Just as Arbonne worked to eliminate the "middleman" in their selling process, the firm recently revamped their entire shipping, packing, and distribution system, finding extraordinary efficiencies through their new technology solution.

The solutions provided by QC Software ( www.qcsoftware.com ) enables companies to streamline their warehouse operations with the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry ensuring increased corporate profitability. With a commitment to total customer satisfaction QC Software is the obvious choice for warehouse control, order management, and inventory management needs.

Prior to its technological revamp, Arbonne distributed its products utilizing minimal technology in a "pick and pass" operation. This means that every tote was manually processed through the system and had to pass through every pick zone. Two pick lanes were operated which employed a roller conveyor passing through the pick lane and Pick-to-Light picking technology. Pick-to-light is utilized in high speed/high volume environments. Light bars are situated at every pick location; they inform the warehouse personnel as to the carton identifier as well as the items to be picked, and the quantity. Interfacing with the warehouse management system ( WMS ) was also a concern due to the fact that the orders were downloaded directly to the Pick-to-Light system and no management statistics such as order progress and pick rates were provided.

According to Cutler, Other inefficiencies of the pick and pass process were overcome by implementing zone skipping. Cartons traveling on an automated conveyor are now routed only to the required pick zones, decreasing the actual throughput time and drastically reducing the number of times a carton is touched throughout the picking process.

Imagine driving down the road and stopping at every exit, even though it's not your exit, just because it's there. That's what zone skipping prevents, according to Tom Verzi, vice-president of QC Software.