Cambium Learning Material Handling Case Study

Key Technologies

• BMH's design team worked closely with Cambium Learning's consulting firm to understand their material and information flows. From there, BMH was able to provide an integrated, turn-key storage, picking and conveyor system solution. BMH provided a design that will allow ease of future upgrades
• BMH installed over 5500 feet of conveyor, two automated sortation systems, and a four lane split case pick module
• BMH designed and installed a Warehouse Control System (WCS) that tightly integrates conveyor control to Cambium's Warehouse Management System (WMS)

Business Challenge

• Consolidate all facilities into single, state-of-the-art global Distribution Center in Longmont, Colorado
• Grow revenue 3.5 times through 2011
• Support growth with the current manning infrastructure
•  Reduce labor cost per carton by 15% in Year 1, 20% in Year 2, and 10% in Year 3
• Improve cycle counting accuracy

Results

• Cycle count accuracy levels were improved
• Throughput measurements during peak periods exceeded more than 30+ cartons / minute
• Cambium Learning is on track to meet revenue and growth goals, as well as reduce labor costs

Case Study Video- Script

Longmont, Colorado, is situated on a prairie on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. The area was originally settled as farms and cattle ranches, and today it serves as a bedroom community to Denver. Longmont is also the location of a brand new Global Distribution Center for Cambium Learning Corporation. With over 100 million dollars in revenue in 2006, Cambium Learning has grown to become one of the largest U.S. providers of educational curricula and materials designed specifically for "at-risk" and special student populations.

Cambium Learning brands include: Sopris West Educational Services, Intellitools, Inc, Kurzweil Educational Systems, and Metropolitan Teaching and Learning. Products from all these brands are shipped from this new Global Distribution Center.

Longmont was chosen due to its proximity to Denver, which is a major hub for parcel carriers and is in the central part of the country. Cambium first came to this area through the acquisition of Sopris west, which had operations in nearby Frederick Colorado. This made Longmont a practical choice.

Cambium's goal was to consolidate all facilities into a single, state-of-the-art Global Distribution Center, to significantly streamline operations and reduce labor costs. Their objectives were to tool up their operations to more than triple revenue growth through 2011, reduce labor costs per carton shipped, and maintain their inventory accuracy in the process.

The building is 200,000 square feet in size and houses regional offices and a warehouse, including a value-added services work area. Approximately 85 workers occupy this facility, thirty of which are in the warehouse. The facility is sized to accommodate their business volume through the year twenty-ten.

Products and solutions from all Cambium Learning Brands are shipped from this facility. This includes books, tapes, CD's DVD's workbooks, and supplies that ship to educational materials distributors in the US, Canada, UK and Japan. Orders that flow into this facility arrive via fax, phone and internet. Daily order rate is approximately 400 orders per day, packaged in 1200 cartons per day.

This rendering shows the facility layout, including storage and material handling systems. The layout is the classic "U" shape warehouse product flow, consisting of; receiving, putaway, storage, order picking Quality Check, packing and shipping.

The conveyor system is designed to convey full case, and split case orders. Full case orders are picked from the Very Narrow Aisle racking, An induct line located near the last shipping lane provides a means to hand load full case product that is meant to ship immediately without conveying through the picking process.

Split case orders flow through the pick racks in a pick and pass set up, facilitated through a pick area sortation system.

Completed cases then convey to a Pack and Quality Check area in order to be readied for shipping. Upon leaving the Pack and QC area, packages will enter a merge sawtooth, then to a shipping sorter where they are sorted to the <3>correct shipping lanes based on lane assignment.

A trash conveyor will allow trash to be conveyed from the picking area to a compactor outside of the building. A replenish line at the end of the pick sorter will allow product to be conveyed into the pick modules in order to replenish product in the racks.

The main elements of this project include <1>approximately 5500 ft. of conveyor and two model SC sorters from Hytrol and a <2>one-level pick module comprised of four lanes. There is also a loose pick area for slow moving and obsolete items in a storage area known as the shelf area.

The two primary subcontractors on this project were Tech Products for the mechanical installation, and Biehle Electric for the electrical installation. Equipment suppliers include Hytrol for all the conveyors and two sorters, Unarco for the flow through racking in the pick modules, Best for the extendable conveyor in the UPS shipping lane, Mettler-Toledo for the weigh scales.

3M for two box taping machines, Datalogic for the bar code scanning equipment, Ingersoll Rand for the air compressors and BMH Controls for the control system and the interface to the Warehouse Management System.

Case storage in this facility employs VNA, for "very narrow aisle" rack storage technology. Product in this area is either picked to a specific order, or picked to replenish the split case flow through racks in the pick modules. Every storage location is an active pick location. Picking is directed by RF hand terminals.

The operator delivers the cases to this full case induction area adjacent to the shipping sorter. Full cartons are taken off of pallets , labeled with a shipping label, and placed on the conveyor. This is much like a cross docking area, since cases arrive in on pallets, are placed on the conveyor, and are sorted to ship lanes directly.

The full case induction conveyor transports cartons to the a merge point just before the shipping sorter. Here, all of the conveyor lines from the Pack area, induction line, and recirculation line merge together into one line. This is done using a saw tooth merge. A second induction area is devoted to the broken case pick module replenishment.

