Holland Group is a family-owned and operated company that has been in operation for over 5 generations of farmers, growing and selling plants. In 2004 the company decided to be an early adopter of eCommerce, and launched a storefront to sell their bulbs to customers online. Since then, the company now has 6 separate brands, with over 1,300 different SKUs of plants.

Related Links

1. See How FCP Euro’s Fulfillment Automation Impacts Culture, and Customer Satisfaction
2. 3PL Fulfillment Automation
3. 3PL Fulfillment Automation: Transforming Processes for Operational Efficiency
4. Goods To Person (G2P) Robots Are Just One Piece Of An Integrated, Intelligent Warehouse
5. VelocityPick™

With both a Spring shipping season and a Fall shipping season, their warehouse operations ramp up and down dramatically to meet demand – a much more drastic ramp than most e-comm operations experience. This makes the Holland Bulb fulfillment process unique. In one season, they may begin shipping with over 80,000 preorders to get shipped before the season ends, while simultaneously receiving 12,000 new orders every week – this puts a huge strain on the operations. This is why Holland Group turned to fulfillment automation to help scale up to match demand – a common problem that many warehouse operators have, but which is exacerbated for Holland Group by the limits of planting season.

Holland Group’s orders from all six brands travel down a central conveyor, where they flow through the following process:

• Pick: orders are picked along a central conveyor using a pick-to-light system, directly into the shipping carton.
• Pack: the packing slip is placed in the box, and at the end of the pick line, an operator adds a brand sticker, product instructions, and void fill.
• Ship (Dim, Weigh, Manifest, Label): once orders are complete, each box will be scanned, weighed, dimensioned, and manifested for shipment using their TMS software, which also handles rate shopping by carrier and service level. This process happens within a fraction of a second – then we automatically print and apply a carrier label to each box.
• Sort: the system then automatically diverts packages to separate lanes that are devoted to different carriers, then palletized.

Holland Bulb can ship over 20k orders per week, however, each week may provide a net gain of over 12k orders/week, which means they have to crank up their operation to get all the orders out the door to keep up with demand throughout the season.  Before implementing StreamTech’s Sprinter™ system, Holland Group relied on manual operators at 5 separate shipping stations, each with its label printer, scale, taper, and void fill machines.

These team members could get through about 5,000 orders daily, with 7 dedicated staff.  Not only did this process require a lot of labor, but it also required them to stack pallets of picked orders, transport them to the shipping stations, process those orders, and then re-stack the pallets by carrier and transport them again.

Once the StreamTech Sprinter™ was implemented, Holland Bulb was able to process over 7,000 orders a day, with only 3 dedicated shipping staff members. Each of the other staff members was able to be re-allocated to other areas of the operation. The company has also recognized an increase in order accuracy.

“Implementing new technologies can certainly increase your capabilities, but it still takes a great team. I am surrounded by a great team both in our office and in our warehouse. I believe that’s one of the main reasons we’ve been successful. StreamTech also employs great individuals. Andrew Mulder, Warehouse Manager Holland Group”

Holland Group continues to explore new automation solutions as the company grows. StreamTech is thankful to be a small piece of Holland Group’s success, and look forward to seeing what the future holds. If you are considering fulfillment automation, please fill out the form below.

World Wide Technology (WWT) is a global technology services provider that designs, builds, and manages large scale technology infrastructure solutions for both public and private organizations. WWT specializes in a range of services including IT consulting, cloud management, networking, security, and data centers. Some of the equipment WWT builds include server cabinets for web hosting, 5G network stations, and most recently the advancement to servers for processing artificial intelligence.

Related Links

1. Goods To Person (G2P) Robots Are Just One Piece Of An Integrated, Intelligent Warehouse
2. 3PL Fulfillment Automation
3. 3PL Fulfillment Automation: Transforming Processes for Operational Efficiency
4. See How FCP Euro’s Fulfillment Automation Impacts Culture, and Customer Satisfaction
5. See How Automation Helps Holland Group Ship Live Plants Globally During Peak Seasons

For WWT, their warehouse operations require the company to receive and ship large volumes of valuable electronics equipment that goes into building data servers and supporting their corporate clients. Shipping errors are costly, and delayed shipments can have a big impact on client relationships.

