Modern Materials Handling - November 2012

modern system report• Put-to-light technology to consolidateand pack large or over-sizedorders; and• Mobile computing and bar codescanning.MSC rolled out the solutionin phases, starting with its640,000-square-foot distribution centerin Jonestown, Pa. Once a processproved itself in Jonestown, similarchanges were made in facilities inGeorgia, Indiana and Nevada.As a result, MSC was able to maketwo important changes to its operations.First, the new system reduced theorder cycle time, what MSC refers to asits print-to-ship time, from more than3 hours to about 45 minutes. Print-toshipmeasures the time from when anorder is released from the warehousemanagement system (WMS) until it’sready to go out the door.Second, that reduced cycle timeallowed MSC to offer one order cut-offtime for same-day shipping to its customers,no matter where they are locatedin the country. It also now offers nextdaydelivery for orders placed before 8p.m. ET—at no additional cost.“We were able to lower our cost toserve and exceed our customer serviceobjectives,” says Jones.Growth and diminishing returnsToday with $2.3 billion in annual sales,the company serves more than 300,000industrial customers from distributionSmall parts are stored in a reserve storage area.In the slow-moving SKU area, merchandise selectors pick to pallets fromman-up lift trucks.centers in Jonestown, Atlanta, Elkhartand Reno. Each distribution center isin the 600,000- to 700,000-square-footsize with the ability to scale to morethan 1 million square feet.Customer service has been thecornerstone of MSC’s value propositionsince the company was foundedin 1941. It published its first catalogand opened its first distribution centerin 1964. There have been many firstssince then: MSC was one of the firstdistributors to develop a computerizedinventory management and order processingsystem; one of the first to establisha fully integrated quality assurancedepartment; and one of the first to offerone- and two-day UPS delivery.MSC launched its hallmark samedayshipping guarantee in 1991. Whenthe program was first launched, Jonesexplains, different regions of the countryhad different order cutofftimes. Some regions, forinstance, could place ordersup until 8 p.m. ET whileothers had 1 p.m. ET cutofftimes. While the varyingcut-off times could be confusing,especially to nationalcustomers with operations indifferent parts of the country,MSC was able to makegood on its promise beforethe explosion of e-commercebecause orders tended tocome in steadily throughoutthe day.“When most of our cus-20 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 2 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com