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Parcel Handling
Package Handling
DCS’s design and engineering team has more than 40 years of experience creating unique parcel handling systems for diverse customer applications. With installations including semi-automated handling in small city distribution centers and fully automated, integrated hubs with advanced conveyor and sorter equipment, DCS routinely thinks outside the box.
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E-Commerce Multi Channel Fullfillment
E-Commerce and Multi-Channel Fulfillment
DCS designs and implements end-to-end warehouse automation solutions for e-commerce and multi-channel retailers that address numerous workflow challenges. This includes solutions for receiving, putaway, storage, replenishment, order fulfillment, picking, packing, sortation, and outbound shipping. Our custom integrated warehouse, distribution, and fulfillment systems draw from a deep pool of conventional, semi-automated, and automated material handling technologies.
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Various Distribution Applications
Whether an operation is considering the construction of a new distribution or fulfillment center, or a retrofit or expansion of an existing facility, it’s important to create a solution that fits the overarching supply chain strategy. DCS has four decades of experience designing and integrating comprehensive, end-to-end material handling solutions that meet a multitude of operational goals. Whether conventional, semi-automated, or fully automated, DCS can help your organization implement a custom solution that meets its goals while maximizing return on investment (ROI).
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Supply Chain Consulting
The DCS Supply Chain Consulting team offers a range of services to help your operations address the challenges it faces. Working in partnership with you, DCS consultants analyze your business data- existing workforce, workflow processes, inventory, order data, operations, and more- to determine a strategy that addresses your unique needs. Whether you need an operations assessment, process improvement recommendations, or distribution design services, DCS consultants will help guide you to the material handling system or operational solution that best meets your current and future needs, as well as your budget.
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Distribution Center Design Consulting
DCS provides distribution center design and warehouse design consulting for new facilities, expansions, and existing warehouse retrofits. Using operational data, the DCS consulting team develops facility layouts, processes, material handling strategies, and automation concepts based on the unique requirements of each operation.
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Warehouse Automation Consulting
DCS provides warehouse automation consulting to help distribution and fulfillment operations determine where automation makes sense, what level of automation is appropriate, and how potential solutions align with operational and financial goals.
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Operations Assessment & Optimization Consulting
DCS provides warehouse and distribution center operations with assessment and optimization consulting to help identify inefficiencies, improve productivity, and develop a clear path toward better performance.
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Supply Chain Strategy & Optimization Consulting
DCS provides supply chain strategy and optimization consulting to help organizations define how their distribution operations should evolve to support broader business goals.
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Warehouse Technology & Software Consulting
DCS provides warehouse technology and software consulting to help organizations assess existing systems, define requirements, and develop a technology strategy aligned with their operational needs and future goals.
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Supply Chain Network Design & Optimization Consulting
DCS provides supply chain network design and optimization consulting to help organizations determine how facilities, inventory, transportation, and fulfillment should work together across their distribution network.
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Customer Support
Customer Support
Keeping your warehouse operations and material handling systems running smoothly and at the peak of productivity are the goals of DCS’ Customer Service Team. By partnering with DCS, your warehouse automation solution is supported from commissioning to end of life. You’ll receive comprehensive in-house training of your personnel, including specialized training of your designated internal system expert. Plus, DCS offers a complete package of spare parts and expert system troubleshooting support from qualified engineers dedicated to your installation.
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System Design and Integration
System Design & Integration
DCS offers a broad range of material handling equipment and automated system design, installation, and integration services for a multitude of projects. These include retrofits, expansions, upgrades, and more. While every project is unique, our system design and execution processes are the same, encompassing meticulous attention to detail, frequent communication, and a dedicated partnership with our clients.
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Lifecycle Services
