Athletic Shoe Distribution Application

One of the world's leading athletic shoe manufacturers, determined that they had some problems in their labeling system at their Massachusetts and California facilities. They decided they wanted to eliminate the problems with one discrete solution.

Typically, the majority of cases receive three labels printed and applied to their shipping cartons: a grid (contents) label, shipping label and customer label. Several Of the company's customers did not want the grid label applied to their orders, and the other labels were to be used for sorting purposes further down the line; therefore, special handing was required. In some cases this special handling consisted of customized or value-added services such as information or materials added to the boxes before shipping.

Another major system design consideration was that the company already used Intermec table top label printers and wanted to stay with an Intermec-based solution to minimize their software changes.

FOX IV delivered the one solution to many problems. It provided the company with its Model 4051 Standard Label Printer-Applicators, which are built utilizing Intermec printer technology. The FOX IV 4051 Standard Label Printer Applicator features an Intermec print engine, thus solving the one problem and minimizing software changes.

Under pre-existing labeling operations the labels were printed and applied to the cases and then sorted for customized label removal, or value-added service. With the new FOX IV system operations were made more efficient by reducing special and/or human handling of the cases: each case receives the shipping and customer labels and, depending on the customer, may or may not receive the grid label. To manage these printing parameters, a previously applied license plate label on the case is scanned as it comes into the labeling station. The information from the license plate label is merged with the Swisslog WMS system to determine which labels get applied to that particular box. The WMS sends the appropriate label data to the FOX IV 4051 Standard printer-applicators via a network connection. This data includes a command that communicates whether or not the contents label is applied to that box.

If the command says that the box does not get the content label applied, then that label is skipped; however, the two shipping labels are still applied. If the command tells the labeler that it does get the content label applied, then all three labels are applied. The case is weighed, the appropriate labels are printed and applied, and the case moves into the main sorting station where it is sorted for shipping, or for a customized value-added process.

The complex problems were solved by a straightforward FOX IV solution.

System Benefits

The manufacturer has two lines at each facility with three FOX IV 4051 Standard Printer-Applicators per line. These stations have provided many benefits to the company including:

* ·Reduction of Special Pack Handling - reduced Special Pack handling by 25%.
* ·Increased Customer Satisfaction - customers are getting their cases labeled how they want them labeled.
* ·Increased Throughput - The automated labeling systems operate 8 hours/day, 5 days/week, with an average throughput of 3800 cartons/day. Hand labeling the contents per customer dramatically slows throughput.
* ·Label Cost Savings - The cost of an unwanted and unused label is saved every time a case does not receive the contents label.
* ·Installation Cost Savings - Also, by using label printer applicators with the same data stream, a lot of software programming time and costs were saved prior to installation.
* ·Operations Cost Savings - The automated system potentially frees up three operators per station per shift, or 12 persons per shift, for use in other critical areas.
* ·Increased Efficiency and Reduction or Elimination of Human Error - The automated system is based on reading the bar codes and acting on that information. It is more accurate and less error prone than human-based systems.
* Aids in Sorting - By accurately labeling the cases, they are sorted more quickly and directly to the stations where they are required