Customer Case Study: Zappos.com
Online retailer Zappos.com has a corporate philosophy called WOW. The name reflects how Zappos believes in WOWing its customers through an exceptional online experience and superior customer service. The WOW philosophy is very evident at the Zappos distribution center in Shepherdsville, Ky. The facility employs Kiva’s solution to perform direct-to-customer distribution of footwear, handbags and accessories, as well as the newer product lines that Zappos now offers, including apparel, housewares, electronics, and camping and outdoor equipment.
ItemFetch | Split-Case Picking
Kiva ItemFetch™enables operators to pick items from cases into totes or cartons. Mobile robotic drive units bring inventory pods to workers who use a simple pick-to-light/put-to-light interface to fill each order — the operator completes the entire order without moving. In addition, you control the sequence in which items are retrieved, allowing heavy-to-light box loading or pick-to-plan-o-gram for store restocking.
OrderFetch | Shipping Sortation
Kiva OrderFetch™ allows completed split-case orders to move directly to the shipping area at the right time, in the right sequence. Split-case orders are picked into cartons or totes on shipping pods. When the orders are complete, the pod is either temporarily stored or travels directly to the dock door, where it is combined with other split-case and full-case orders to fill a particular truck.
CaseFetch | Case Picking
Kiva CaseFetch™ gives operators random access to any pallet in the DC, allowing them to pick full cases as well as individual items. When a pallet enters the building, it is placed onto a pod base that is moved to storage by a mobile robotic drive unit. This system also allows for dock-to-stock of mixed-pallet receipts, where cases are stored in smaller case-reserve locations.
Warehouse Tour
See a Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System in operation at this split-case fulfillment center. Operators are shown picking and packing customer orders with high speed and accuracy.
How to move your Warehouse in a Weekend
One customer moved an entire Kiva order fulfillment operation to a new building over a weekend, using only a handful of humans. Workers logged out from their stations Friday night and came back to a new, larger facility on Monday.
Scalability, Flexibility, Portability: Zappos Re-Writes the Rules for Warehouse Design The Aberdeen Group | PDF 365 KB
Online retailer Zappos.com announced recently that it plans to install the Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System at its distribution center in Shepardsville, Kentucky, with a planned go-live date of June 1, 2008. Aberdeen research indicates that flexibility is nearly as important as visibility and improved throughput as a factor influencing distribution center system design, and the Kiva system will allow high speed, semi-automated order fulfillment for the apparel and accessories portion of Zappos' business.
