CASE STUDY

ANDLAUER TRANSPORTATION SERVICES INC.

High-Speed Sortation Lets ATS Deliver at Triple the Capacity Material handling automation from Intelligrated enables 300% growth in daily volume with 30% fewer personnel

In regions that do not have concentrated industries, ATS has broadened its customer base by providing other market segments with the same top-notch, customized service it provides to its niche customers.

Please note: Intelligrated acquired the North and South American operations of FKI Logistex® in June 2009.

When Michael Andlauer founded the Canadian freighthandling company in 1991 that bears his name, he began with a simple idea: build a freight forwarding and shipping operation so efficient and so dedicated to service that customers would need only one transportation provider for all their needs. Andlauer struck a chord. Today, 15 years later and as part of a publicly listed income trust, Andlauer Transportation Services Inc.® (ATS) moves approximately 3.7 million pounds (1.7 million kilograms) of freight a day. Posting double-digit growth every year since its inception, ATS has grown by catering to niche industries, providing superior customer service, and innovating with material handling technology to continually increase efficiency and speed. “Our success story is based on a model that keeps our customers coming back,” Beard explains. “More than 50 percent of our customers have been with us eight years or more.” The ATS strategy is to provide whatever business-to-business freight service customers need, earning both their trust and their loyalty. ATS has used its niche marketing strategy wherever it makes the most sense. In Montreal and Toronto, ATS focuses on the health care, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and retail industries. “We are all things to some people,” says Mike Beard, ATS director of marketing.

www.intelligrated.com

A Freight Handling Formula for Success Achieving this intense customer loyalty can largely be attributed to Andlauer’s vision but also to his foresight in adopting cross-docking as his core logistics methodology. With material handling automation technology from Intelligrated® (formerly FKI Logistex®), ATS has so effectively employed cross-docking that it has quickly scaled up to meet its high-volume, highservice levels and the competitive challenges of the on-time delivery market. Evidence of this successful blend of technology and service is in ATS’s new Montreal-area cross-docked facility, where a $3.6 million USD ($4 million Canadian) investment in an automated Intelligrated material handling system. “The only cost-effective way to grow our business is by moving more freight faster in the same amount of time,” says Michel Lunardi, ATS’ Montreal-based vice president for Eastern operations and sales. ATS’s varied and demanding delivery commitments depend on meeting tight time constraints for freight pickup, transfer and receipt across its network of depots. Without material handling automation, ATS would need to build more infrastructure to keep pace with its expanding volume while maintaining service levels.

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From Boxes to Pallets to Truckloads Whether customers need to ship boxes or full pallet loads, ATS can support fluctuating size and volume demand with its 21 freight depots stretching from Montreal to Vancouver. ATS offers next-day to threeday delivery, as well as both conventional truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping. “We do truckloads if the customer needs that service, but it is not a focus for us,” Beard says. Rather, the average consignment is about 100 pounds (45 kilograms).

ATS has so effectively employed cross-docking that it has quickly scaled up to meet its high-volume, high-service levels.

Customized Intelligrated PC-based control system, integrated with ATS’ information systems, directs all the action.

Scaling Delivery Capacity with Material Handling Automation

In accommodating its retail market, Beard says that

Facilitating the intense shipping cycles at the core of

ATS works very closely with customers to process their

ATS’s business is where cross-docking and material

time-critical deliveries. Customers like video giant,

handling automation come in. ATS has found that

Blockbuster, count on ATS to have new titles in its

cross-docking and the high-speed, computer-

stores on publicized release dates. Booksellers too,

controlled package sortation system from Intelligrated

depend on the on-time delivery of bestsellers like the

are the best ways to efficiently handle increasing

hugely popular Harry Potter series.

freight volumes. Arriving packages move quickly in and out of ATS’s cross-docked depots with little time or

“We don’t deal on price; we deal on service,” Beard

space for storage or margin of error.

says. A customer using ATS will pay a little more than it would for conventional freight service; but they

