Sunday through Thursday)

Like many pure e-commerce plays, especially those with an auction or flash sale model, BHFO’s 200,000-square-foot distribution center is designed with fulfillment in mind. The facility features very little long-term storage space. Instead, the heart of the facility is the goods-to-person order fulfillment system, which features a high-density storage system that relies on mobile robots to receive, store, retrieve and deliver featured items to four picking stations.

Receiving: Product is manually unloaded, palletized and staged in the shipping and receiving area (1).

Processing: In the processing and staging area (2), cartons are unpacked and the items are hung or put on a cart. The items are then scanned if they have a bar code; otherwise, production identification is manually keyed into the system. That generates product descriptions for the Web site. Items that are new to BHFO are sent to photography where they are photographed on a light table, a mannequin or, in the case of products that will be sold on Amazon, on a model. Once items have been received into the system, they are delivered to a stocking team. Items are folded, bagged for shipment in an auto bagging system, and labeled with a printed bar code label. Most items are then placed into totes. Items that are too big for the order fulfillment system are sent into the warehouse, where they are put away on shelving (3) or hung on piping (4).

Putaway into the order fulfillment system: Now that items have been folded and bagged, totes are placed onto the conveyor system (5). Following an automatic scan, the totes are directed to a goods-to-person picking/putaway stations (6) on one of the four lanes. At the station, a photo of the item in the tote appears on a touchscreen along with an ID number. An associate scans a bar code label to verify that the right product was in the conveyor tote. A light then identifies the right cell for that item in a permanent tote used by the order fulfillment system (7). Once all of the items are in the tote, it is put away by one of five mobile robots serving each lane. Replenishment items relist on the Web site automatically. Brand new items are scheduled for sale.

Order fulfillment: New orders are processed in the morning when a fulfillment manager creates a wave of orders that will be filled from the order fulfillment system (7) or, in the case of oversized items, from the warehouse (3). Empty order totes are then inducted onto the conveyor system (5). When they pass by an automatic scanner, each tote is associated with an order and routed to a goods-to-person station (6) on one of the lanes. Meanwhile, mobile robots retrieve totes from storage and place them on a takeaway conveyor to be delivered to the goods-to-person station (6). When the fulfillment tote arrives, a picture of the item to be picked appears on the order selector’s screen. The selector scans the bar code label on the item for verification; if it’s the right item, a light indicates which order tote is designated for that item. Once all the items from that lane are in the tote, it is either routed to another lane for more items, or, once the last item is in the order tote, it is conveyed (5) to a pack station (8).

Packing and shipping: At the pack station (8), the operator scans the license plate bar code on the tote. The customer’s order, along with pictures of the items for that order, is displayed on the operator’s screen. The operator scans the items for the order into a shipping container. Once all items are in the container, it is weighed, and a shipping label is applied. Packages ready for shipment are then put on a cart that is wheeled to the processing and staging area (2), where cartons are manually sorted into carriers at shipping and receiving (1) for parcel delivery.

To see a video of the order fulfillment system in operation, visit: bhfo.com/pages/about-us.

System Suppliers
System integrator, warehouse control system and conveyor: Bastian Solutions, bastiansolutions.com
Goods-to-person fulfillment system: OPEX Corp., opex.com
Warehouse management system: RetailOps, retailops.com
Mobile computing: Apple (iPods), apple.com
Bar code scanning: Infinite Peripherals, ipcprint.com
Bar code software: Seagull Scientific,  seagullscientific.com
Lift trucks: Crown Equipment Corp., crown.com; Toyota Industrial Equipment, toyotaforklift.com
Auto bagging equipment: Sharp Packaging Systems, sharppackaging.com