Case Study: Implementing a Pack to Light Solution
in a Major Retail Distribution Center
by Greg Morneau

A Phased Approach to Implementation

Determining requirements for the new PTL implementation was complicated by the fact that our client was about to embark on a major rebuild of their conveyors and pack lane shelving planned for late Spring - early Summer of 2009. 

The PTL system would therefore be implemented in two separate phases, each phase being tailored around the upgrade. There were other considerations that needed to be addressed as well. For example, the PTL system would need to interface with the existing host system due to the lack of a DC system.

There were several manual checks against the PO performed during the course of the processes described above that would need to be duplicated by the new system. Additionally, electronic store manifests would need to be created at the carton level. The implementation team also planned on replacing the dot matrix printers with more modern technology.
To accommodate the phased approach the team decided to install temporarily on the existing shelving and then implement a second phase of installation on the new shelving following the shelving upgrade in the spring of 2009.

The existing shelving was old and did not have the channels built in to accommodate the light ducts that would be needed for the new PTL implementation.  The implementation team therefore could not anticipate installing the number of light ducts that would ultimately be needed for the new shelving. The old shelves were in 8 feet long bays and the new shelves were planned for 10 feet long bays.

In order to take advantage of the price being offered in the timeframe, it was decided to go ahead and build and configure the 10’ light ducts in Phase I even though some of them would not be used until Phase II. It provided the complication of the light ducts being too long, rendering some of the lights unusable in the first phase. Despite this drawback, the results from the first phase implementation were extremely encouraging