FRED S SORTER REBUILD Honeywell Intelligrated Completes Total Sorter Rebuild With Minimal Downtime Case Study
Honeywell Intelligrated Completes Total Sorter Rebuild With Minimal Downtime When the Aging Sortation System Threatened to Slow Down Its Memphis DC the Heart and Soul of Its Supply Chain Fred s Turned to Honeywell Intelligrated to Complete a Total Rebuild of the Sorter With Minimal Downtime. Please note: Honeywell Intelligrated within this case study refers to Intelligrated, which Honeywell acquired in 2016. Sixty years ago, Bargain Centers fulfilled its orders by jotting them down on legal pads, manually picking the orders and waiting for franchisees to pick them up in their pickup trucks. Sixty years later, the company now known as Fred s operates almost 700 discount general merchandise stores and stocks more than 12,000 frequently purchased items that address the everyday needs of its customers. The discount chain s two distribution centers (DCs) in Memphis, Tenn., and Dublin, Ga., are an integral part of their day-to-day operations. The Challenge: Facing the Holiday Rush With Aging Equipment The Memphis DC s UniSort X sliding shoe sortation system, originally installed in 1998, plays a particularly important function in the store s supply chain. The DC services more than half of Fred s stores and operates six days a week, 22 hours a day. Over the years, changes in volume, changes in packaging and efforts to control inventory have required Fred s to increase the uptime and runtime of its sorters in order to improve its store service delivery schedules. Field service technicians start mechanical tear-down of sorter. PAGE 2
The rebuild team works around-the-clock to minimize downtime. For us to be able to achieve those goals, we need to have vendor partners who understand how critical material handling is to the success of our organization. That s why we picked Honeywell Intelligrated to assist us with the project, explained Jacobs. When Fred s needed to upgrade the aging Memphis sortation system, they called on Honeywell Intelligrated, their long-time material handling solutions provider. Fred s mission is to be the fast, fun, friendly, lowprice place to shop, said Reggie Jacobs, executive vice president of distribution, transportation and corporate service at Fred s. Building on its close relationship and solid reputation for responsive, reliable customer service, Honeywell Intelligrated worked closely with Fred s to address their time-sensitive needs that would be required in order to execute a total sorter rebuild with minimal downtime. The Honeywell Intelligrated solution was designed to optimize the sorter s capacity and throughput, improve utilization, and extend its life for a fraction of the cost and downtime associated with a new installation. Wear and Tear Calls for Time-sensitive Solution Fred s conducts regular system audits in preparation for volume increases, especially before peak shopping seasons like the holidays or back-to-school. Recently, Fred s maintenance team started to notice excessive wear and tear on the mechanical components of the 13-year-old sorter. The health of the sorter became the maintenance team s top priority following the systems audit. It was business-critical for Fred s, and they did not want to wait until a major breakdown occurred with a disastrous business disruption. PAGE 3
A complete system rebuild of Fred s sliding shoe sorter increased throughput, uptime and productivity in the Memphis DC. Fred s examined costs associated with maintaining the older system, the amount of downtime incurred and some of the system s inefficiencies, and determined that the existing maintenance demands were simply becoming too expensive. They analyzed their options and determined that a total replacement would be quite costly and could require two months of system downtime. Fred s shared the findings with the Honeywell Intelligrated team, who were already intimately familiar with the DC s sortation system. Without the sorter running we would not be able to service our customers in our stores, said Jacobs. It would be devastating to the operation, so it s one of the reasons we picked Honeywell Intelligrated to do this business for us. They know what a critical role they play in the success of this organization. Ensuring Minimal Downtime to Keep Products Moving and Into Customers Hands Honeywell Intelligrated quickly arrived on the scene and conducted its own audit of the sortation system. The comprehensive audit, a key feature of Honeywell Intelligrated s sorter upgrade program, was conducted by a certified audit engineer. Honeywell Intelligrated identified the problem areas of the sliding shoe sorter, provided a full analysis of the options, and gave Fred s the flexibility to customize its sortation solution based on the DC s specific requirements. In this case, Honeywell Intelligrated recommended a complete mechanical rebuild from a tube to slat-carrying surface as quickly as possible in order to bring the sorter up to capacity before peak season. Prior to the physical rebuild, Honeywell Intelligrated and Fred s worked closely to define the total scope of work to ensure that every mechanical component was included in the testing process and the time it would take to complete the testing was identified. Fred s needed a fast and effective rebuild in order to make sure the system was back up and running with as few business interruptions as possible. PAGE 4
