Ingenieria

CASE STUDY
Retail Non-food

GAME Stores Retain Competitive Edge with Automated Distribution Operation

The operation handles nearly twice the volume on 10 percent less floor area >> Customer challenge: Need to keep pace with business growth and become less resource dependent, especially at seasonal peaks of Christmas and school holidays. Improve efficiency and flexibility. >> Solution:Integrated distribution operation based on a batch pick and sortation system, including fully automated miniload storage and retrieval, automated handling, and overall warehouse management system. >> Benefits: - Lower operational costs - Lower resource dependency - Improved efficiency and flexibility - Improved service level to stores >> Outlook: - Designed with future expansion and flexibility in mind- Ability to accommodate growth in number of stores served - Ability to increase throughput capacity by over 30% >> The customer challenge: In a market where having the latest blockbuster game or console in stock at the retail outlets first is a significant competitive advantage, specialist video-game retailer GAME Stores (UK) recognised that their existing logistics operation would be aconstraint on future growth and success. The market leader had been operating from a combined warehouse and headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire. Having evolved over time the national distribution centre was beginning to struggle with their growth. GAME Stores’ Head of Logistics, Tony Lewin: “The NDC was not purpose designed and had expanded either side of our original operation. We were very resourcedependent, especially at the seasonal peaks of Christmas and school holidays.” “We needed to increase shift patterns and had begun to struggle with volume as we were competing with other local employers such as Royal Mail,” Lewin continues. “We already used conveyors and flow racking but we wanted a more efficient picking operation. We also wanted to improve our accuracy.”

CASE STUDY

Accuracyis far better, currently around 99.5 %

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The solution:
With the lease due to expire on the existing Bracknell headquarters, GAME Stores decided to move to a new site, take a fresh look at distribution centre operations and develop a solution which would support their market leading performance into the future. The solution was to move to a purpose designed operation on a brownfield site inBasingstoke, where space and staff were more readily available. After careful examination of alternatives, GAME Stores chose Vanderlande Industries to provide an integrated solution. “Their reputation was important, as we needed the system to deliver first time and be supported, and their sales team worked closely with us to develop and refine ideas,” expands Lewin. “A great deal of our productis presented in DVD sized cases and is suitable for sortation. Coupled with our business process the concept developed into a batch pick and sortation system. Vanderlande Industries’ cross belt sorter was the best fit and it worked.” This sorter technology also offered the flexibility to handle peripheral products, and the ability to cope with future changes in games software case dimensions. Thesolution encompasses key sortation technology, fully automated miniload storage and retrieval, automated handling, and also the overall warehouse management system (WMS) that controls the batch picking process, as well as manual and automated operations on the site. The entire operation is managed and controlled by Vanderlande Industries’ VISION™ warehouse management system, closely integrated witha JDA business system. Key to the success is the ability to be as flexible as possible when assigning product to the variety of picking techniques used in the warehouse. “It is very easy to change the type of picking for a product,” comments Lewin. Lewin is confident that the new distribution system has future proofed logistics operations. “The sorter will handle the vast majority of SKUs and...