If you are unable to open these pages . . .Get Adobe.jpg (9347 bytes)

Crate&Barrel.jpg (4374 bytes) Crate&Barrel chose a path less followed, and as it turned out for them, much smarter. This house wares retailer now performs both its store and direct-to-consumer distribution from one new distribution center, but maintains separate processes for each. Efficiencies are gained as retail and direct fulfillment functions now share a common inventory, as well as use the same receiving, storage, sortation, and shipping areas. Transportation costs have also been reduced, throughput is up, customers are better served, and there is more room for growth.  more...
Magid_Glove.jpg (2891 bytes) Several years ago, Magid Glove Safety Co. was at a crossroads. Business was growing beyond the space available in the two adjoining buildings that housed its manufacturing and warehouse operations in northwest Chicago. There was also a need to reduce costs and improve overall operations to remain competitive. The company's dilemma was whether to build new or somehow figure out how to create the needed efficiencies within the aging facility. Building new would have been very costly, requiring the family to take on considerable debt. Instead the family moved the manufacturing operations to a 130,000 square foot building about a mile away while turning the existing building into a top-notch distribution center.  more...
PacSunLogo copy.jpg (13821 bytes) Pacific Sunwear is a retailer that caters to teens. The company's three chains, Pac Sun, Pac Sun Outlet, and d.e.m.o. comprise over 750 mall-based stores that sell clothing, accessories and footwear. And as we all know, what a teen wants today is not necessarily what they want tomorrow or the next day. Keeping up with those shifts put a strain on Pacific Sunwear's manual 130,000 square foot distribution center. So the company opened a new 365,000 square foot facility in Anaheim, Calif. that has easily surpassed the old on in volume, accuracy and speed.  more...
Textbooks require the same exactness as popular titles, except that they tend to be heavier than the typical best-selling novel. Remember lugging around an armload of schoolbooks? Just imagine handling over 100,000 such books everyday. That is the task of McGraw-Hill's new distribution center in Ashland, Ohio. This facility is designed to process orders with textbook precision.  more...
General Medical.jpg (25843 bytes) As one of the three largest distributors of medical/surgical and health care products in the country, General Medical distributes over 110,000 different items to hospitals, physician offices, clinics, nursing homes, home health care agencies, and home infusion therapy companies. This diverse market places requires merchandise in lots ranging from pallet loads down to single units. As a result, the automatic conveying system has to allow for the wide variety of merchandise being handled and the wide range of order sizes.   more...
dart.jpg (13792 bytes) Dart's new distribution center was built to hand diverse products efficiently while maintaining high fulfillment accuracy. The company prides itself on quality order processing, topped off by a superb packaging system. The facility also features cross-docking capability, a highly flexible pick module design, and plenty of room to grow.  more...
When Chicago-based Lawson Products wanted to revamp their warehousing system they turned to Automotion distributor, Handling Concepts, Inc. Based in Naperville, IL, Handling Concepts, Inc. designed a complete new system for the Lawson Products nearly 100,000 square foot warehouse.  more...
meyerlogo.gif (3542 bytes) "Our newest Distribution Center in Fairfield, California was added to provide better service to our growing number of retail outlets as well as satisfy direct fulfillment shipments generated from our website potsandpans.com," stated Mike Rummelhoff, Director of Distribution Logistics, at Meyer Corp. more...
Big Rolls, Big Savings!  An automatic sortation system produces big savings for Owens Corning.  Fiberglass insulation plants operate 24/7. To keep up with production at the packaging line in its facility in Waxahachie,  Texas, Owens Corning needed to call on Automotion's Integrator Partner, Advanced Conveyor Systems & Fabrication (ACFS).  ACFS not only integrated Automotion's AutoSort 13 Sliding Shoe Sorter, but designed and fabricated the custom material handling equipment required to seamlessly integrate the system.  more...
Quill, a leading mail order distributor of office supplies, has consistently turned to Automotion. Training is important to Quill. Having the same equipment in each of its ten locations has made it easier for new Quill staff to learn from other employees what they need to know about operating and maintaining the conveyor system.  more...
twinlab.jpg (3023 bytes) When Twin Lab's Utah Division constructed its new warehousing facility they, turned to Automotion Distributor, Warehouse Systems, Inc.(www.warehousesys.com) for the conveyor system. The newly constructed facility is 164,000 square feet and boasts five levels. Each level contains six picking zones. Currently, three of the levels are in operation and two are kept in reserve for expansion.  more...
When Rich Weisbrod was hired in 1993 as warehouse manager for supplier Bodek and Rhodes, owner Arthur Rhodes knew he had found a man with vision - not just for next year's results but to where the company would be in five years, and beyond.  Working with Automotion distributor, Precision Automation (www.precisionautomationinc.com), Precision Automation has built five state-of-the-art warehouses for Bodek and Rhodes), Weisbrod transformed an early 1900's warehouse where workers used clipboards and pencils to a 21st century state-of-the-art, computer-managed one where bar codes and radio frequency readers are the norm. more...

Ending a longtime relationship with a third-party distributor, Silver State Liquor and Wine takes on the risks and rewards of running its own DC.  Last year, the company decided to take over its own distribution operations. With the help of a systems integrator (Worldsource Integration, 630-795-1100, ( www.world-source.com), Silver State built its own distribution center with a warehouse management system (WMS) that manages the inventory and automated equipment that conveys and sorts orders.   more...