While manual sorting worked well enough for most of

get better handling, more reliability and higher on-

the 15 years since ATS put its first trucks on Canadian

time delivery levels. ATS will also resolve any issue

roads, those same trucks bearing the orange-and-aqua

or problem the customer may have. “We bend over

ATS logo now move 82,000 pieces of freight a day.

backward for them,” he says. And having the capacity

Hands and eyes cannot provide the speed or accuracy

to do that depends on having the right automation

needed to match that pace.

in place.

www.intelligrated.com

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Intelligrated began its relationship in 1993 with ATS

Intelligrated equipment delivered what was needed

by installing conveyors and other ancillary equipment

to keep ATS’s business on its growth track. “Without

in several ATS facilities, when all sorting was still done

Intelligrated, we could not be in Montreal today doing

manually. ATS also turned to Intelligrated for larger,

the current volume of business,” Lunardi says.

more integrated projects as the company’s shipping volumes expanded to require automated sortation systems. “We’ve had long-standing experience with Intelligrated,” says ATS senior vice president Terry Jessup. To date, ATS has invested about USD 9 million (CAD 10.15 million) in material handling improvements from Intelligrated.

High-Speed Sorter Powers Growth in Montreal

Future Expansion Plans After the Montreal installation proved successful, ATS ordered a mirror facility in Vancouver, and Intelligrated again was selected to provide the equipment and software. A system similar to the one designed for Montreal was installed in Vancouver and began operations in early 2006 with the same productivity target and goal for return on investment. Construction on a new facility in Toronto broke ground in May 2006, and an automation system more than

In the Montreal market, ATS had outgrown its depot

twice the size of Montreal’s will be installed there.

in Lachine, Quebec. While Lachine had about 100,000

The Toronto Intelligrated project includes two high-

square feet (9,300 square meters) of space, the

speed sliding sortation systems, capable of running at

configuration was not optimized as a result of years of

500 feet (152 meters) per minute, and a Intelligrated

ad hoc renovations and additions. ATS began planning

high-speed wedge merge. It will also feature crossover

a new shipping facility in 2005 to be constructed in

between the two sorters.

the Montreal suburb of Laval. By December 2004 installation in the Laval depot had started; three

ATS plans to bring automation to its other high-volume

months later it was completed. The new facility,

depots in the near future, including centers in the

integrated by Intelligrated, has 115,000 square feet

province of Alberta, which are next on the list.

(14,415 square meters) of material handling capacity. While ATS can always add more people, trucks and Key to throughput levels achieved by ATS in Montreal

facilities, it looks to Intelligrated systems to help it

is an Intelligrated high-speed sliding shoe sorter.

cost-effectively increase capacity. With its new systems

Packages travel through the sorter at very high

in Montreal, Vancouver and, soon, Toronto, ATS can

speeds — 350 feet (107 meters) per minute — going

now scale to meet its demand.

left or right to their destination lane from the twosided sorter. The system has a maximum throughput

“It’s all about capacity and service,” says Lunardi.

capacity of 8,400 pieces per hour — more than three

“Capacity and service.”

times the capacity of the manual-sorting operation in the old facility, which processed 2,500 pieces per hour. With automation throughout the sorting process, accuracy is at 99.4 percent, and missed connections at other depots or the airport are almost nonexistent. Lunardi pronounces the Montreal system a complete success. “Last year we tripled our previous volume with 30 percent fewer personnel,” he says.

www.intelligrated.com

Key to throughput levels achieved by ATS in Montreal is Intelligrated’s high-speed sliding shoe sorter.

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“Intelligrated has the engineering expertise, software and equipment that we need.” –Michel Lunardi, ATS’ Montreal-based vice president for Eastern operations and sales

A Montreal System Snapshot (1) As pallets come in to the loading docks, they are

the action. ATS has integrated its delivery information

taken off by forklifts and pump trucks to staging

system with its customers shipping software so that

areas. From there, ATS personnel hand-depalletize

almost all parcels arrive labeled with ATS bar coding.

the packages onto one of three Intelligrated belt

Some pieces, such as packages being returned to

conveyors. The packages on these infeed conveyors

pharmaceutical companies from consumers, still must

then travel to the depot’s upper platform.

be manually bar-coded before induction.

