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SUMMARY
Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG), a leading manufacturer of fluid handling equipment, engaged Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) to design a new automated fulfillment system and outfit the company’s new, 500,000-square-foot greenfield Worldwide Distribution Center (DC) with state-of-the-art automation technologies. As a brand-independent system integrator, DCS engineered a design comprised of best fit solutions from leading automation suppliers, including KNAPP, Geek+ and Brock Solutions. The entire project was completed on schedule in 24 months, with go-live on May 13, 2024.
THE CHALLENGE
In early 2020, Graco’s operations leaders began to take a closer look at their existing distribution operation. For 10 years, Graco housed more than 40,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) in the 227,000-square-foot facility. Graco — a leading manufacturer of fluid handling equipment — used the building to ship orders to domestic and international distributors, North American retailers, and as drop shipments to end customers.
With global demand for Graco’s products forecasted to grow significantly, operations leaders identified numerous limitations with the building and its material handling equipment, explained Jeff Weber, Distribution Operations Manager.
“We didn’t own the building,” Weber noted. “That meant a badly needed expansion in square footage to help the us achieve our growth projections wasn’t viable.”
Further, the equipment Graco used to handle over 20,000 small parts SKUs — a crane-based, mini-load automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) storing 27,000 totes across five aisles — was approaching the end of its lifespan, Weber added. As a single point of failure, the aging AS/RS’s crane had become a source of increasingly frequent unplanned downtime.
Additionally, the operation’s consolidation and pack-out processes were co-located in the same area. Attempting to complete both tasks had become a bottleneck, routinely requiring overtime to meet shipping commitments.
“A multi-line order couldn’t be completed until all SKUs met up at the packing area,” Weber explained. “With different picks arriving at different times, associates were spending way more time hunting through a quickly growing pile of picks than packing. It was stressful and frustrating.”
Graco’s team decided to build and equip a new, automated 500,000-square-foot Worldwide Distribution Center in Dayton, Minnesota. After reviewing design proposals from multiple vendors, Graco engaged Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) to design, install, and commission a new, state-of-the-art automated fulfillment system in February 2022.
THE SOLUTION
The DCS design team’s winning proposal resulted from months of collaboration with Graco’s operations leaders and with automation suppliers.
“Because DCS takes a brand-agnostic approach, they showed us they could design an automated system that did exactly what we needed it to do using equipment from leading manufacturers,” explained Weber.
DCS recommended a KNAPP OSR Shuttle Evo goods-to-person AS/RS, which has a significant amount of redundancy built into it — addressing a major concern from Graco’s experience with the mini-load cranes. The system holds the majority of the facility’s SKUs, inducted via one of six workstations. Each of the system’s 25 levels is served by a dedicated robotic shuttle which stores and retrieves totes of product. Two automated lifts on the discharge end of the system (one per aisle) interface with the shuttles to exchange totes.
When an SKU stored in the KNAPP system is needed, a shuttle retrieves its tote and carries it to a lift. The lift lowers the tote to a conveyor that routes it to one of six goods-to-person picking workstations. When a pick is complete, the tote is conveyed back to a lift which raises it back up to its storage level where a shuttle transports it back to storage.
The new facility houses inventory that is too large or heavy for the KNAPP system in conventional pallet rack or in bay locations. Likewise, frequently picked, fast moving items are located in several zones of carton flow with pick-to-light modules.
The order consolidation process has changed significantly, said Weber. “From the perspectives of ergonomics and safety, our operations team felt strongly that manual order consolidation was a no-go for our associates. With much of the overall fulfillment process being automated, we wanted to automate order consolidation as well,” he emphasized.
DCS worked with autonomous mobile robot (AMR) supplier Geek+ to deploy its PopPick order consolidation system along with Brock Solutions’ warehouse control system (WCS). The WCS identifies and routes totes from multi-tote orders to a cordoned-off area of Geek+ AMRs and multi-shelved racks. There, an inserter/extractor within the PopPick station transfers totes from the inbound conveyor onto staging/storage racks. When the transfers are complete, a Geek+ AMR tunnels under the rack and moves it to a dense staging area.
Once all the individual totes required for a single order have arrived in the consolidation zone, the Brock WCS commands the Geek+ system to bring forward staged racks associated with the order. The PopPick system automatically extracts and sequences the totes closely together for routing via conveyor to a pack-out area with 12 workstations. Order release timing matches pack station availability to avoid excessive pack sorter recirculation. The Brock WCS also monitors and routes empty totes back to the Geek+ area on the same conveyor line for buffering.
“The Geek+ PopPick consolidation and tote buffering zone works well,” said Weber. “The implementation had its challenges, but ultimately we have an entirely new workflow that’s eliminated a job that our associates dreaded.”
To help associates even more quickly identify orders, every pack workstation has light guided decant and picking systems. These illuminate a specific product or location within a multi-SKU tote, also improving accuracy.
Connecting all of the automation is nearly one-and-a-half continuous miles of motor driven roller (MDR) carton conveyor. Further, the Brock WCS interfaces with the automated systems and Graco’s existing warehouse management system (WMS) to direct all workflows.
THE RESULTS
The entire project was completed on schedule in 24 months. Graco credits DCS’s collaborative working approach, extensive planning, project management, and close communication with the new facility’s architect and general contractor, for meeting the timeline, said Weber.
To give Graco’s team hands-on experience with the new workflows and processes, DCS trained operations personnel on the new automated system when storage totes and SKUs were inducted, six weeks before go-live in May 2024.
“DCS truly was an end-to-end automation project manager,” Weber added. “The DCS team made sure all the equipment was here on time and coordinated all of our automation vendors — all the way from commissioning, to install, to startup. They have been very helpful and supportive through this entire project.”
ABOUT DCS
Headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., 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. For more information, visit www.designedconveyor.com.
ABOUT GRACO INC.
Graco Inc. supplies technology and expertise for the management of fluids and coatings in both industrial and commercial applications. It designs, manufactures, and markets systems and equipment to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials. A recognized leader in its specialties, Minneapolis-based Graco serves customers around the world in the manufacturing, processing, construction, and maintenance industries. For additional information, visit www.graco.com.
CONTACT:
Megan Taylor, Marketing Manager, (901) 489-6421, megan@designedconveyor.com
DESIGNED CONVEYOR SYSTEMS 830 Crescent Centre Drive Suite 550 Franklin, TN 37067
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