Hanes Australasia | Overhead conveying system | Case Study

Omnichannel distribution center covering Australia-wide

Hanes Australasia is home to some of Australia’s most recognized fashion and lifestyle brands including Bonds, Berlei and Sheridan. Following thorough planning, construction and implementation phases with SSI SCHAEFER, apparel and homewares retailer Hanes Australasia’s has expanded its Australian omnichannel distribution center (DC). After 12 months being fully operational the systems is proving it is the right solution for Hanes Australasia, both now and for the future. Orders are moving fast through the DC, more than doubling capacity and output, and positioning the facility to handle not only the current business peaks, but also the future growth trajectory.

Covering 44,000 m², the facility in Melbourne’s western suburbs, handles nation-wide orders as the only warehouse facility in the Hanes Australasia network within Australia. The expanded facility handles over 50,000 SKU’s and dispatches over 100,000 lines per day, across all three business channels - wholesale, retail store and e-commerce.

The challenges

Hanes Australasia approached SSI SCHAEFER, explaining that they wanted to increase daily capacity by 60%. At the time, Hanes Australasia was working 3 shifts, 24/7, thereby making it hard to accommodate order growth and to complete preventative equipment maintenance. Additionally, during Covid-19, Hanes Australasia's e-commerce orders increased, with a tripling of order volume. The existing multi-level storage system handled the increased volume and order peaks well, but Hanes Australasia needed more storage to prepare for the increasing output of the facility and the further growth trajectory the Hanes Australasia business had for the Australian operation.

Higher level of automation required

SSI SCHAEFER had completed multiple modernization projects at Hanes Australasia's Melbourne facility over many years. The new solution from SSI SCHAEFER kept existing equipment, but introduced a single-level shuttle system SSI Cuby as well as the pouch sorter system SSI Carrier. The shuttle system comprises 8 aisles, 16 lifts and 168 shuttles and it provides space for 67,000 storage locations. Both systems achieve Hanes Australasia's desired capacity increase and support the different business channels. This is the first overhead conveying system SSI SCHAEFER has installed in the Asia Pacific region.

Automated processing of online orders

The SSI Carrier pouch sortation system processes online orders in general, and particularly with major peak online days, makes Black Fridays much more seamless. The new system with 15,000 pouches also delivers significant efficiency gains, reducing the number of times operators need to handle stock and online orders. Hanes Australasia decants incoming stock into bins for storage. At the 12 pouch loading stations, the orders are picked from a bin to a pouch in the SSI Carrier system. Once the orders arrive at the 23 pouch unloading stations, they are repacked to satchels for shipping. With the new pouch and online sortation system Hanes Australasia has upped their commitment to their online customers: They are well on their way to achieving Hanes Australasia's new target to get an order out the door, same day, 90% of the time.

“The pouch sortation for us, it was not only leading-edge, but it also was the right fit for our requirement for e-commerce.”

Sebastian Siccita

Group General Manager Logistics, Hanes Australasia

Sebastian Siccita

Group General Manager Logistics, Hanes Australasia

Comprehensive equipment

In addition to the overhead conveying and shuttle systems, the solution also includes SSI Schaefer proprietary software WAMAS, goods-to-person pick stations, over 50,000 bins and expanded conveyor system as well as handling systems. The existing decanting area has been expanded to allow products to be fed into either the shuttle systems or the SSI Carrier pouch sorter system. The new system adds 8 Advanced Pick Stations, two-level, increasing the total number on site to 13. The conveyor connection allows stock transfer of SKU bins giving more flexibility across the entire solution.

Best prevention – Resident Maintenance

With the expansion, Hanes Australasia committed to continuing their maintenance partnership with SSI SCHAEFER, based on the quality of service, support, reliability, and improvements the Customer Services team has provided over the previous years. Hanes Australasia has now moved to 5 technicians plus Team Leader, with service coverage from the resident maintenance (RM) team 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, to match the site operating times. The RM team not only provides reactive maintenance services, but also proactive services including a continuous improvement program, spare parts planning and provision and end-of-life planning.

How does efficient preventive maintenance work?

Take a look behind the scenes at Hanes Australasia. Ronvic Abrigo, RM Site Team Leader at SSI SCHAEFER, provides insights into the challenges and tasks of his on-site maintenance team. Have a look!

A future-proof solution providing faster fulfilment and increasing storage capacity

DESCRIPTION	SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Picking System	13 Advanced Pick Stations
Number of Stored Locations	67,000 bins 15,000 pouches
Shuttle Systems	Single-level Shuttle System SSI Cuby Multi-level Shuttle System
Overhead Conveying System	SSI Carrier Pouch Sorter System
Software	WAMAS
Maintenance	Resident Maintenance: 3 shifts, 24/5 coverage, 5 team members + team leader Visited Maintenance: additional support and out-of-hours