CASE STUDY

Dicks Sporting Goods

Sortation and conveyor upgrades give Dicks a competitive edge

automation that delivers

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CASE STUDY

Sortation and conveyor upgrades

give Dicks a competitive edge
Dicks Sporting Goods implements upgrades conveyor and sortation
system in expanded 725,000-square-foot facility

Dual sided IntelliSort shoe sorter.

History
Dicks Sporting Goods was founded by its namesake Dick Stack when he was just 18
years old in 1948. Stack worked at an Army/Navy store in Binghamton, New York,
when his idea of expanding its product line to include fishing supplies was mocked
by the owner. Relating his disappointment to his family that night, his grandmother
decided to give him her lifes savings and instructed him to follow his dreams
with it. Stack opened the first Dicks as a bait & tackle fishing supply store that
same year, and expanded into general sports merchandise in the late 1950s.
In the early 1990s, Dicks Sporting Goods began chain
operations, opening additional stores across Upstate New
York, before moving its headquarters to Pittsburgh in 1994.
In 2004, the company acquired forty-eight locations from Galyans Trading
Company, another sporting goods store. In 2007, they acquired Golf Galaxy which
operated 65 golf superstores.

Dicks Sporting Goods

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Through its 340 store locations and a growing internet order business, Dicks provides
authentic full-line sporting goods with a broad assortment of brand name sporting
goods equipment, apparel, and footwear in a specialty-store environment.

The facility
To accommodate the requirements of the facility and system, Dicks Sporting
Goods expanded the Plainfield facility from 360,000 square feet to 725,000
square feet. The system consists of receiving, backstock, semi-bulk, quality audit/
ticketing/open to hang, active/singles picking, return to vendor/claims, breakpack,
store consolidation, and shipping.
Intelligrated developed an implementation plan with minor tie-ins performed at
strategic times. Dicks Sporting Goods continued to use the existing system until
new areas of the system were ready for tie-in. The outcome resulted in a brand new
conveyor system in an expanded building with no interruptions to existing operations.

The system
The key components of the system include a high speed IntelliSort sliding shoe
sorter in the receiving and shipping areas. The breakpack sorter is a dual-sided
high speed IntelliSort shoe sorter. A high speed IntelliMerge is located in the
receiving area and the shipping area. The merges and single-sided sorters are
capable of running 630 feet per minute and are designed to sustain a throughput
rate of 180 cartons per minute based on a 24 average length case. The dual sided
IntelliSort shoe sorter is capable of running 550 feet per minute and is designed
to sustain a throughput rate of 100 cartons per minute.
The system is controlled via Intelligrateds InControlWare software that
communicates with the Warehouse Management System (WMS), which is located
at Dicks Sporting Goods corporate headquarter in Pennsylvania. Support
center lets corporate trouble shoot system problems. ViewCenter, a 3D graphical
representation of the system, provides ease of monitoring the system real time.
Receiving consists of 18 uptake lines for conveying cases from trucks located at the
receiving dock. These 18 lines merge into 3 takeaway lines that feed the receiving
IntelliMerge merge lines. Also merging at this location is the recirculation line from
the receiving sorter and a line from backstock. The receiving IntelliSort sliding shoe
sorter has 6 divert locations. The diverts include 3 cross-dock lines, 1 no-read/
jackpot line, 1 breakpack line, and 1 ticketing location.
Cases destined for the cross-dock lines transport directly to the shipping IntelliMerge
merge lines. The breakpack line conveys product to the dual sided IntelliSort

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CASE STUDY

IntelliMerge in receiving.

shoe sorter for delivery to the put-to-store locations. Cases destined for ticketing
transport to the mezzanine level located directly above the breakpack area. No-read
or jackpot cases convey to a floor location near the first receiving uptake line.
The breakpack area has 12 modules consisting of a combination of gravity and
powered conveyor with shelving locations for store cartons. Operators put
merchandise into store cartons via RF. Finished store cartons are pushed onto a
powered takeaway conveyor and transported to the carton seal area. Empty cartons
are placed onto an empty corrugate conveyor for transport to the trash baler.
The ticketing area has banks of gravity roller conveyor feeding workstations
where the quality audit, ticketing, or open-to-hang operation is performed.
Cartons are manually pushed down active lanes to the operators. Finished cases
are placed onto a powered takeaway conveyor for transport back to the receiving
sorter and onto the next processing destination.
Full, open cartons that are destined for shipping first travel to the carton seal
location. The carton seal area has an Intellisort pop up wheel sorter for roundrobin sorting to any of the 5 carton seal lines. Outbound sealed cases travel to the
shipping IntelliMerge merge lines.
Shipping at Dicks Sporting Goods Plainfield, Indiana facility is via palletized
loads. The IntelliSort shoe sorter shipping sorter has 33 aftersort diverts. The
diverts are clustered into 8 banks of 4 divert lines. The last divert on the sorter is

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CASE STUDY

for backstock and also serves as the no-read divert. Diverted cases travel off the
sorter to gravity run out lanes where the cases are scanned by the operators and
placed onto the appropriate store pallet.
Cartons that are not successfully diverted travel to the recirculation line located at
the end of the sorter. Full pallets are transported via fork lift trucks or pallet jacks
to stretch-wrap machines. The pallets are wrapped and staged in the bulk storage
area and are now ready for shipment to the store.
Intelligrated developed and delivered an implementation plan that
allowed Dicks Sporting Goods continuous uninterrupted operations.
The passion and flexibility that Intelligrated provided was refreshing and
appreciated, said Bill Palmire, Sr. Director of Distribution.

Benefits achieved with new system

Achieved a 20% increase in productivity in the facilitys
breakpack area.
Achieved a 10% increase in productivity in the facilities receiving
area, with increased volume.
Experienced zero down time to existing operations during
project implementation.

Paramount
Dicks
Sporting
Citrus
Goods

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About Intelligrated
Intelligrated is a leading North American-based, single-source provider of intelligent
automated material handling solutions that drive distribution and fulfillment
productivity for retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers around the world.
Through a broad portfolio of automation equipment, software, service and support,
Intelligrated solutions optimize processes, increase efficiency and give businesses a
competitive edge.
Intelligrated designs, manufactures, integrates and installs complete material
handling automation solutions including conveyor systems, sortation systems,
palletizers, robotics and order picking technologies all managed by advanced
machine controls and software. Solutions include industry-leading Intelligratedmanufactured Alvey, RTS and IntelliSort brand equipment and Knighted
warehouse management (WMS), warehouse control (WCS) and labor
management software.
Every project is backed by Intelligrateds 24X7 multilingual technical support and
access to lifecycle service through a network of national, regional and local service
centers. From concept to integration to lifecycle support, Intelligrated automation
delivers distribution and fulfillment success.

For more information, contact Intelligrated:

+ 1 866.936.7300
info@intelligrated.com
www.intelligrated.com
7901 Innovation Way, Mason, Ohio 45040

DSGCS02 11.13 Intelligrated. All rights reserved.

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