AT&T Material Handling Case Study

Key Technology

• ASAP PictureView™ "Pick-To-Display" (PTD) Order Picking with RF Handheld
• ASAP Exacta Warehouse Control System (WCS)
• SAP Order Creation and Inventory Management (ERP)
• Motorized Drive Roller Carton Conveyors
• Saw Tooth Merge for inbound cartons
• Zero Pressure Accumulation Conveyor with electronic sensors
• 2 High Speed Viper Sort Pushers
• 47 Interoll Pallet-Flow Lanes
• 2 Accu-sort Omni-Directional Scanners
• Automated Print & Apply Labeling stations operating at 28 cartons/minute

Business Challenges

• Equip 4 distribution centers to handle 19 million household orders of a new product rollout
• Very tight execution schedule: 6-month window to get to market ERP and network required response times to allow "real time" automation
• ERP and network required response times to allow “real time” automation

Results

• AT&T is now fully automated in all 4 U.S. locations and is meeting the new product order demands
• New system processes 28 cases/minute (Design throughput)
• Picking operations have been reduced to only require 20 operators during single shift, and this can be adjusted based on order volume (Flexible manning)
• AT&T can now accurately tie specific product serial numbers to the shipped customer (Accuracy)

Case Study Script

AT&T is the largest communications holding company in the world. AT&T is recognized as the leading worldwide provider of IP-based communication services to businesses and the leading US provider of wireless, high speed internet access, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services.

AT&T U-verse represents the future of communications and entertainment. U-verse is AT&T's new campaign to bundle digital satellite TV and High Speed Internet via a single device. Field installation kits include TV set top boxes, remote controls, hardware, and instruction manuals. Kits are created for customer specific requirements and sent to field technicians for installation. AT&T expects to reach nearly 19 million households as part of its initial U-verse deployment by the end of 2008.

CSC was contracted by AT&T to determine the SAP upgrades necessary to implement the U-verse program. CSC worked with AT&T to develop the overall system requirements and then became AT&T's representative throughout the project.

located in Lancaster, Texas; South Bend, Indiana; San Leandro, California; and City of Commerce, California. The Lancaster facility is highlighted in this case study. All four facilities are very similar in functionality. However, the Lancaster and South Bend facilities are much larger.

At the Lancaster facility, empty cartons are either manually placed on the conveyor system or automatically inducted at a carton erector …

… then empty cartons are merged together, justified to the right or left, and then receive shipping labels at one of two print-and-apply stations.

Once labeled, empty cartons are automatically sorted to cells for picking.

After picking is complete, cartons travel to void fill stations and then to AT&T's legacy conveyor system where cases are sorted and shipped via parcel or LTL carriers.

For all four projects, BMH and ASAP provide the warehouse control system, or WCS, and the mechanized systems for pick-to-container operations. Order creation and inventory management are handled by SAP. Exacta imports pick orders or waves built in SAP. Cartons are erected and inducted, either automatically or manually, for each sales order to be picked. The cartons are labeled at the print and apply machines. As the cartons are transported throughout the warehouse, they are diverted into the appropriate pick zones. As cartons move into active pick zones, the carton number is scanned and the PTD module illuminates lights within the subzone to fulfill the order.

All four projects were awarded to BMH in May 2006. Each conveyor system needed to be accepted by AT&T prior to the end of the 2006 calendar year. Funding approved for 2006 could not be carried forward into 2007. BMH, ASAP, our equipment suppliers, and our installation crews were on track to meet the project schedules. In late September while conducting interface testing at Lancaster, BMH and ASAP encountered AT&T network latency issues. The WCS would request information from the SAP host. BMH and ASAP expected communications back in 1 to 1.75 seconds. Instead, responses came back in 30 to 40 seconds. Testing the system at rate was impossible. This issue resulted in a six week testing delay. Lancaster and South Bend were accepted by the end of the year, however, San Leandro and City of Commerce only reached the beneficial use milestones.

The Lancaster facility was designed to process 30 cases per minute. Due to AT&T system constraints, the actual and accepted rate is 28 cases per minute. Picking operations are geared for 20 to 30 operators during a single shift. Subzone capabilities allow AT&T to add or reduce operators depending on actual order volume. It is very important to AT&T to accurately capture product serial numbers. AT&T is very pleased with the systems in place to do this.

