At Sole Technology, a manufacturer of action sports footwear and apparel, faster and larger shipments are arriving at outlets, eliminating the retailers' previous hassle of sorting through smaller, incremental shipments. Using a new mezzanine and high-tech, three-level pick module designed and implemented by Tompkins Associates (Tompkins), Sole Technology is utilizing vertical space. And this "vertical change" doubles the company's capacity while increasing processing volume and lowering labor costs.
In less than a year, Sole Technology and Tompkins also designed and implemented a brand new 315,000 square-foot DC that allowed the action sports footwear and apparel company to outgrow and move out of their three-facility structure. The new facility also provided the company with the opportunity to redesign its picking processes and upgrade the Warehouse Management System (WMS).
"Tompkins gave us a nudge toward one of our goals for becoming carbon neutral by 2020," said Roger Lamb, Sole Technology's Director of Distribution. "Since our new pick module and conveyor routes empty corrugated boxes to their own baler, we have a more simplistic, realistic opportunity for recycling."
