Fans of scaling packaging to meet peak

Scaling up manual packaging processes to handle spikes in demand is difficult to do. After a recent packaging improvement project at its warehouse in the United Kingdom, Fanatics, a global supplier of sports fan merchandise, realized automation such as autobagger systems offer a way to handle those demand spikes reliably without having to increase hours or scramble to find additional labor.

Delivering to more than 180 countries, the merchandise that can be ordered and fulfilled by Fanatics includes shirts, shorts, socks, baseball caps, mugs and other souvenirs. The online retail giant supplies consumers worldwide with official merchandise from some of sports’ biggest names, including Manchester United, the Dallas Cowboys and England Rugby.

From its warehouse in North Manchester, an average of 7,500 packs are shipped every day to meet demand from its popular website. During the holiday peak season, order volumes increase to four times the average amount.

The majority of Fanatics packaging operation was handled manually until recently, putting a strain on labor resources and slowing down order fulfillment. Packers worked at eight pack stations manually filling and sealing bags and printing labels and invoices on two printers.

Management at Fanatics knew the site needed a bagging and printing packaging system that would optimize existing resources, like labor and warehouse space, and streamline its complex, high-volume e-commerce order fulfillment processes. After examining its options, it selected a high-speed bagging and printing system (Sealed Air) to automate filling and sealing of orders shipped in polybags.

“The main reason for installing the machines was to save space while allowing us to meet some fairly ambitious growth targets,” said Andrew Crozier, Fanatics operations manager.

With the help of four Autobag brand high-speed bagging and printing systems, Fanatics increased its capacity to keep pace with fulfillment demands. The company was able to eliminate most of its manual pack stations and can now process five times the number of orders per hour with the same resources.

In addition to optimizing labor and warehouse space, the Autobag 850S improves the packing process with its built-in printer that allows the label to be printed directly on the bag for better labeling of soft goods or oddly shaped items.

Crozier calls the system improvement transformative in terms of how it allows the DC to scale up its pack-out operation to meet peak demand, given the five times increase in orders per hour that can be processed with the same staff.

“The four Autobag 850S machines have transformed the way we pack items and are now handling about 75% of orders coming through the warehouse,” he concludes. “Without this solution we would have struggled to have the space to keep up with rising volume levels. Without them we might have had to go to a 24/7 operation, with operatives working through the night — but that hasn’t been necessary.”