East Coast Success Story: 266K+ cartons per day

The LMS (Lafayette Magnetic Sortation)

In early 2021, Lafayette Engineering was approached by an upcoming industry leader with the request of providing a new system for meet their expanding east coast growth.  A facility capable of processing 260K cartons per day, including cartons and Polybags.   

LMS Magnetic Divert Switch

We designed and fulfilled this request.  We partnered with Eurosort for Polybags and Hytrol Conveyor for Cartons.  Together with our partners, we implemented and created a seamless flow of products from receiving, capturing weights, dimensions, and barcodes, to outbound destinations.  We implemented our LMS Magnetic Divert Switch allowing faster response speeds on the Outbound Sorters.   

LMS System

Our ConveyorWorks software team worked with the customer’s WMS to provide a custom solution supporting their on-demand technology requirements to track each package and ensuring that each Carton and Polybag successfully reaching the correct outbound destination, ensuring an on-time delivery to their customers.    

In an amazing feat, this facility opened in time for peak season and boasted an output of 266K cartons per day within the first month of becoming fully operational. Since then, this facility has continued to achieve record production numbers, surpassing the original goals and expectations.  We are honored to continue and cultivate growth with this customer and assist with them additional facilities across the U.S.   

Pitman Creek

Pittman Creek

Modern Materials Handling Magazine Article by Chad Young on Scribd

During the height of a global pandemic, Pitman Creek, one of the largest distributors of freshwater fishing tackle in North America, opted to consolidate two former warehouses and operate out of a new state-of-the-art facility in Stanford KY. From the beginning, this project was an unusual circumstance for Lafayette Engineering, due in part to challenging lead times and protocols for covid-19. And one huge advantage: being in such close proximity to our main office. 90% of our workload comes from out of state, so being located 15 minutes from the job site gave us a few options we typically don’t have. The LEI team took on the Mechanical installation, Electrical installation, Electrical Engineering, PLC controls, Human-machine interface, and Warehouse Control System, and a fixed deadline fast approaching.

With two panels on-site, we worked with the Allen Bradley Plc. in order to control the conveyor system. Sick Cameras were used to scan the totes in the picking area and boxes in shipping. It was the first time Lafayette using the Balluf communication blocks but in the end, they seemed to be a solid solution. And using the Panther P9 to print and apply the labels. After scanning, Lafayette’s Conveyor Works was used to deliver the message for the PLC to divert to which. Going through the right-angle Narrow Belt we were able to achieve XX rate with the customer spec XX.

In all, this upgrade resulted in a 250% improvement in picking, managing 40 units per minute, with shipping handling over 20 units per minute. With the help of the Hytrol Integrator HOJ Engineering, we were able to meet the customer’s deadline and hand over the system prior to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear officially opening the building in a ceremony on Oct. 28, 2021. This article from Modern Materials Handling Magazine highlights many of our triumphs in helping Pitman Creek to achieve its highest level of efficiency to date.