Pepsi Bottling Group

Pepsi owns 261 distribution centers in the US. Many are part of bottling operations, as is this one in Atlanta. This one stocks around 400 skus. Pepsi tries to keep no more than eight days of inventory on hand.

The DC picks cartons of beverages onto pallets and then load the pallets directly into waiting trailers. The facility recently converted to “pick-to-voice” and reports that training time has been reduced. But without a pick list, experienced workers are no longer able to plan convenient routes. They must rely on the control system to do this.

The warehouse management system organizes the customer requests into pallets and then directs the picker to the appropriate skus to build this pallet.

There are about 16 order pickers working within 7 aisles. The forward pick area is restocked in the morning after visual check. A popular sku will have several pallets floor-stacked in the forward area and “letdowns” are performed as needed.

There are two kinds of customer orders: warehouse transfers are typically full pallets that are being moved from this manufacturing site to an outlying DC; and regular orders, which are stores or other outlets for the product.

Order-picking Order-pickers ride through the forward pick area, picking cartons to pallets.	Order-picking Pick-to-voice has reduced the learning curve, but pickers cannot plan their own routes.	Pick aisle Orders for small customers flow toward the doors, orders for large customers flow in the reverse direction.
Cans are picked first Cans provide a stable platform on which to stack subsequent items.	2-liter bottles These are especially popular during holidays and Superbowl.	A properly built pallet Cans on bottom, then 2-liter bottles, then smaller bottles.
53-foot trailer These carry customer orders, especially high-volume ones, for delivery to the store.	Only about 50% full There is not enough height to stack pallets, so they are loaded 1-high, 2-across, 11-deep.	Side-loading trailer Customer orders are aggregated and product “picked-to-truck”. At delivery, the truck is picked like a small warehouse.
Honeycombing Space at the front of a lane is unusable until the lane is empty and can be reassigned.	3-deep floor stack Most product stacks well and is stored in lanes of various depths.	Pallet rack Non-carbonated product is at greater risk of damage if stacked so expensive skus are put in rack.