(2) The three belt conveyors then merge into two

(5) The Intelligrated high-speed sliding shoe sorter

lines of Intelligrated Accuglide™ accumulation roller

then sends the packages to one of 38 destination lanes,

conveyor, which direct the packages through ATS

with an extra line for recirculation. Each shipping

cubing stations. There, the packages are weighed and

method for each destination is assigned to it own

cubed, and their bar codes are read.

lane. Shipments to Vancouver by ground and air are

(3) Next, a recirculation line coming back from the

recirculation feature re-inducts any parcel that cannot

sorter joins the two Accuglide lines. The three lines

be properly sorted on the first pass.

sorted to different lanes, for example. The system’s

merge into a single line that feeds the packages through an Intelligrated scanner on the depot’s

(6) Thirty-six of the lanes are Intelligrated gravity

lower level. That scanner communicates with the ATS

roller conveyor and two are Intelligrated-powered

cubing system to tell the sorter which destination line

belt conveyor. While the gravity roller conveyors

packages should be sent to.

feed staging areas for re-hand-palletization and

(4) Customized Intelligrated PC-based control software,

dock doors with high-volume deliveries destined for

integrated with ATS’s information systems, directs all

Montreal and nearby Ontario.

shrink-wrap, the powered belt conveyors feed specific

www.intelligrated.com

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514 V/B

5

513-BCR

704A-GRS 704B-GRS

4

512A

602 603 A 603 B

A

A

502

601B

2

501 601C

602 C

D

603 C 603 D

601D 601E

602 E 603 E 603 F

601F 601G

602 G 603G 603 H

601H 601J

602 J 603 J 603 K

601K 601L

602 L 603 L 603M

601M 601N

602 N 603 N 603 P 601P

601Q

602 Q

603 Q 603 R 601R

601S

602 S 603 S

3

MEZZANINE EL 4'-9"

205-PBM

604A-GRS 604B-GRS

2

204-VBS MEZZANINE EL 4'-9"

503-BCR

203A V/B 203 V/B

504 V/B

1

PLUVIAL

601T

SANITAIRE ENTR…E EAU

O

N

M

L

K

J

i

5

122-V/B 123-AGP

4

MEZZANINE EL 12'-10"

MEZZANINE EL 12'-10"

MEZZANINE EL 12'-10"

126 106 PRG PRG

MEZZANINE EL 12'-10"

3

MEZZANINE EL 4'-9"

102-V/B

112C V/B

201-A/G

MEZZANINE EL 12'-10"

9

206-BCS

502A

604C-GRS 604D-GRS

604EA-GRS 604F-GRS

604G-GRS 604H-GRS

604J-GRS 604K-GRS

604L-GRS 604M-GRS

604N-GRS 604P-GRS

604Q-GRS 604R-GRS

604S-GRS

604T-GRS 121-BCR

112A V/B

8

207 PBC 208 BCS

703 B 703

51

C

703 703

E 703 F 703

G 703 H 703

J 703 K 703

N 703 P 703

301 V/B

601A

704C-GRS 704D-GRS

704EA-GRS 704F-GRS

704G-GRS 704H-GRS

704J-GRS 704K-GRS

L 703 M 703

704N-GRS 704P-GRS

Q 703 R 703

S 703 T 703

603 T

303-BCR

101-BCR

505-BCS 112-BCR

305-AGP

202-BCS

304A V/B 304 V/B

112B-BCR

MEZZANINE EL 4'-9"

