Performance Health prides themselves on providing products and services that make people’s lives better. By servicing the post-op and rehabilitation sector of the medical field, as well as athletes, they’ve been able to do just that. However, with increasing demand, their distribution center needed some help to fulfill orders more efficiently.
In 2023, Performance Health set a goal to transform their supply chain in order to drive productivity and efficiency. They were given a short time frame to accomplish this goal and so speed was of the essence. Naturally, they coined the plan “Project Jesse”, named after Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens. With such an aggressive goal and timeline, Performance Health knew automation would be key to getting the results they needed.
“We wanted to see where we could automate functions and make the process easier, from onboarding our people to eliminating some of the manual processing and labor that maybe doesn't drive efficiencies or drive impact to our customers,” said Randy Jaunzemis, VP of Distribution at Performance Health.”
It was important to not only streamline the packaging process in every aspect – but to speed it up while increasing quality and efficiency. Performance Health also had goals to cut down on packaging waste, reduce dim weight and shipping costs, and optimize labor throughout their distribution center.
Performance Health’s search led them to automate both their packaging and picking process with a combined solution from Packsize and Ocado Intelligent Automation (OIA). Packsize’s X5® machine creates a right-sized box for every order as soon as it comes in. The boxes are then loaded onto one of OIA’s 32 CHUCK Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) which then navigate around the warehouse alongside employees, allowing items to be picked directly into the appropriate boxes in the most efficient way possible.
Before Project Jesse, Performance Health’s picking and packaging process was very manual. They were working with a limited assortment of 35 box sizes that had to be erected by hand. Labels were printed, sorted, and applied by hand. Because of oversizing, boxes sometimes needed to be stuffed with additional void fillers and, at best, were offering a poor unboxing experience for the end customer. When it came to picking, employees would have to push bread carts around the warehouse to find the products for each order, scanning items with a handheld RF gun.
“The process flow before we introduced the new technology brought on by OIA and PackSize... I love that I can look back and say that it's in our past,” said Jaunzemis.
Today, Performance Health’s distribution center has done a complete 180. The Packsize X5 produces fully erected, ready-to-pack, right-sized boxes for every single order as it comes into the WMS. In just the first six months after installing the X5, Performance Health produced more than 3,000 unique box sizes – compared to the 35 options they were choosing from before. The X5 can also create up to 500 boxes every hour, meaning speed is never an issue for the box making process.
“The X5 is one of Packsize's most automated pieces of technology and it's the flagship piece of equipment for automated packaging in the world,” said Nick O’Connor, Area Manager at Packsize. “Not only can the X5 right-size the boxes, but it can also put them out really quickly, which is going to be very important for Performance Health in their downstream processes.”
When it comes to picking, the process only gets better. The CHUCK robots are loaded up with the right-sized boxes, and then intuitively map out a path through the warehouse, allowing products to be picked into their respective boxes. The process couldn’t be more intuitive – in fact, virtually any employee can facilitate the picking process with the help of CHUCK. Here’s how it works:
“AMRs basically do all of the non-value-added travel for humans, and then they also lead humans through their workflows once they meet them in the aisles,” said Kristen Troglione, Sales Director at OIA. “It creates operator efficiencies by eliminating the long walk, making the time at the pick phase shorter and increasing the productivity while they're at the pick phase.”
Since going live with OIA in December 2023, Performance Health has increased their productivity by 97% and reduced the labor required to pick by 50%. They have also seen a reduction in training time for pickers from two weeks to just two hours.
Both the Packsize and OIA solutions are impressive on their own – but together they truly are the perfect solution to save time and money while increasing efficiency throughout the packing and picking process.
“Packsize has great synergy with the OIA CHUCK system, because we can put out boxes faster than any person or group of people could induct into the system,” said O’Connor. “The CHUCK robots are really fast at going through their picking process, but they have to be loaded with boxes in order to do that. So not only does the Packsize machine put out the proper right-size boxes, but it also puts them out faster than any group of people could do so that no CHUCK robot is ever waiting on boxes and it can go on and do its job.”
Without Packsize, CHUCK robots would have to be loaded with often oversized stock boxes, allowing less boxes to fit on each CHUCK and slowing down the picking process. Packsize makes the smallest possible box for each order, allowing for space to be optimized on the CHUCK so more orders can be filled, faster and more efficiently.
“Companies typically choose to work with OIA and Packsize together because we allow them to eliminate costs, both downstream and upstream,” said Troglione. “Packsize optimizes downstream by creating the right sized carton first that can be inducted directly onto CHUCK. Picking to a Packsize carton reduces space used on CHUCK and allows us to eliminate labor at the pack out area and to save on dimensional weight charges. Picking with CHUCK de-risks the business by reducing the reliance on labor and reducing training time required for new employees.”
One of the biggest benefits of Right-Sized Packaging On Demand is the impact it has on the planet. On average, stock boxes are 40% oversized, leaving tons of wasted space and, therefore, wasting corrugated packaging material. On top of that, oversized boxes often need to be stuffed with additional plastic void fillers, such as bubble wrap or packing peanuts, to prevent objects inside from shifting during transit. All of this wasted material adds up faster than you think! By right-sizing, businesses like Performance Health are able to use the least amount of corrugated for each box and can often eliminate the need for void fillers all together.
“Sustainability for Performance Health is an initiative that we have going on throughout our entire organization, throughout the world for us,” said Jaunzemis. “The Packsize solution has surprised us in what it has done for us.”
The benefits of right-sizing extend beyond the physical box – both for the planet and for your bottom line. Right-sized boxes take up less space on trucks. They also have a lower dim weight than oversized packages – meaning businesses are able to save money on their shipping costs. For Performance Health, this was a big focus with Project Jesse – but the changes it brought them were even more than they expected.
“Our immediate focus with the Packsize solution was getting a right size package for every shipment that goes out of here, reducing our corrugated usage,” said Jaunzemis. “The focus was really driven on dimensional weight charges from our parcel providers. So, it's certainly provided that – but it started to ripple effect from there. The Packsize solution that enabled us to ship fewer packages to our customers, and it helps them with less labor, less cartons on their docks. But I think when we look from a sustainability standpoint, we're shipping fewer trucks out of our doors, that's less trucks on the roads and less emissions, which really enhances the global environment for all of our customers.”
With less trucks out the door and a significant reduction in overall dimensional weight, Performance Health has experienced substantial savings on outbound logistics. And, with the Packsize and OIA solutions working together within their distribution center, they’ve saved on labor, time, and materials, all while increasing productivity and efficiency tenfold.
“I think what really made this project successful was the ability for PackSize and OIA to work very seamlessly together and integrate and share decision-making across both platforms,” said Jaunzemis. “We're able to leverage the best of what OIA has to offer and the best of Packsize and really bring those two decision-making solutions together and integrate with our WMS system.”
“Both Packsize and OIA work wonderfully as independent systems – but when you put us together, we ensure that there's no bottleneck in any other processes,” said O’Connor. “With the speed that the X5 can produce a box, it ensures that no CHUCK robot is ever waiting to be filled, and with the speed at which OIA can actually go and pick the orders, it ensures that no Packsize box is waiting on the conveyor. When you put both Packsize and OIA together, you have a seamless flow from when the box is created to when it gets to the final pack out station with very minimal touches and minimal interaction and opportunity for error.”
Want to know if a Packsize integrated solution is right for your warehouse? Reach out to one of our representatives today and request an evaluation.
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