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Rocky Shoes & Boots Cuts Distribution Costs In 1998, Rocky Shoes & Boots, Inc., based in Nelsonville, Ohio, came to a fork in the road as distribution demand had far outpaced capacity, and company directors were struggling to coordinate distribution of products that were housed in four different facilities. Space constraints in the old facility and the growing popularity of their outdoor shoes, boots and apparel had forced operations to lease alternate space. Unfortunately, ungainly and costly distribution methods and inventory accuracy challenges followed. A complex decision ensued. A new facility was clearly needed to consolidate operations, and along with it, more efficient picking and packing methods, but the new facility alone would tax the budget set aside for the consolidation.
The firm’s Distribution Manager and MIS Director decided to contact Hy-Tek Material Handling, Inc. with a dual mission: to integrate distribution with the warehouse management software they had selected and to keep the project within budget. As the leading manufacturer and distributor of Gore-Tex® footwear in North America, the company had simply outgrown their old facility. Installing the automated system allowed the firm to get ahead of the growth and meet their expansion goals. The engineers at Hy-Tek designed an integrated system featuring wire guidance order pickers in a very narrow aisle rack setting. A wrap-around powered conveyor accessible from each aisle carries picked product through a 20-lane sortation system with scanner that soft-drops items into the appropriate packing lane. A live roller conveyor then moves finished packages to the shipping area. The raised sortation lanes with mezzanine allowed room for needed storage, return, and shipping areas. Customized software was designed to interface with the warehouse management system to track inventory, product retrieval, and sortation lanes. The system launched in June, 1999. The system was even more successful than anticipated, and in addition to the successful consolidation of four facilities into one, the resulting efficiencies cut Rocky’s labor expense by two-thirds, cut the labor force in half, increased inventory accuracy and flattened their peak season expense curve. The company went from three shifts seven days per week to one shift five days per week during non-peak season. Inventory accuracy went from 88% to 99.7%. Their four-month peak season was reduced from 116 laborers on three shifts to 50 laborers working two shifts. The system was custom engineered with Rocky’s budget in mind. In 2003, Rocky Shoes & Boots, Inc. is now using the system to reach their new goal of becoming the fastest growing footwear company in North America.
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