Stop reactive repairs. Lifecycle Services provides expert preventive maintenance and 24/7 technical support to protect your automation and MHE availability.
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Retail Distribution
Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) engineers retail distribution center automation, warehouse execution software and material handling systems that keep stores stocked and orders moving through every channel and season.
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Pet Care
Pet food distribution operations are anything but standard. From bulky kibble bags to delicate fish tanks, stock keeping unit (SKU) complexity and fulfillment pressure are always on the rise. Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) partners with leading pet retailers to design and engineer automation, software, and material handling systems that keep operations agile, accurate, and ready for what’s next.
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Home Improvement
When your distribution center handles everything from hammers to hot tubs, operational complexity isn’t a challenge—it’s your daily reality. Home improvement retailers face intense pressure to meet rising consumer expectations across multiple channels—from in-store pickups to last-mile delivery. At Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS), we specialize in engineering material handling and automation solutions that help home improvement distribution centers keep pace, reduce cost, and drive accuracy at scale.
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Sporting Goods
Navigating the unique demands of the sporting goods retail industry requires a distribution strategy that’s both agile and precise. From handling seasonal surges to managing a diverse range of products—from bulky equipment to small accessories—your warehouse operations are the key to a seamless customer experience. Our expertise helps sporting goods retailers streamline their distribution warehouses, improving order accuracy, boosting productivity, and ensuring your team can efficiently move products from the receiving dock to the final customer, no matter the season.
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Footwear
In the fast-paced world of footwear retail requires a distribution strategy that can handle a vast array of styles, sizes, and seasonal trends with precision and speed. From managing a high volume of SKUs to ensuring accurate order fulfillment and returns processing, your distribution center is the engine that drives customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Our expertise helps footwear retailers streamline their distribution centers, improving inventory management, accelerating order processing, and ensuring your team can efficiently move products from the receiving dock to the final customer, no matter the season.
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Life Science & Healthcare
Pharmaceutical, healthcare, and life science companies face mounting pressure from evolving regulatory requirements, rising fulfillment costs, and intensifying accuracy demands. In this environment, automation isn’t optional—it’s essential. Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) helps distributors of these critical products stay compliant and competitive.
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Wholesale & Industrial Distribution
Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) partners with wholesale, industrial, and electronics distributors to design efficient, optimized fulfillment solutions. Every operation DCS designs streamlines end-to-end functional processes—from inbound receiving and putaway to picking, packing, and shipping. Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) partners with wholesale, industrial, and electronics distributors to design efficient, optimized fulfillment solutions. Every operation DCS designs streamlines end-to-end functional processes—from inbound receiving and putaway to picking, packing, and shipping.
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About Us
Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) has 40 years of experience serving major clients in multiple industries by providing material handling, full-scale warehouse operations, and conveyor design solutions that are custom crafted for their needs. DCS does not sell ready-made conveyor systems but builds relationships that empower collaboration to craft custom warehouse designs together. DCS utilizes consulting, engineering design, project management, installation services, and client support to ensure our customers can keep their promises to deliver on time.
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Projects
With more than 40 years of experience providing automated system design, installation, and integration services, DCS has created solutions for companies throughout the United States in a broad range of industries and markets. We’ve completed more than 1500 projects ranging from greenfield facilities with completely new systems to expansions and retrofits of existing operations.
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Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
Designed Conveyor Systems values building strong relationships with our clients. Join us at our upcoming events to collaborate and discover how we can design a custom warehouse solution tailored to your unique needs.
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Warehouse Automation Consulting

