Engineering Studies for Strategic Growth
Client:
4Patriots
Industry:
Retail & Apparel
Solution:
Supply Chain Solutions
4Patriots is a leading producer and distributor of preparedness and survival goods including shelf-stable food, solar power systems, water filtration, health products and other accessories.
Challenge
- Product stored at 10 distribution centers operated by 8 different 3PL partners
- Food kits produced manually at 4 different 3PL sites
- Frequent service failures and split shipments
- High DC transfer costs
- Challenging to manage fast-turning food pouch inventory
Solution
- DLN performed an engineering study to generate a conceptual design tailored to 4Patriots’ unique business model that included automated kitting and dense storage
- Multiple DC’s consolidated into one site
- Automated kit assembly line with multiple robotic applications
- Semi-automated kit assembly line for flexibility
- Drive-in rack with optional AGVs for dense storage of large inventory of food pouches and finished kits
Results
- Significant labor and cost savings
- Overall project ROI in 4-5 years with IRR of 15-30%
- Eliminated split shipments and failures due to multiple ship points.
- Compared to a basic manual consolidated design:
- 30-38% reduction in operator headcount
- 9% footprint reduction
- ROI of 1.5-3.5 years with IRR > 20%
