Yamato Transport USA Case Study | Industrial Distribution

Automated Sortation Optimizes Fulfillment Operations

Facing a rapid increase in ecommerce order fulfillment, Yamato Transport USA's California facility tried to increase productivity using manpower alone, but quickly realized automation was necessary to reach their goals. Yamato turned to Bastian Solutions to design a scalable, cost effective and space-efficient system to increase outbound capacity.

Yamato, a global freight forwarder, covers everything from ecommerce, automotive and pharmaceutical order fulfillment. A combination of OPEX Sure Sort and Exacta Software introduced a 20% capacity gain from 80,000 to 100,000 products. This automated system brought speed and scalability to a previously manual pick and pack process. A mix of bin sizes and ability to introduce additional Sure Sort iBOTS means the automated system can handle a variety of product sizing, loads and total volume. This allows for smooth operations to accommodate future growth and market changes.

“[Bastian Solutions is] always supportive. If we have any questions, they answer us quickly and they provide us even better solutions.” – Hidekazu Takeda, Manager, Yamato Transport USA

 

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Yamato Transport USA

Key Technologies

The client's WMS sends a list of all orders for the day to the Exacta WCS. The WCS creates a "shopping list" for each order picker, who pick all items to a cart and then inducts them in to the Sure Sort. The WCS communicates with the Sure Sort to identify a sort location for each order, making sure that location has the right bin size to hold all items in each order. As items are inducted to the Sure Sort, they are automatically sorted and placed into the designated bin along with the rest of the items needed to complete the order.

 

Results

“Thanks to Sure Sort, we can increase the capacity about 20% from 80,000 to 100,000.” – Takuto Fujii, Logistics Supervisor

  • Compact, cost-effective outbound sortation with increased throughput of approximately 1200 pieces per hour
  • Improved order accuracy and increased data visbility with Exacta WCS
  • Scalable outbound sortation can easily adjust to future demand by changing the number of iBots or adding additional Sure Sort systems
 

Photos

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