“Shipping specifically the challenge is: ‘can we get the device that we shipped, to the customer in the state that we shipped it in?’ We want to make sure that from a tracking standpoint… we give the customer the tracking to know all the way to the end – here’s my device. It costs a lot, it’s going to get to you in good hands.”
-Dan Benoist, Lead Global Supply Chain Engineer

StreamTech Engineering worked with World Wide Technology (WWT) to redesign two outbound shipping automation systems. The existing processes were inefficient, and required manual decision-making for each package. The goal of the project was to achieve a system that could reliably process the wide variety of sizes of their outbound parcel shipments. StreamTech Engineering delivered a SLAM system that accommodates the wide range of package sizes, unique labeling requirements, and sortation, all managed by the StreamTech Warehouse Control System (WCS) software.

The Two Systems Perform The Following Functions:

Scan Induct: as boxes pass from the pack area, they are scanned into the system.
Weigh: to accommodate the large nature of the packages that are shipped, the system incorporates a scale that can measure across multiple conveyor zones.
Dimension: due to the long packages, the light curtain is the best way to gather the dimensions (Length, Width, and Height) of each package as they pass through.
Print Apply: each parcel that is shipped with the system gets a carrier label, and some also require a return label. For those that are identified as requiring a return label, the system applies the return label first, then applies the shipping label over it, with a unique perforation that allows it to be removed later.
Verify and Sortation: once labeled, packages are verified, then sorted to the corresponding carrier lane, to the dock door.
WCS Software Interface: for this project, StreamTech’s Warehouse Control System (WCS) software was implemented to interface with WWT’s parcel shipping software to handle the rate shopping and label generation.

For WWT, this new shipping automation system solved a lot of the challenges they were experiencing in the parcel shipping area. See Dan’s comments below:

“Automation has definitely standardized what we do. It’s helped us catch a lot of errors that humans can catch, but they don’t always catch. But the biggest thing is the efficiency and throughput. We’ve gotten twice, maybe three times as much volume over less people. Lot less people.

In our parcel shipping area, we used to push things down a stretch conveyor line, which was a lot of manual movement. In working with StreamTech, we presented them with our problem, and they came back with a solution. We worked it through with the team, and it was implemented very well. I’d say from a technological standpoint we are light years ahead of where we were.”
-Dan Benoist, Lead Global Supply Chain Engineer

StreamTech has a collaborative, partnership approach to providing sales, service and support for clients, and this was key to the success for WWT. With both companies headquartered in the greater St. Louis region, the high level of service and technical support has been a crucial factor in the sustained performance of the automation.

World Wide Technologies has experienced significant efficiency gains from this project. Prior to this implementation, over 27 people were allocated to just shipping alone. For WWT this labor savings is huge, as most of those employees were able to be reallocated to more value-added tasks across the breadth of WWT’s operational needs. The software integration between StreamTech and WWT will also ease future integration projects. The continued collaboration between StreamTech and WWT can enable the company to scale as future automation needs arise.

FCP Euro (Foreign Car Parts) is a large online automotive parts retailer who specializes in European car parts, sourced and vetted from some of the highest quality manufacturers, with a lifetime warranty that is unbeatable in the industry. FCP Euro has cultivated a social following within the car enthusiast and racing communities, and hosts regular events in their Experience Center, where employees can even lift and work on their own car projects. In the past 10 years, FCP Euro has earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies list eight times.

Related Links

1. 3PL Fulfillment Automation
2. 3PL Fulfillment Automation: Transforming Processes for Operational Efficiency
3. See How Automation Helps Holland Group Ship Live Plants Globally During Peak Season
4. Goods To Person (G2P) Robots Are Just One Piece Of An Integrated, Intelligent Warehouse
5. VelocityPick™

For FCP Euro, customer satisfaction is the primary driver for everything they do. The “customer-first” mindset has permeated across the company culture, so much so that many of their customers become employees. It’s for this reason they have a unique approach to implementing automation within their operations.

