Industrial Distribution: SMC Doubles Picking and Increases Same-Day Shipments

Austin Trusty & Joe Campbell | 17 January 2024

Growth. Striving for a $2 billion annual revenue goal, SMC Corporation needed a facility and automation technology solution that could meet them where they were and easily support their vision for growth.

As a global leader and manufacturer of automatic control equipment, SMC had grown to over 80 subsidiaries and joint ventures around the world. They serve customers in a variety of industries and had grown to 30% of global market share in the pneumatics industry.

“The warehousing operation traditionally wasn’t going to solve or allow us to reach those goals and the only way to do that was to automate. So, we looked at partnering with Bastian Solutions to provide a solution for us to get to that goal. Those sales targets,” said Frank Rivera, National Distribution Manager, SMC Corporation.

Bastian Solutions’ relationship with SMC goes back to the 1980s. In fact, the previous facility’s automated material handling system and software was designed and integrated by Bastian. This system, along with a detailed continuous improvement plan, helped SMC reach their previous 10-year growth goal in just 5 years. Even with this success, the facility’s limited space had reached its capacity, and a new facility with new technology was needed.

With careful analysis, planning and integration, the result was a new 1.1 million-sf facility that has more than doubled picking speed and allows for 93% of orders to be shipped same-day, providing customers reliably fast fulfillment.

Understanding of System and Business Needs

Bastian started by looking at SMC’s historical order fulfillment and operations data. SMC had a goal for their North America headquarters to reach $1 billion, followed by $2 billion in revenue. SMC’s projections were not going to be supported by their old building and technology solutions.   

“They know our business. We’ve had the same engineer working with us, so it’s very easy to talk and we have a good working relationship with him. He’s honest with us and he helped provide us and guide us to what is out there in the world of automation,” said Rivera. 

An Automation System Designed for Continuous Improvement

SMC works with a variety of part sizes with fulfillment for ecommerce orders, kitting and their own in-house manufacturing. They stock an average of 65,000 SKUs and receive shipments daily. They were facing a need for on-site storage and fulfillment that could meet their current needs and scale for planned growth.

An AutoStore goods-to-person system was selected for its dense storage capacity and ability to easily scale to accommodate additional storage and robots for picking. The AutoStore system is comprised of 4 main components: a structural grid, delivery robots, storage bins, and an operator port. Products are stored in stacked bins within the dense aluminum grid. As a product is needed to fulfill an order, the system software and controls alert a robot to find the bin containing the item.

This AutoStore features 81 R5 robots, 16 carousel ports and 8 conveyor ports. It accommodates inventory putaway and holds 53,000 of the 65,000 SKUs that SMC stocks onsite. Additionally, the goods to person system supports two primary operations – customer orders and factory job builds -- with room for growth and plans for expansion.

In addition to a goods to person system, the SMC Indianapolis site features, Hytrol conveyor and sortation that helps to move and route products from picking to prepare for shipment. End of line automation scans, weighs, labels and seals packages to ensure that they are appropriately sorted and delivered to the correct destination.

All of these automation solutions are empowered by Bastian’s Exacta intralogistics software:

• Exacta WES (warehouse execution system) provides a single point of communication to and from the host system to promote operational efficiency.
• Exacta Touch to manage the inventory within AutoStore
• Exacta AOR (automated order routing software) diverts and merges the cartons and traveling through the facility on the conveyor.

As a result, SMC’s warehouse operations have seen a greater than 200% increase in picking speed. With their previous system, SMC was able to pick 400 to 500 lines per hour. Today, picking rates are at 1,200 – 1,400 lines per hour. 

Leveraging Automation

Automation isn’t a one-time event. Much like the evolution and growth of a business, DC and warehouse solutions need to evolve to meet needs. With the right solution, that growth can be well supported with scalable options and through continuous improvement. At Bastian Solutions, we know just how valuable it is for both our clients and us to have a strong commitment to building long-term relationships.

“Those individuals that we’ve worked with at Bastian actually understand how our business operates and it’s made it a really good partnership to bring the right solutions to us for what we need to continue to grow our business,” said Jennifer Fleming, Director of Logistics, SMC Corporation.

Author: Austin Trusty, Joe Campbell