THE SYSTEM has made picking ten times faster than manual processes and allows storage capacity to grow fourfold without expanding the existing racking footprint, while keeping 30% additional capacity in reserve for future hardware. It handles more than 14,000 SKUs.

First Supply, a family-owned wholesaler of HVAC, plumbing, lighting and waterworks supplies, faces intense demand from contractors. After just over a year of operation, overnight replenishment supported by Skypod allows it to meet next-day order demand that can reach 20% of the site’s daily volume.

“Having a significant percentage of each day’s order volume delivered via the ultra-fast and efficient Skypod system enables First Supply to meet peak season and peak daily demand,” said Steve Baer, chief logistics officer at First Supply. “The system is productive, efficient, and will enable the facility to grow with minimal disruption over time.”

The automation also helped the company respond when flash flooding hit southeastern Wisconsin last summer, allowing it to deliver products quickly to hundreds of affected customers.

Stanislas Normand, managing director of Exotec North America, said: “First Supply’s results with Exotec show how the right automation strategy can deliver significant operational and business value, not only for today’s operations, but for what’s to come, too.”

For more information, visit www.exotec.com