Instead of using automation as a labor reduction mechanism, FCP Euro took the approach that implementing automation could elevate their company culture by allowing many of the team members from the shipping and fulfillment team to move into new responsibilities within the company. For many of these employees, their roles now involve overseeing the automation, working on the customer engagement teams, or in the marketing department.

In addition to the team improvements, FCP Euro has other KPI’s to benchmark their success. They have seen a tremendous increase in throughput, order accuracy, and rate shopping efficiency. Instead of having 6 people manually dedicated to the rate shopping process, the StreamTech WCS software communicates with the shipping software and takes care of it automatically.

Additionally, during their biggest promotional season of the year, the annual Cyber Week sale, the team noticed a much more stress-free for the fulfillment and distribution environment, despite having the best sales results of any prior year, and processing an additional 400 more orders per hour than normal.

The shipping automation that FCP Euro has implemented had to fit into a relatively small space, due to the size of the existing facility in Connecticut, so it curves back on itself a few different times to allow the appropriate accumulation on the conveyor. The system starts at the 5 pack stations:

• Pack-Out: Packed orders are pushed through the semi-automatic tapers, adding the blue FCP Euro-branded tape on the top and bottom.
• Weigh, Dimension: Orders merge from the pack stations into the conveyor, and follow around to be inducted, weighed, and dimensioned in motion.
• Manifest & Rate Shop: Once the box has been identified and interrogated for weights, dimensions, the StreamTech Warehouse Control System (WCS) software interfaces with the customer’s shipping software to handle rate shopping by carrier and service level, and sends back the appropriate label.
• Print Apply: With two in-motion labelers, the system then labels each order. The dual labeling system allows for higher throughput during peak seasons.
• Exceptions And Palletization: Once labeled, orders make their way to the end of the line to be separated into pallets by carrier. There is a small exception lane where international orders go to be processed manually with the appropriate paperwork.

FCP Euro is an example of an organization that leads with customer satisfaction as the main driver of their business. This is reflected in FCP Euro’s long-term operational goal of delivering same day shipping to every state in the country. As the company continues to strive toward that goal, the StreamTech fulfillment automation is just one part of the story, and it is great to be involved in their continued success and growth.

Growing, Diverse Product Offerings:

Mason’s continued growth initiatives and diverse product offerings required multiple fulfillment systems and packaging equipment. Now, Mason’s expansion has brought all their brands under one fulfillment and distribution center.

Mason Companies Inc. has a long history beginning as a shoe manufacturer in 1904, and has evolved its business model to include multiple catalogs and a diverse range of products. With a strong focus on customer satisfaction, Mason operates as a trusted retailer and distributor. Their extensive portfolio includes fashion apparel, footwear, home goods, and accessories, catering to individuals of all ages and styles.

With the high degree of variation in products, Mason has added new automation to accommodate each stage in their growth, over many years. StreamTech began working with Mason in 2007, and has provided many different systems for the company throughout the years, in different buildings. In 2021, Mason began working with StreamTech to implement a new system for one of their brands, as well as a proposal to consolidate the others under a new, much larger distribution and fulfillment center where all their fulfillment lines – for each brand – can sit under one roof.

The migration process was completed and the new system was implemented and running by Fall 2022. Today, Mason’s 425,000 square feet “MFC” (Mason Fulfillment Center) 425,000 square foot building fulfills between 25k to 60k items per day.

Three Fulfillment Automation Systems:

There are three main fulfillment lines at the Mason facility today, processing their various product lines:

• Bagged Items (30 per minute): primarily for clothing, the items flow from a bagger into the print-apply shipping system, and further to sortation, by carrier.
• Large Parcels (30 per minute): primarily for small household appliances, household items, and outdoor equipment; the items are processed as full cases, and are weighed, dimensioned, manifested and sorted.
• Mixed E-Commerce (30-40 per minute): this system integrates flow from fully automatic tapers and advanced fully automatic pack system, to in-motion weigh, dual print-apply, and sortation to multiple dock doors at the end of the line.