Build the Right Automation Strategy Before You Invest

DCS provides warehouse automation consulting to help distribution and fulfillment operations determine where automation makes sense, what level of automation is appropriate, and how potential solutions align with operational and financial goals.

The DCS consulting team starts with your operation—not a predetermined technology. By analyzing your processes, data, labor, throughput, inventory, space, and growth requirements, DCS’ consultants help you evaluate automation opportunities and develop a strategy built around the needs of your business.

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— What Is Warehouse Automation Consulting?

Warehouse automation consulting is the process of evaluating an operation to determine where automation can improve performance and which technologies or approaches are best suited to the facility’s requirements.

An automation consultant can help determine which processes should remain manual, which may benefit from automation, and how different solutions could affect throughput, labor, capacity, service levels, and return on investment (ROI).

DCS consultants combine operational analysis with decades of material handling and automation experience to help organizations make informed automation decisions before committing to a solution.

Warehouse Automation Consulting Services

The right automation strategy starts with understanding the operation.

DCS consultants analyze current performance, future requirements, and potential constraints to identify and evaluate automation opportunities.

Your warehouse automation consulting services can include:

  • Automation readiness assessments
  • Current-state operational analysis
  • Material flow and process evaluation
  • Labor and productivity analysis
  • Capacity and throughput analysis
  • Material handling equipment assessments
  • Automation opportunity identification
  • Technology and solution evaluations
  • Manual vs. semi-automated vs. automated analysis
  • Concept development and evaluation of alternatives
  • Return on investment (ROI) and financial analysis
  • Simulation and design validations
  • Automation roadmap development
  • Implementation planning and project management
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— Start With the Problem, Not the Technology

Automation should solve an operational problem—not simply add technology to a warehouse.

Before recommending automation, DCS consultants work to understand the challenges driving the conversation.

Is labor availability limiting growth? Is an operation struggling to meet throughput requirements? Is storage capacity becoming a constraint? Are excessive travel and manual touches affecting productivity? Are order profiles or customer expectations changing?

Understanding the problem first allows DCS to determine whether automation is your right answer and, if it is, where it will have the greatest impact.

How Much Warehouse Automation Do You Actually Need?

Not every operation needs to be fully automated.

Most distribution center strategies fall somewhere across a spectrum of conventional, semi-automated, and highly automated solutions. The appropriate level depends on the requirements and economics of the individual operation.

The DCS consulting team compares potential approaches to help determine the level of automation that best supports your operation today while allowing for future change.

DCS consultants evaluate factors such as:

  • Current and projected throughput
  • Order and inventory profiles
  • SKU characteristics
  • Labor availability and cost
  • Facility space and capacity
  • Process complexity
  • Service level agreement (SLA) requirements
  • Growth projections
  • Capital requirements
  • Operational flexibility
  • Expected return on investment (ROI)
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Evaluate Warehouse Automation Technologies

There is no single automation technology that works for every distribution center.

Depending on your processes and requirements, a warehouse automation strategy may involve evaluating different material handling and fulfillment technologies or combinations of technologies.

The goal isn’t to select the newest technology. It’s to determine which solution—or mix of solutions—best supports the operation.

DCS brings experience across a broad range of material handling and warehouse automation technologies and works across a large network of technology providers. This allows potential solutions to be evaluated around operational requirements rather than being limited to a single original equipment manufacturer (OEM), type of equipment, or technology solution.

Build the Business Case for Automation

Warehouse automation can represent a significant capital investment. Understanding the operational and financial case before moving forward is critical. Considering a range of factors against potential concepts helps your organization understand not only what is technically possible, but also what makes sense for your business.

DCS can help evaluate potential automation investments against factors such as:

  • Labor requirements and potential savings
  • Throughput and capacity improvements
  • Space utilization
  • Productivity
  • Order accuracy
  • Service requirements
  • Operational flexibility
  • Future growth
  • Capital investment
  • Ongoing operating considerations
  • Expected return on investment (ROI)
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Validate the Concept Before You Commit

Complex warehouse systems involve interconnected processes, equipment, and software. Modeling how those elements perform under different operating conditions can reduce uncertainty before a major investment is made.

For more complex semi-automated and automated designs, DCS can use simulation to evaluate potential system performance against different inventory and throughput scenarios.

Simulation can help answer questions such as:

  • Will the system meet projected throughput?
  • Where could bottlenecks occur?
  • How will different processes interact?
  • What happens during peak demand?
  • How might future growth affect system performance?

This provides another layer of validation before moving from concept to implementation.

Automation for New and Existing DCs and Warehouses

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Automation for New Distribution Centers

When planning a new facility, automation strategy can be considered alongside layout, processes, storage, material flow, and future capacity as part of the broader distribution center design process.

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Automation for Existing Facility Retrofits

For existing operations, DCS can assess current equipment, processes, space constraints. These automation design assessments include technology to determine where automation, system upgrades, or process changes could improve performance. This can include brownfield retrofits, expansions, and modernization initiatives designed around the realities of an active operation.

