Customer

A distributor of large consumer home goods

Problem

Backlog of orders, need to speed up fulfillment

Solution

Automated systems for storage and fulfillment

Problem

A major household and kitchenware brand was facing a backlog of 800,000 orders and seeing more competition from other eCommerce retailers who could fulfill orders faster. They needed to increase throughput to begin fulfilling 20,000+ orders per day. They also had a current system that was suited for large orders, but not the “small box” orders that were driving their competitors’ success.

Solution

DAK proposed a combination of technologies, including automated carton building, automated label application, pick-to-light, high capacity staging lane storage line storage, automated sealing and labeling, and a reduced environmental footprint. By involving the customer closely in the design process, the DAK team helped uncover further opportunities for the system. The customer saw the potential and kept expanding the project until the solution was finalized.

Results

The final system made an immediate impact on the customer’s business. They expanded storage space by 10%, lowered per package costs by 50%, increased throughput by 25% and gained a 55% cost savings per order. Most importantly, they were able to take control of backorders, reducing backorders by 25% in four weeks.