Claire’s Stores, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of fashionable jewelry and accessories for young women, teens, tweens, and kids. The company sells jewelry products, including earrings, necklaces, bracelets, body jewelry, and rings, as well as offers ear-piercing services. Claire’s Stores, Inc. operates approximately 3,469 stores in 37 countries throughout North America and Europe.

Claire’s Stores has increased company sales by offering fashionable jewelry and accessories at general merchandise and specialty retail stores chains.

Therefore, a new dedicated piece pick sub-system was needed to accommodate the increased capacity required for this business.

The order fulfillment solution is a piece pick system for discrete order picking. The configuration includes six pick zones, 30 bays, and locations for approximately 400 stock keeping units. A pick-to-light slot display for each SKU directs picking activity. The system is configurable by number of associates, zones, and SKUs to accommodate daily volume.

After the orders for retail store replenishment are received and processed by the Warehouse Management System (WMS), a download to the Dematic Warehouse Execution System (WES) occurs. The Dematic WES controls and directs the picking process.

The system forms order cartons for the appropriate cube size to accommodate the order. A barcode label is placed on each order carton. Which acts as a license plate linked to the retail store order.

When operators arrive at the first zone in the pick module, they scan the barcode on the order carton. This activates the lights on the pick faces in the zone. The operator picks the items for an order and places them inside the order carton. The light-directed picking technology indicates the quantity of items to pick.

When all picking for an order in that zone is complete, the bay display device for that zone indicates COMPLETE. This process is repeated for each zone. Next, the completed order carton is placed on a pallet for outbound parcel shipping.

Dematic WES software directs and monitors the dedicated retail store order fulfillment module. It provides reports on overall or individual pick performance as well as other operational data like percentage orders complete. Supervisors can monitor and adjust system parameters on interface screens:

• Work Location: The global system overview displays, line by line, the current work in each zone as well as providing drill down capability into specific work assignments.
• Picker Performance Reports, Utilisation: For a given day or time slice the percentage utilisation of each operator.
• Picker Performance Reports, Summary: Displays cumulative time spent in all activities, unit, and item statistics by operator.
• Add SKUs: Supports unlimited additions of SKUs and locations.

Dematic WES software manages and directs the pick-to-light system. It is a scalable logistics software platform for the control of order fulfillment. Key attributes include:

• Interface to WMS host
• Receive order downloads
• Order planning
• Manage light-directed picking
• Real-time visibility and control

The Dematic WES software includes dashboards with a real-time view of the system with information such as progress of work against execution plan and expected completion time.

1. Order start — carton forming

• Label applied to order cartons
• Position empty order cartons at the “order start” point in the pick module

2. Pick by light — filling the orders

• Order picker walks to first pick zone
• Barcode on order carton scanned
• Lights at pick slots activated
• Items picked
• Confirm button pressed
• Process repeats for next order

3. Packing workstations — completing the customer orders

• Check, pack, and seal cartons
• Completed order cartons placed on shipping pallets

This process improvement — along with the light-directed picking technology and software — have increased efficiency, order accuracy, and employee productivity while reducing order processing time. In addition, the order fulfilment system is scalable and can accommodate peaks in volume as well as future growth. 

Key attributes include:

• Configure for daily volume:
  • One to six operators
  • Discrete pick or pick and pass
  • Change SKUs in pick module
• Pre-engineered system:
  • Defined functionality
  • Consistent performance
• Facilitates improved labor productivity and ergonomics
• Pick rates: 160 to 300 pieces/operator/hour
• Scan validation enables order and inventory accuracy
• Modular design: re-configurable and re-usable asset
• Fast/easy install and start-up
• Real-time visibility, control, and insight