Case Study: Southern Wine and Spirits achieves higher throughput and accuracy with Dematic's high-rate distribution center solution

New Florida DC Integrates HighRate Functionality from Dematic

Southern Wine and Spirits, the country's largest wine and spirits distributor, faced a challenge of managing significant volume growth and consolidation within the industry. To support this expansion and improve its distribution efficiency, the company built a new 650,000 square-foot facility in Lakeland, Florida. Their key challenge was to process a high volume of orders, including a substantial number of split-case orders for restaurants and bars, while minimizing product breakage and maintaining next-day delivery service for its 140,000 customers.

Dematic implemented a material handling solution featuring accumulation conveyors to reduce breakage and a slug merge system to streamline carton handling. The centerpiece was a high-rate sliding shoe sorter, which dramatically increased throughput. This solution from Dematic enabled Southern to achieve a 40% productivity increase, handling 225 cases per man-hour compared to 150 previously. Furthermore, the system reduced product breakage by approximately 50% to 0.075% and cut shipping errors by 60% to just 0.2%, resulting in substantial annual savings given the high value of the product handled.

Southern Wine and Spirits

Bobby Burg

Senior VP of Supply Chain Strategy