Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - July 2008 - (Page 58)

100 GREAT SUPPLY CHAIN PARTNERS Vera Bradley Fashions New Distribution Strategy with Engineering Consulting Firm FORTE era Bradley is a maker of women’s fashionable luggage, handbags, accessories, innovative limitededition collections, and other products, including rugs, lighting, and furniture. These items are sold at more than 3,500 independent retailers nationwide and around the world, in its own retail stores and online through its web site. The highend accessories company has enjoyed strong revenue growth in recent years. According to Matt Wojewuczki, vice president of operations for Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Vera Bradley, the company has two major and multiple minor new-product releases per year. Each introduction requires orchestration of sourcing and fulfillment to support marketing and merchandising programs. Products are designed at its Fort Wayne headquarters. Fabric is imported through a global supply chain, then quilted, cut and sewn in multiple locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Vera Bradley shipped more than nine million items in 2006, and over 12.5 million items in 2007. Prior to 2007, Vera Bradley shipped new releases and replenishment orders from its 35,000 square-foot distribution center in Fort Wayne. The rapid increase in order volume clearly showed that the DC was too small and changes were required to meet customer demand. Other challenges included: • Cycle times were too long • Poor visibility of orders in process • High labor costs due to the manual processes • Order accuracy challenges, especially in picking “Quite simply, our manual distribution methods weren’t keeping up with the increased throughput requirements in the warehouse,” says Wojewuczki. “Our processes involved paper-based, discrete order picking to carts. Items were randomly located throughout our three warehouses, and a significant amount of labor was required after picking to prepare each order for shipping.” Vera Bradley needed to increase throughput, increase capacity and improve accuracy. The company had V been effectively utilizing lean principles and Six Sigma within its manufacturing and supply chain operations to meet demand and ensure quality, so it decided to apply those same principals to its distribution processes. The Vera Bradley project team partnered with the distribution consulting and engineering firm FORTE to improve the facility layout and distribution processes within the existing distribution center, and to design a new 200,00-square-foot operations/distribution center. “We trusted FORTE’s experience with companies in situations similar to ours to help guide the project and successfully meet our needs,” says Wojewuczki. In February of 2007, Vera Bradley simultaneously went online with four major supply chain projects: the opening of our new operations/distribution center, the transition to a new enterprise resource planning system, the implementation of a new bestof-breed warehouse management system, and the commissioning of a material handling system featuring pick-to-light technology, a zone-routed conveyor system, and a shipping sorter. FORTE worked hand in hand with Vera Bradley to help make these projects a success. FORTE helped the company implement: • A new WMS: Manhattan Associates’ Integrated Logistics Solution • Directed put-away into very narrowaisle storage • Automated cartonization of orders pre-cubed for picking direct to the shipping container • Conveyor-based picking with automated zone-routed assignments, routing cartons only to zones where a pick is needed • Pick-to-light paperless order picking • Automated shipping sortation based 58 JULY 2008

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Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - July 2008 Contents Editorial GL&SCS Exclusive Fastforward Up Front Introduction Menlo Worldwide & Electrolux PathGuide Technologies & Tile City Servigistics & Juniper Networks Transplace & Rock-Tenn ClearOrbit & Blue Bell Creameries Cadec Global & Northwest Food Products Transportation CaseStack & Greystar Products NGC & Parigi Group Supply Chain Consultants & Constar TransGroup Worldwide & Surgiquip Terra Technology & Campbell Soup Baxter Planning Systems & SGI Cadre Technologies & Kansas City SmartPort TransportGistics & FMC Technologies DSC Logistics & Tree of Life FORTE & Vera Bradley Penske Logistics & Eaton Cardinal Logistics & Weyerhaeuser JPMorgan & Black & Decker Opinion Opinion Industry Voices

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - July 2008

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