Citi Trends Material Handling Case Study

Key Technology

• ASAP Automation Pick to Light (Acculight)
• Blue Arc Engineering Pivoting Roller Conveyor Shelving and Lifts
• Hytrol Sortation: Prosort SC and Prosort 90
• Mecalux and Interlake Rack
• Accusort Scanners
• BMH Controls Warehouse Control System (WCS)
• Manhattan Associates Warehouse Management System (WMS)

Business Challenges

• The DC utilized a very manual flow through process with little on-site storage other than work-in-progress. This caused accuracy and productivity to be less than desired
• The expansion and modification of the Darlington Distribution Center needed to meet Citi Trends growth goal of 800 retail stores
• BMH needed to keep the current system operational while expanding and improving operations
• The original Darlington DC was outfitted with a used conveyor system which was never properly installed or fully operational

Results

• BMH reworked/configured approximately 6,108 feet of existing conveyor, and installed/integrated approximately 4,389 feet of used conveyor to reduce Citi Trends costs
• BMH exceeded System Design Rates for both the Pack Sorter and the Shipping Sorter
• Citi Trends is experiencing increased efficiency and improved ergonomics.
• The project was completed on-time and under budget without disrupting Citi Trends seasonal operations

Case Study Video- Script

Citi Trends is a value priced family apparel retailer with over 200 stores in the southeast, mid-Atlantic region and Texas. Citi Trends success as a value retailer has resulted in the need for an expanded distribution network to include the new DC located in Darlington SC.

Citi Trends sources from world wide suppliers to provide quality fashion items at outstanding prices. The merchandising of "Everyday Low Prices" has Citi Trends Fashion For Less well positioned for continual growth and profitability.

Citi Trends headquarters is located within walking distance of downtown historic Savannah, Georgia. The Headquarters is both the corporate office and the original corporate wide distribution center. The new Darlington SC, distribution center is located a few hours north of the headquarters along Interstate 95

The original Darlington distribution center was purchased in 2005 from Sara Lee Corporation, where it served as a manufacturing plant. Citi Trends outfitted the system at that time with a used conveyor system which was never properly installed or fully operational. A definate sore point for the Citi Trends management team. The DC utilized a very manual flow through process with little on site storage other than work in process. The new DC project involved a 246,000 square feet addition to the existing building. Unlike the 15' clear existing facility the expansion was built at approximately 32' clear more typical for warehousing and distribution.

The system provided by BMH included a combination of conveyor, warehouse control software, and rack storage that was installed in parallel with the existing operation. The conveyor was primarily installed in the existing facility while the rack was primarily installed in the new expansion.

Citi trends had many goals in mind when pursuing the expansion and modification of the Darlington Distribution Center. The primary goal was to meet their plans for growth to 800 retail stores. The expansion in the facility would permit the ramp down of their Savanah GA DC, which would make room for the expansion of the adjacent HQ office space. The increased storage capacity also eliminate the need for off site storage. In the expansion, Citi Trends however didn't want to repeat their current extensively manual process. They wanted to improve the efficiency and ergonomics of the pack operation through material handling, controls, and software technologies. Finally they needed to do this while keeping the current system operational.

Citi Trends had retained the consulting services of DCB and Company, which is headquartered out of Atlanta GA. This was our first engagement with DCB after a lengthy pursuit by Dave Wells.

Product is received and brought in to the DC along the southeastern side of the DC. Product is floor stored on pallets awaiting receipt processing. Received product that requires further processing is taken to a staging area adjacent to the receiving docks. Product can also bypass this area and go directly to storage, cross dock, or ticketing induction.

Powered conveyor is used to induct product from receiving and staging areas to the ticketing areas. These lines feed the outboard sides of the ticketing lines, where operators are postioned to push inducted product to the correct staging line.

The ticketing area is comprised primarily of horizontal gravity lanes where received product is accumulated by receipt or style and processed for store orders. The processing includes the price and label ticketing, batch picking, product allocation. Full case items destined for a single pack lane can be inducted on the pack infeed conveyor after application of a license plate barcode, while less than full case items are placed in permanently labeled reuseable totes before inducting to the pack area.

The pack area is the heart of the automated system. There are a total of ten pack lanes each with the capacity of eighty store boxes. Product is diverted into the appropriate lanes via a Prosort SC sorter where the operator scans the LPN and puts the product in the appropriate store boxes in the quantities dictated by the ASAP put to light system.

The store boxes are arranged on two tiers with shared centrally located powered takeaway conveyors which came together via Blue Arc lift at the end of the lanes. During the design phase we mocked up the original static shelf configuration from the RFP due to concerns with the ergonomics of pushing the up to 65# boxes on the centrally located takeaway conveyors. A great idea, as the CitiTrends operators which were primarily females, were unable to push the boxes as originally designed. We engaged Blue Arc to assist with a pivoting roller conveyor shelf design which proved very successful. The pivot point is positioned so that only a gentle push is required to shift the center of gravity on the shelf and cause the product to roll out and turn 90 degrees on to the takeaway conveyor. A design we would highly recommend in future systems of this nature. The take away conveyor also incorporated some unique designs to minimize elevations and provide sufficient accumulation while minimizing drives. The flow from the pack area round robins to three parallel tapers prior to conveying to shipping.

The shipping system is located in the new expansion on the same side as the receiving docks completing a U flow through the facility. The shipping system services 6 fluid load doors and one dual purpose lane for new store build out to pallets, put away to rack storage, and jackpot.

The shipping system is comprised of a two sided scan tunnel, an inline scale, and a Prosort 90 paddle style sorter. Although the Prosort 90 took some time to adjust and setup from a timing standpoint, the sorter is nice from the standpoint of provided a rugged and reliable sort for product that has varying weights and box qualities. The sort system is elevated to provide personnel and pallet truck access under the sorter. A wide gravity section is used to give a big target for the paddle sorter. Gravity flow lanes then feed gravity extendibles that compact under the gravity lanes when not in use.

The reserve storage system was provided by Mecalux. It provides over 54,000 pallet storage capacity. A nice reference rack system valued at about $1M. This area is primarily for storage of upcoming releasable items.

Items that are currently in season are stored in the Restock area adjacent to the pack system. This is provided as a replenishment means for stores that are going through the in season items the quickest. This rack area was mostly a reconfiguration of their existing rack with some new compenents from Interlake.

Tech Products, Indiana Industrial and Biehle Electric did an outstanding job working with the used conveyor. Installers were great staying ahead of schedule. We also had to work around a very limited schedule due to the customers hours 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

The Citi Trends project was a great success. We provided the project on schedule and under budget with great value adds to the customer including maximizing the reuse of existing conveyor, improvements in design for ergonomics, and rates that exceeded the specified requirements. We also had success in increasing our revenues with the changes and reducing our costs through a second round of supplier and subcontractor negotiations.