A Values-Driven Company:

Mason Companies Inc. upholds a set of core values that guide its operations and interactions with customers, employees, and stakeholders. Integrity serves as the foundation of their business practices, emphasizing honesty, transparency, and ethical conduct. They are committed to excellence, consistently delivering products and services of exceptional quality that surpass customer expectations.

Mason fosters a customer-centric approach, and values innovation to continuously seek new ideas, technologies, and strategies to stay ahead in a rapidly changing market. Diversity and inclusivity is another key value Mason embraces, fostering an environment that celebrates differences and promotes equality for their employees.

“Mason Companies is a very value-driven company, and there’s a lot of knowledge and teamwork involved in getting large projects such as this completed, and its great to work with a company that has the drive and the ambition to excel and do large projects like this, and come out successful.” Craig Ritzinger, Facilities Manager – Mason Companies

Mason Companies Inc. believes in giving back to the community and actively engages in initiatives to make a positive impact on society and the environment. These values will continue to drive Mason to develop new and innovative products, brands, and grow their company.

If you are considering new or existing automation upgrades, get in touch with a StreamTech team member and we look forward to discussing your project.

DCL Logistics is a third-party logistics provider who offers fulfillment and logistics services, as well as other value-added services such as kitting, testing, assembly, and customer service to a wide variety of clients – some in consumer electronics, as well as consumer packaged goods, enterprise hardware, health and beauty. Learn more about DCL Logistics.

One of the needs of many eCommerce brands is the ability of their logistics provider to adapt to quickly changing order volume. During promotions, a new product launch, sales, or peak demand—such as the holiday season, when shopping is at an all-time high—daily order volume can double or triple what is seen during the typical off-season day.

Having a 3PL with the tools to adapt to this very normal part of the eCommerce business is key. Quality fulfillment (products sent out accurately and on time) is directly correlated to high customer satisfaction. So when an experienced 3PL like DCL Logistics looks for ways to keep their customers happy, they look to their automation tools to help them scale up, or down, with only a moment’s notice.

Fulfillment That Scales For Peak Demand And High Order Volume

With years of experience doing fulfillment and value-added services for high-growth eCommerce brands, DCL Logistics has learned how to maximize production during peak demand, but stay lean in the slower periods.

The StreamTech automation lines allow DCL to scale up or down, quickly adding or subtracting pack stations to their fulfillment flow. At each pack station, a DCL employee will ensure the correct products are placed in a box, kitted and assembled properly, and add any pre-specified materials like dunnage or marketing materials.

Due to the unique requirements of each of DCL’s customers, this often requires multiple pack stations. The StreamTech conveyance is set up to run through the warehouse alongside the pack stations, where additional stations and team members can be added to accommodate new brands or additional order volume without losing any time or efficiency on the line.

Sortation Helps Achieve Throughput And Accuracy Goals

Delivery times are important for DCL’s customers. Having the option for 2-day and same-day shipping is crucial and helps set brands apart from their competition. DCL’s sortation systems are set up specifically to meet carrier cutoff times each day.

Sortation takes place at the end of the fulfillment line, after all labels have been applied. DCL works with many different carriers so packages need to be clearly separated by carrier and shipping service. StreamTech’s WCS software allows DCL to have a modular system where they can add more carrier stations or take some away, depending on need. This is important as DCL sometimes has retail pickups that may need to be sorted separately for certain days, but not others.

A Complete Solution For A Modern Warehouse

As DCL is in the service business, customizing fulfillment solutions for brands that are pioneers in their verticals is critical to its success. Brands like GoPro, Magic Spoon, maude, and Therabody—these are the types of brands who need to know their customers are going to love each delivery, and every unboxing experience. One of the most important keys to DCL’s success has been the implementation of automation technology in modular stages – adding the automation where it can complement and support their existing processes.

