Hanover Direct

Hytrol Distributor:  Electro Mechanical Handling (Lynchburg, VA)

Up and Running on a Three-Week Turnaround!

What do you do when you need a conveyor system up and running fast-not in a matter of months, but in a few short weeks? That was the question Hanover Direct faced at its catalog fulfillment center in Roanoke, Virginia.

Hanover Direct is a well-known direct marketing and mail order company. Among the products offered through its catalogs are apparel, gifts and novelties, bedding and linen, and home furnishings.

The company wanted to improve space utilization and increase productivity at the Roanoke facility by adding a new multi-level conveyorized picking area. The first equipment distributor contacted assured Hanover Direct that it could get the equipment installed by the target date. But as that date got closer, it became apparent that the distributor was not going to be able to live up to the commitment.

Suddenly faced with an intense time crunch, Hanover Direct called Electro Mechanical Handling (EMH), a distributor of Hytrol equipment based in Lynchburg, Virginia. Barry Blankenship of EMH received the call on a Thursday afternoon and immediately went to work reviewing the specifications and evaluating the equipment requirements. By the following afternoon, he had a quote-and a firm delivery date that met the customer's requirement-ready for Hanover Direct.

The distributor was able to make that commitment because of the capabilities of Hytrol's FasTrak Distribution Center in St. Louis. That center provides expedited shipment of a wide range of conveyor parts and equipment. In fact, it can offer 24-hour shipping on more than 50 conveyor models in over 2,400 sizes.

All of the required equipment was ordered through the FasTrak Center and delivered to the Roanoke facility within two weeks. Installation proceeded as soon as the equipment arrived.

The new system is straightforward and effective. It basically consists of a horizontal belt conveyor installed on a mezzanine level where apparel items are picked. Product travels on this conveyor to a series of chutes, and then onto another belt conveyor enroute to the packing stations. Sitting atop the conveyor line in the picking area is a TH trash belt conveyor used to keep that section of distribution center litter-free.

The conveyor operation has worked efficiently and trouble-free since its installation in the fall of 1997. It has allowed Hanover Direct to substantially increase throughput at Roanoke, while at the same time making more effective use of available space. Perhaps most important, these benefits were quick in coming. From the initial phone call to EMH to final installation, the system was up and running smoothly in three short weeks!