2

1

PLUVIAL SANITAIRE ENTR…E EAU

O

N

M

L

K

J

i

6

www.intelligrated.com

704L-GRS 704M-GRS

704Q-GRS 704R-GRS

704S-GRS 704T-GRS

121-BCR 302 V/B

PHASE

COLOR

10 108-PBM

307-PBM

30

107-AGP 103-AGP

124-PBM

306-AGP 305-AGP

A7 01A E 70 1E

128-PBM 127-AGP 124-PBM 123-AGP

702 701B 51 1 209-UXV

C7 01C 702 701D

702 701F

G7 01G 702 701H

702 J 70 1J 209-UXV

L 70 1L

701K

702 701M

N7 01N 702 701P

702 Q7 01Q 209-UXV S 70 1S

701R

702 701T

ENTR…E GA

Montreal Layout

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515-BCS

PHASE EB (GRAVITY WHEEL JUNCTIONS)

PHASE EA (SHIPPING SORTER)

PHASE EC (SORTER INDUCTION)

PHASE ED (RECIRCULATION)

PHASE EF (POWER AFTERSORTS)

PHASE EE (RECEIVING)

PHASE EG (GRAVITY AFTERSORTS)

602 T

EQUIPMENT LISTS MONTREAL

• Slider bed belt conveyor

• Total footage – 4300ft consisting of:

• Gravity roller conveyor

• Dual-sided high-speed sortation system running

• High-speed merge, curves, junctions, skewed sections

at speed of 350fpm • Accuglide zero-pressure photo-eye accumulation

• Entire system under control of Intelligrated PC-based software

conveyor • Belt-on-roller conveyor

TORONTO

• Slider bed belt conveyor

• Total footage – 9500ft consisting of:

• Gravity roller conveyor

• Dual-sided high-speed sortation system 400 ft long with

• High-speed merge, curves, junctions, skewed sections

39 diverts running at speed of 550 fpm • High-speed wedge merges, each with six infeed lanes

• Entire system under control of Intelligrated PCbased software

• Servo-driven belt conveyor and gap optimizers • Accuglide zero-pressure photo-eye accumulation conveyor

VANCOUVER

• Decline after-sort belt-on-roller conveyor

• Total footage – 4500ft consisting of:

• Slider bed belt conveyor

• Dual-sided high-speed sortation system running

• Gravity roller conveyor

at speed of 350 fpm • Accuglide zero-pressure photo-eye accumulation conveyor • Belt-on-roller conveyor

• Telescopic traversing unloaders • Telescopic traversing loaders • Powered spurs, curves, junctions, skewed sections • Entire system under control of Intelligrated PC-based software

www.intelligrated.com

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About Intelligrated

Intelligrated Service & Support

Intelligrated is a leading American-owned, single-point

The in-house Customer Service and Support (CSS) program

provider of automated material handling solutions with

offered by Intelligrated backs all of our products. Services

operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Headquartered

available include:

in Cincinnati, Intelligrated designs, manufactures and

•

IN-24x7® technical support hotline

•

Spare parts logistics

•

Field service

Alvey® palletizers and robotics, Real Time Solutions®

•

Equipment and system audits

order fulfillment systems, warehouse control software

•

Upgrades and modifications

and advanced machine controls—all supported by 24x7

•

Full service and maintenance contracts

•

Preventive maintenance

•

Customer training

installs complete material handling automation solutions, including IntelliSort® line sortation systems, Crisplant® tilt-tray and cross-belt sortation systems, conveyor systems,

Customer Service and Support.

Serving the warehousing, distribution, consumer product manufacturing, postal and parcel markets, Intelligrated collaborates closely with its clients to develop productivity solutions and responds to their needs throughout the life of their material handling systems.

CSS is available 24x7 to provide all of the services needed to keep your equipment running at peak efficiency. Whether it’s on-site support or troubleshooting via our hotline, Intelligrated has the most comprehensive customer support program in the industry.

Service and Parts Hotline Phone + 1 877.315.3400

Intelligrated Products and Services

www.ontimeparts.com

• Systems Integration • Sortation Systems • Conveyor Systems • Palletizing Solutions • Software & Controls • Order Fulfillment Systems • 24x7 Technical Support • Design & Build

Headquarters in Mason, Ohio

For more information, contact:

7901 Innovation Way, Mason, Ohio 45040 + 1 866.936.7300 [email protected] www.intelligrated.com

CSATS01 12.09 © 2010 Intelligrated. All rights reserved.