“We appreciate working with a company like StreamTech who is a one-stop-shop for many of our automation needs. StreamTech puts together the entire system in their warehouse in St. Louis and then they take it apart and fly it to us and put it together. We have a whole warehouse of their technology: conveyance, sorters, eye sensors, shipping/manifest printers, and all the interlocking parts that connect the system together. It’s truly a complete solution for DCL to create quality fulfillment and for our trendsetting eCommerce brands to set themselves apart.”
– Dave Tu, President of DCL Logistics

If you are a 3PL provider looking at new ways to automate your fulfillment processes, StreamTech Engineering would be glad to discuss your needs. We can tailor practical automation solutions to fit your unique requirements and allow your operations to scale as your customers’ needs evolve.

Overview

Pic the Gift specializes in personalized items such as blankets, mugs, ornaments, pajamas, desk pads, and more for both their own customers from their web storefront, as well as as a third-party partner for other companies. Pic the Gift uses a very high-quality image transfer process – costs more than other methods, but it lasts longer, and will not crack or peel over time, like other printing methods.

Of their orders, the largest percentage is for blankets, and the StreamTech fulfillment line was needed specifically for these orders. Since each item is unique and printed at their facility, Pic the Gift’s fulfillment line flows straight out of their print-on-demand manufacturing areas, to get packaged, weighed, and labeled for shipment.

Project Scope

Labor-intensive and error-prone manual fulfillment took too many resources from Pic the Gift’s core manufacturing process and required too much training especially during peak holiday surge periods when team members were rotating between different roles.

In the new process, once the blankets are printed using their proprietary process they get folded, and put on the conveyor to go through a shrink wrapping machine, with the order ticket sealed inside the clear wrap. The StreamTech system uses this order information to ID the item throughout the rest of the process as it is weighed, dimensioned, and manifested for shipment.

The system automatically polybags the products in a ship-ready package. StreamTech’s WCS consolidates multi-line orders via Pic the Gift’s Netsuite system, and uses a weight check for additional quality control. After heat shrink, StreamTech manifests the package with the preferred carrier and prints, applies and verifies the label, prior to sorting.

Results

In less than 3 months with the new equipment, the Pic the Gift team has been able to familiarize themselves with the system enough to now rely on it for over 40% of their goods.  This has allowed them to reduce strain on existing labor, re-allocate team members to other tasks, and handle peak season with ease.

“Automation really showed us what we’re capable of!  We were able to get through peak season with the same amount of manpower, less fatigue, and without 24 hour shifts for the first time.”    – Chris Cormack, Director of Operations, Pic the Gift

In the company’s first holiday season with the new automation – from the Thanksgiving holiday to Christmas – Pic the Gift was able to fulfill the same amount of packages with 60% less labor required for the fulfillment process.  As the team continues to become more familiar and acclimated to the system, they are expecting these numbers to continue to improve. 

Conclusion

As Pic the Gift continues to grow, they are evaluating future automation opportunities where they can provide help for their team and give them capacity to take on higher volume orders and develop new custom items to meet the needs of their customers. 

“Being able to automate the shipping process has allowed our workers a lot less strain on their bodies.  It’s a lot easier for them to do their jobs, which is really important to us.  It’s all about making their day to day easy, they’re happy when they come in, when they’re happy, they pay more attention, the job gets done better.  We want to continue to provide a safe workplace that allows our people to succeed, and as we continue going that way, the more automation we can get the better.”  – Ryan Schneider, Process Improvement Engineer

If you are considering new or existing automation upgrades, get in touch with a StreamTech team member and we look forward to discussing your project.

Automating A Personalized Canvas Shipping Application

Build A Sign sells customized canvas prints, signs, banners, decals and other personalized products. They also provide trade show products for commercial customers. They approached StreamTech to improve labor efficiency and throughput for their canvas print lines specifically.

Their canvas products are all run through a heat shrink system, and the invoice is placed inside the box manually, underneath the plastic wrapping prior to heat shrinking. The box is thin, and there is no LPN (License Plate Number) with their current procedure, making automation difficult because there is no way to identify or verify order accuracy.