This list of equipment suppliers and sub-contractors exemplifies Bastian's and ASAP's commitment to providing high-quality equipment, controls, and installation in every system. Major equipment suppliers include: Hytrol, Interoll, Kingway, ID Technologies, Accu-Sort, and Atlas Copco.

BMH uses critical-path planning tools to maintain tight control over the deliveries of equipment to project sites. To met the accelerated project schedules caused by network latency, installation crews worked 12 hour days on two week rotations.

Exacta is the transactional processor to SAP. Exacta receives pick orders from SAP and brings them into production tables. After a wave is received, AT&T warehouse personnel will "release" the wave making it active for picking. If picking a serialized product, Exacta may send a "real time" request for serial number information from SAP. As the pick is completed, Exacta sends notification back to SAP. Exacta sends another notification to SAP when the last pick for a container is completed.

The system includes three (3) Hytrol PREZ carton induction lanes. The powered roller accumulation conveyors flow cases toward a "saw-tooth" merge where the cartons are released in groups. Once merged into a single file …

Empty cartons travel to a right or left side justifier. A conveyor-to-conveyor O-Ring Transfer justifies cartons to the right or left hand side guard rail as directed by the WCS. Cases traveling to cell 1 for picking are justified to the left hand side and cases traveling to cell 2 for picking are justified to the right hand side.

Cartons are automatically spaced apart using gapping conveyors. Labels are applied to the predetermined carton side at a rate of 28 cartons per minute. After label application, cartons travel on an angled roller top conveyor (or ART) to the left hand side of the conveyor for sortation.

The cartons travel past two Accu-Sort Axiom side mounted scanners that read the barcodes on the sides of cartons. After a carton is scanned and identified, three Hytrol in-line Viper Pushers sort the cartons to cell 1, cell 2, or the no read lane.

Empty cartons travel on Hytrol ABEZ zero pressure accumulation conveyor. The WCS diverts cartons into the appropriate pallet flow pick zone.

U-verse hardware is presented for picking in 47 Interoll pallet flow lanes. As cartons travel into an active pick zone, the carton is scanned by an operator. The operator completes the picks for the container using the lights as indicators for where and how much should be picked. When subzone picks are complete, the work indicator displays "pass" or "done".

Cartons travel to cell 1 and cell 2 carton flow. Printed and promotional U-verse materials are added to cartons.

During picking, the PTD illuminates showing the operator if a Serial Scan, Product ID Scan, or No Scan is required to complete the PICK. ASAP accomplishes this without adding any additional steps to the picking process. The images on this slide are representative of what an operator sees during picking.

RF Picking is utilized for orders that provide "safety stock" to AT&T Field Technicians. These are a separate wave type in Exacta, and when the operator releases the wave, Exacta prints the labels in pick location sequence. The operator scans a label and then follows instructions on the screen to complete the pick. The operator may have to scan the product or serial number depending on the type of product picked. This is the same validation that is performed by PTD.

After picking is complete, cartons travel to manual void fill stations and then to AT&T's legacy conveyor system where cases are sorted and shipped via parcel or LTL carriers.

Work Load Balancing (or WLB) estimates the time or operators needed to complete pending work. It incorporates entered criteria and displays the results on a graphical chart comparing each zone to one another. WLB is very helpful to AT&T because it gives its warehouse operation teams knowledge of the optimal way to break zones into subzones minimizing bottlenecks and total work time.

The project was successful on many levels. ASAP completes the serial scan and the product ID Scan without adding a single step to the picking process. ASAP also managed several complex interfaces with SAP. AT&T is very excited about ASAP's Work Load Balancing tool and the features it offers their warehouse operations teams. Under an extremely tight execution schedule, resource balancing between four job sites was very challenging. Although the acceptance milestone was not reached at all four facilities by the end of the year, AT&T was very pleased with our efforts to execute these projects with project delays out of our control.

Last week, the final facility, City of Commerce, went live. The project team is completing final punch list items and executing change notices. Lancaster and South Bend are beginning to see increased volumes and all facilities are expecting to be operating at full order volumes in by mid-summer.