Concordia Publishing

Concordia’s SKU count had continually increased over the years as it expanded its product line to better address its customers needs. On an average day, the publishing house processed over 500 orders, warehousing more than 8,000 products. This large number of products required a high-density storage space for its growing number of products, making efficient use of limited warehouse space increasingly crucial.

To pick, order pickers were picking discretely into large totes, which often led to congestion on the conveyor system when pack-out operators were unable to keep up with order picking rates. On days when order volume was higher than normal, Concordia had to open additional shipping lanes, requiring additional operators to handle pack-out. Process inefficiencies gradually accumulated and Concordia found itself pushing the day’s orders to the next day more and more frequently.

Its existing pick-to-light equipment, located on case flow racks, was outdated which made finding replacement parts difficult and expensive. In addition to regular part maintenance, each time Concordia added a new SKU, an additional push button was needed for the operator to locate and confirm picks from. The existing pick-to-light system also drove two carousel pods with three carousels each. The carousel controls system was also outdated and difficult to service.