Identifying A Custom Solution

The StreamTech solution was going to involve (2) Sprinter systems to accommodate their order volumes, and the initial design was going to include dedicated LPN application systems. However, after a discussion with our engineering and design team, we were able to make use of the existing Order ID that was placed inside the box. Through a combination of specialized software, sensing hardware, and careful guidance of the open boxes, we were able to identify the order and use it to place the shipping label. Once the package is identified, the shipping label can be applied to the top of the box, carefully supported by our conveyor guide rail.

The result of this custom design is that Build A Sign saved tens of thousands of dollars on project costs by eliminating two dedicated LPN application areas, the printers, and their conveyor. It saves space in their warehouse and streamlines the operation with fewer steps. The result means a faster ROI and re-allocation of dedicated labor.

Other Open Box Applications:

This type of open-box identification and labeling application may be well suited for other clients where boxes are thin and won’t accommodate a LPN, or where the customer does not want to cover the product branding.

StreamTech understands that every fulfillment process may have unique challenges, and provides custom solutions for both order identification and shipping label application, to accommodate a wide variety of packing processes.  To discuss your unique print and apply shipping application, get in touch with a StreamTech team member.

Overview

Rotech Healthcare is a national provider for connected care and high-quality medical products to help patients live a more comfortable life. The company supplies products such as CPAP machines, oxygen therapy, nebulizers, and other home medical equipment. At the Murray, Kentucky fulfillment center, the company fulfills thousands of CPAP supplies orders daily, shipped direct-to-patient.

Project Scope:

In order to more effectively serve their customers, Rotech has been looking at ways to improve the speed and costs of fulfillment. The company approached StreamTech to try to find solutions to renovate and upgrade their existing picking, packing and shipping systems. They wanted to improve ergonomics, improve their ability to process polybagged items, rate shop and sort packages by carrier. StreamTech worked with Rotech to re-design the picking and packing areas and studied the polybag characteristics in order to successfully include this packaging. As a result, Rotech is able to gain the cost advantages of the polybags with reliable routing and sorting.

Results

Ergonomics: StreamTech worked with Rotech to implement a new conveyor using ergonomic guidelines so that employees do not have to strain to interact with the equipment. This allows employees to work more effectively, improves productivity and is safer for their health. In order to accomplish this, the conveyor includes multiple levels, where trays are presented directly to the employee at waist height, and then returned on the second level below. Noise levels have been reduced dramatically, enhancing the work environment and aiding in employee retention.

Pick & Pack Process: Orders are picked to trays, and distributed to four polybaggers. StreamTech’s ability to keep the orders flowing at a consistent rate for each polybagger is critical to this process. With this new process, the employees can focus solely on packing the orders, and let the automation handle the rest.

As full trays are delivered, orders are packed out, and trays returned automatically to the picking picking. Once bagged and sealed, orders are consolidated to one conveyor, smoothly transitioning to the lower level for shipping and sortation.

StreamTech’s WCS software provides allows different modes to be selected for various order volumes and staffing levels with real-time statistics available to management on local and remote screens.

Sortation & Multi-Carrier: In the process of developing the new automation, Rotech decided it would be a good opportunity to negotiate new multi-carrier agreements, instead of the single shipper arrangement previously established. With StreamTech’s shipping automation, Warehouse Control System (WCS) and in-house sortation, the multi-carrier system requires no manual operation and gives Rotech the flexibility to rate shop and realize significant savings.

Conclusion:

Rotech’s new automation accomplishes their goal of lowering costs, optimizing labor, increasing throughput and daily order capacity. The addition of new multi-carrier shipping automation improves their Return On Investment (ROI) further and puts them in more control of their costs. With this new automation in place, Rotech is better positioned for growth, and can more effectively accomplish their mission of supplying patients with the healthcare products they need.

If you are considering new or existing automation upgrades, get in touch with a StreamTech team member and we look forward to discussing your project.