The Memphis DC typically runs six days a week, but to accommodate the estimated rebuild schedule, Fred s and Honeywell Intelligrated determined that four days, including Saturday and Sunday, would allow enough time to tear down and rebuild the sorter, train the Fred s team, ensure the availability of spare parts and fully test the system. The rebuild began with a mechanical tear-down of the sorter, down to its bare frame. Honeywell Intelligrated supplied a team of 10 service technicians to install and commission the required sorter components. Impressive Performance and Results The installation performance numbers after 10 months in operation are impressive. The rebuilt sliding shoe sorter has performed perfectly at peak throughput rates during the holiday season with zero downtime and a wider variety of conveyable SKUs passing through the system. The just-in-time installation offers Fred s increased uptime and runtime for a more efficient level of service to their stores. The most anticipated benefit of reducing the equipment maintenance and repair costs has also been realized. Honeywell Intelligrated and Fred s: a legacy of dedicated service and innovative solutions Honeywell Intelligrated serves Fred s business in almost every material handling solution capacity that they have. The relationship between Fred s and Honeywell Intelligrated began in 1998, when the 800,000-square-foot Memphis DC was retrofitted. The Memphis DC features four Honeywell Intelligrated multilevel pick-to-light modules for full-case picking, one multilevel pick-to-light module for break-pack picking, and a Honeywell Intelligrated sliding shoe sortation system for shipping full and break-pack case cartons to retail stores. Honeywell Intelligrated technicians are intimately familiar with their picking systems, interface systems, sortation tracking systems, engineering components, and have assisted Fred s technicians in improving their systems every step of the way. We have a really good relationship with the Honeywell Intelligrated sales and support staff, said Reggie Jacobs. If we have issues, we pick up the phone and call them directly, even if it s on their cell phone. When they re in the area, they always come to see us, even if they are in the area for other business. It s not uncommon for them to come by, look at the sortation system, and make sure that we are being supported and the system is running as it should be. PAGE 5
Honeywell Intelligrated upgraded Fred s Unisort X with sliding shoes and ultra-quiet slat construction. Conclusion The Fred s sorter rebuild is just one example of Honeywell Intelligrated s commitment to tailored customer service and support based on the deep understanding of the critical role that material handling systems play in our customers day-to-day business. According to Jacobs, the transition from a tube to slat sorter offers a night and day improvement. The increasing maintenance costs and downtime numbers from the first couple of months in 2011 would have had a detrimental impact on production and delivery if not addressed. The retrofitted sortation system enabled an uninterrupted production process in our peak season with less congestion and without the interference from repair and maintenance downtime. As a result of their longstanding relationship and regular communication, Honeywell Intelligrated and Fred s were able to design and execute a costeffective solution with minimal disruption to the operations of this critical distribution hub. We are very cognizant of how critical the length of our relationship with Honeywell Intelligrated is, as well as how critical it is for us to be able to get access to the team and know who to talk to, said Jacobs. Honeywell Intelligrated is very quick to get things turned around and assist us in understanding what it looks like to get [a project] implemented, said Jacobs. We ve never had any issue, in the 13 years I ve been here, that Honeywell Intelligrated hasn t been able to resolve. PAGE 6
Honeywell Intelligrated +1 866.936.7300 info@intelligrated.com www.intelligrated.com FSRCS 4.18 2018 Honeywell International Inc.