SMC Corporation Indiana Distribution Center

Project Overview

SMC Corporation, founded in 1959 in Japan, has grown to become a global leader in pneumatic automation with over 30 manufacturing facilities worldwide and achieving 30% global market share in the pneumatics industry. The company recognized that their traditional warehousing operation would not support their ambitious growth targets and market expansion goals.

The North American distribution center, built in 2020 and going live in February 2021, represents a strategic investment in automation to overcome physical space limitations and processing constraints. The 1 million square foot facility serves both external customer orders and internal manufacturing job orders, requiring a flexible and high-throughput solution.

Bastian Solutions served as the system integrator, delivering an AutoStore goods-to-person system integrated with their proprietary Exacta warehouse control software to create a comprehensive automation solution.

Technical Solution

AutoStore Goods-to-Person System

The facility features an AutoStore cubic storage system housing approximately 53,000 of the total 65,000 SKUs. The system provides high-density storage and efficient goods-to-person retrieval operations. Robots deliver bins to picking stations where operators fulfill orders using visual guidance systems.

Key Features

The AutoStore system's 53,000-SKU capacity provides high-density storage while maintaining rapid access to inventory. The visual picking guidance system displays part images and uses light displays to direct operators to exact picking locations, reducing errors and training time.

The dual-mode operation efficiently handles both external customer fulfillment and internal manufacturing support, with seamless transitions between order types. The conveyor and sortation system enables automated routing and consolidation of orders throughout the 1 million square foot facility.

Results & Benefits

The automation solution dramatically increased processing capacity, doubling throughput from 400-500 lines per hour in the old system to 1,200-1,400 lines per hour. This performance improvement enabled the facility to process 8,000-10,000 order lines daily across two shifts.

The system achieved exceptional service levels with 93% of processed orders shipped the same day. Most importantly, the automation enabled SMC to continue growing their market share beyond 30% global share, which would have been impossible in their previous facility due to space and processing constraints.

Employee safety and ergonomics were significantly improved through the automated systems and optimized workstations. The learning curve for new operators was remarkably easy, facilitating rapid training and cross-training of associates.

Challenges & Solutions

The primary challenge was that SMC's traditional warehousing operation had reached its limits and could not support the company's sales growth targets and market share expansion goals. The solution involved implementing the AutoStore goods-to-person system integrated with Bastian Solutions' Exacta software, creating a scalable automation platform.

Another challenge was efficiently handling both customer orders and internal job orders within the same facility. The solution came through designing a dual-mode operation that processes customer orders in the morning and transitions to job orders in the afternoon, with appropriate packaging and routing for each order type.

System Integrator

Bastian Solutions provided comprehensive integration services including system design, software development, equipment installation, and ongoing support. Their collaborative approach included training SMC's management team to become subject matter experts, ensuring knowledge transfer and sustainable operations. The partnership featured consistent engineering support and weekly team meetings to address operational needs.