PAA sees a 100% boost in distribution centre performance and productivity after working with SCA

Peak Achievement Athletics (PAA), owner of legacy brands Bauer Hockey, Easton Baseball and Cascade/Maverik Lacrosse, is a leader in the sports equipment and apparel industry. To meet increasing customer demand through its ecommerce channel, the company needed to improve operations at its 430,000 square-foot distribution centre in Plainfield, Indianapolis. 

Working directly with the team at PAA, SCA led the distribution centre turnaround. The first step was assessing the full distribution centre operations to better understand the organization’s systems, processes and people, as well as the facility layout and seasonal product flow. SCA then worked hand-in-hand with a strike team to identify any influences PAA’s customer channel requirements, HR, finance, IT, and inbound/outbound transportation might have on the DC operations. 

By the end of the first week, SCA had identified the key initiatives that would deliver quick operational and productivity improvements. The team then got to work on executing the 12-week turnaround solution, which included significant changes to picking, packing, layout, equipment, people, systems, safety and infrastructure. 

To improve efficiency, SCA focused on the product slotting and the picking process. This included creating primary pick bins for all skus, rightsizing of pick bins to ensure availability and balance replenishment workload, and effectively zoning the pick area to reduce pickers’ travel time. 

To improve the product flow, SCA sourced new equipment and redesigned the packing stations, implemented 5S methodology, and automated the flow of goods and information through the use of powered conveyors and new system developments. 

At the heart of every organization are its people. In its people strategy, SCA instructed PAA to rebalance its ratio of full time to temporary personnel and implement performance management training, weekly individual KPI reporting, and a new hire ratings and selection process. 

To monitor performance, and the impact of the changes being made, productivity targets were established, and operational performance reporting implemented.