Cartons are inducted for broken case replenishment on a separate conveyor. This line allows product to be conveyed into the picking area and sorted to the appropriate pick module

In the pick module, replenishment conveyors run from the pick sorter along the backs of the carton flow modules for the purposes of transporting and accumulating full cartons destined for replenishment. Hand held RF terminals direct the operator to replenish to the appropriate inventory locations. The lines are comprised of gravity conveyor that allows the operator to walk the cases down to the correct location for replenishment.

Next on our walking tour is the pick module, including shelving area, and the carton flow area sorter. There are 5 different pick zones for loose case picking: one shelving module and four carton flow modules.

Cartons entering the Carton Flow Rack area travel the length of the module internal to the carton flow rack before turning and feeding the gravity lines on the pick face on one side of the carton flow module. Operators will label the case prior to starting the picking. This label will be applied to one side of the box in a consistent location for line scanning.

The cartons are moved along the aisle on a 12 inch gravity conveyor as items are picked. Once the carton is filled with the entire product from that module it is placed on the conveyor system and conveyed to another pick module where the remaining product is added. This process is called "pick and Pass."

The carton will then be pushed through the Carton Flow Rack frame onto a takeaway conveyor that travels through the Carton Flow Rack and towards the Loose Picking Recirculation line. The BMH Control System provides sequencing and spacing as cartons merge.

The carton flow area sorter is then used to sort cartons to the various pick and replenishment areas and to sort product to the pack area. The sorter is designed for 20 Cartons Per Minute total peak flow. Between the picking operations and the shipping operations, are the Quality Check and Pack Areas.

At the Quality Check, or QC, area packages are gapped out then scanned and weighed. Through communications with the Automatic Order Routing, or AOR, software, it is determined if the package has passed the QC. If a package fails it is automatically pushed off onto the QC line where the issue is addressed by an attendant, and then sent back to the picking area via the conveyor system. If a package passes the QC it will be sent to the Pack area.

Cartons that must be filled and sealed will be diverted to one of the two taping lines. The two tape lanes will then merge back into one lane and exit the Pack area. All picked orders travel to the shipping area via a combination of transport and zero pressure accumulation conveyors. All packages ready to be shipped are merged together at the saw tooth merge and transported to the shipping sorter.

Before the cartons can be sorted, a gapper conveyor creates a minimum gap between cartons. The cartons then passes over a weight-in-motion scale and the system weight of each carton is compared to the actual weight. An overhead omni directional scanner is used to read the ship label barcode on the box for the associated routing and shipping container code information. If there is a match in the barcodes, and the weight is in tolerance, the product will be routed to its assigned shipping lane.

The shipping sorter is designed for 40 cartons per minute (CPM) total peak flow. If any divert lane is full, the containers that were routed to that lane instead bypass the lane and travel back to the entrance of the sorter via the recirculation loop.

If the carton weight is outside of tolerance the carton is diverted to the Shipping Quality Check area (or Jackpot Lane), which is the last lane of the shipping sorter. Once the carton has been checked and is accurate, the carton is reinduced into the system. If the parcel is for a fluid load carrier (UPS), the parcel is diverted to the first line where it travels down a chute to the flexible conveyor which is extendible up to fifty feet into the trailer.

If the carton is for a pallet load carrier, it is diverted to the appropriate spur. Sorter down lines consist of declining gravity roller conveyors flanked by gravity out rigger conveyors. Workers unload cartons here, and place them on pallets, then shrink wrap the frieght and load it onto LTL trailers.

BMH Controls designed, assembled and installed the warehouse control system, or WCS, using centralized direct Input/Output modules combined with remotely mounted Input/Output modules on a Profibus network. A two Personal Computer architecture is used for running the system: one for the system visual logic control (or VLC) and the other for the Human Machine Interface, or HMI, plus the routing software. BMH Controls provided communication with the Red Prairie Warehouse Management System via interface software.

Several control panels throughout the system contain push buttons for starting and stopping the system, indicator lights to display status, motor starters to power the conveyor motors, and Input/Output modules for connections to field devices local to them.

The Human Machine Interface, of HMI, is a graphical user interface intended to provide detailed conveyor status information for system operators and maintenance personnel. The HMI can be used to start or stop the system, diagnose any problems, and display system statuses. Cambium management appreciates the system operational statistics that are available, such as the shipping lane statistics shown here. This is valuable information, used to optimize operations.

The HMI also features systems diagnostics – tool used to quickly diagnose system faults. In this example, the HMI screen presents the troubleshooter with a communication network diagnostic tool, including step-by-step troubleshooting instructions.

BMH and its partners pride themselves on delivering a top quality system. Attention to detail, such as elegantly functional electrical conduit bends, allow maintenance peresonnel access to removable covers. This shows a commitment to a top quality "owner friendly" system. BMH System owners are proud of their machinery, as it is functional, neat and orderly in design and appearance, and optimum in performance! This commitment to detail and user friendliness extends to the smallest of details, such as protection from potential "ouch" points as shown here.

As of today, the Cambium Longmont project is in its final stages of testing prior to go live. As noted here, the entire project cycle consumed about one year of time, commencing with the original proposal made in February of 2006 and through go-live schedule for February 26, 2007..