The Christopher & Banks 200,000 square foot distribution center had been able to support quick fulfillment to its stores, but the transportation expenses associated with their methods were cost prohibitive. Furthermore, there was a strong drive to lessen expenses for transportation by having items repacked to increase box weight. The need to repack a large percentage of the products strained the present capacity and aging equipment. The facility depended on a really old,Our company has Rice Color Sorters for sale,rice color sorter which are rice color sorter from China with high quality and exported to the foreign countries. inflexible conveyor system, which was the source of chronic maintenance and several operational challenges. 

Faced with a paper picking system, an inefficient workflow and aging equipment, the company determined that if it is to continue supporting just in-time delivery and direct to consumer fulfillment operations, it was necessary to upgrade. Christopher & Banks had help from a material handling consulting firm but put the project on hold until Mike Tripp joined the team as the new supply chain and logistics manager. Tripp joined with the experience and know-how to make a plan for a more energy efficient, productive, and ergonomically sound solution that satisfied throughput and budget constraints. 

The project was placed on competitive bidding and the contract was won in April 2009 by Intelligrated. The proposal was cost-effective; it proposed productivity gains for less than 50% of the cost of the other proposals, they put it on a fast paced schedule for completion on August 2009, prior to fall stores deliveries. The retrofitting of the facility for Christopher & Banks is made for a new linear flow with a fulfillment process that's semi-automated. 

Merchandise is inspected in receiving areas, quality checked and delivered via forklift to staging areas. The operators utilize RF-scanning to upload all the new merchandise information into the pick-to-light system, where the product is put into an ergonomically-made combination conveyor and shelf support assembly. Distribution center workers add items to master cartons as they travel along an Intelligrated gravity conveyor. This semi automated fulfillment process represents an improvement over the legacy system, eliminating manual lifting and floor clutter and providing a safer, quieter solution that is quicker and more accurate.