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When Should You Consider Warehouse Automation Consulting?

An independent automation assessment can be particularly valuable before your organization commits to a specific technology, vendor, or capital investment.

You may benefit from warehouse automation consulting when:

  • Labor availability or labor costs are creating challenges
  • Throughput isn’t keeping pace with demand
  • The facility is approaching capacity
  • Order profiles or fulfillment requirements have changed
  • Existing equipment or automation is limiting performance
  • A new distribution center is being planned
  • You’re considering a major automation investment
  • Multiple automation technologies are being evaluated
  • Leadership needs to understand potential ROI
  • You’re unsure how much automation your operation actually needs
  • You need a long-term automation roadmap

If the underlying challenge isn’t yet clear, an operations assessment & optimization consulting engagement can help identify the areas of the operation with the greatest opportunity for improvement before an automation strategy is developed.

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Independent Automation Strategy with a Path to Execution

DCS automation consulting engagements are designed to determine the right operational strategy — and automation technologies — before an implementation path is selected.

The DCS consulting team evaluates operational requirements and potential automated solution types without requiring a client to move forward with DCS for systems integration.

If automation is ultimately the right solution and you choose to continue with DCS, our engineering and integration teams can take the strategy into detailed system design, technology selection, implementation, software integration, installation, commissioning, and ongoing support.

This creates a connected path from automation strategy to execution without requiring you to change partners between planning and implementation.

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Nearly 45 Years of Warehouse Automation Experience

Warehouse automation consulting requires more than understanding what’s available. It requires understanding how systems perform in real distribution environments.

DCS has nearly 45 years of experience designing and integrating material handling and warehouse automation solutions and has completed more than 1,500 projects ranging from greenfield facilities to retrofits and expansions.

In 2026, DCS was named a Representative Vendor in the Gartner® Market Guide for Warehouse Automation Consultants and System Integrators.

That combination of consulting, engineering and implementation experience gives our consultants practical insight into both the strategy behind an automation investment and what it takes to execute it successfully.

Warehouse Automation Consulting FAQs

A warehouse automation consultant evaluates an operation to determine where automation may improve performance and what types of solutions should be considered. This can include analyzing processes, labor, throughput, inventory, material flow, space, technology, growth requirements, and potential return on investment (ROI) before an automation investment is made.

Automation readiness depends on factors such as process stability, operational data, volume, order profiles, labor requirements, facility constraints, and future growth. An assessment can help determine whether automation is appropriate and which processes present the strongest opportunities.

Automation can potentially support a range of processes throughout a distribution center. These include receiving, storage, replenishment, picking, order fulfillment, sortation, packing, and outbound shipping. The processes that should be automated depend on the specific operation.

Not necessarily. Many successful operations use a combination of manual, conventional, and automated processes, technologies, and solutions. The right level of automation depends on your operational requirements, economics, flexibility needs, and long-term strategy.

Yes. The DCS consulting team works across a broad range of material handling and automation technologies. Potential solutions can be compared based on operational fit, performance requirements, cost, flexibility, and other project-specific criteria.

Yes. By performing an automation analysis, the DCS consulting team can evaluate potential investment against multiple factors. Among them are labor, productivity, capacity, throughput, space utilization, and other operational benefits. This analysis will help establish the business case for a project.

Yes. DCS works with both new and existing facilities. For an existing distribution center, the consulting team can evaluate current equipment, processes, technology, space and operational constraints to identify potential retrofit, expansion, and modernization opportunities.

No. A consulting engagement does not require a client to use DCS for subsequent systems integration. If DCS is selected to implement the strategy, the project will transition from consulting into detailed design, engineering, and integration phases with a team already familiar with your operation.

Make Your Next Automation Investment With Confidence

The question isn’t simply what you can automate. It’s what you should automate.

DCS combines operational analysis, warehouse automation expertise, and data-driven decision-making. Let the DCS consulting team help you identify the right opportunities, evaluate your options, and build an automation strategy aligned with your business.