Case Studies

Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Company Overview

Since the company began as "Book Bargains" in 1981, much has happened to bring this company from a small remainder seller into a prominent Christian publisher. When Hugh Barbour began buying and reselling other publishers' excess stock, he was introducing a new concept to Christian bookstores. Soon, though, the new company began publishing its own titles, beginning with the classic allegory The Pilgrim's Progress in 1984.

Contact Information

Address:

1810 Barbour Drive
Ulrichsville, OH 44683

Website:

www.barbourbooks.com

Implementation

Completion Date: May 2003
Broken case order selection, packing, and shipping system
Six (6) horizontal carousels
Two (2) broken case selection lines
(1) 96” deep carton flow
(1) 2-deep pallet flow
Empty carton handling (future)
Selection conveyor system with zone routing
Light based Pick-to-Light system
Packing and shipping sortation
Packing lane with dunnage machine and case sealer
Quality assurance area
Shipping lanes
DPI Direct ConneX® routing software

Client Quote:

We had a requirement to consolidate distribution from three less than optimum operations into one highly automated order selection facility. The challenge we presented to DPI was great. In essence we said, ‘We want to increase our SKU count, distribute a lot more of it faster and with a higher degree of accuracy. However,’ we added, ‘we want to do it from a much smaller location.’ DPI delivered with an innovative design that maximized cube utilization in a smaller footprint. The new system has helped us reach our objective of warehousing and distributing more SKU’s in a more productive and efficient fashion.

Doug Pope

Seaway Food Town
Division of Spartan Stores, Inc.