Automating a Global Zipper Manufacturer's Apparel-Component Supply Chain
Fujian Xunxing Zipper Polytron Technologies Inc. (SBS)
Results at a Glance
The Challenge
As a global Top-2 zipper supplier, the customer serves thousands of downstream apparel brands and garment manufacturers. Every order is high-mix, low-volume: a wide range of zipper SKUs, multiple lengths, colors, finishes and pull styles, all shipped to tight production calendars. Their legacy warehouse relied on manual handling across multiple zones and floors, with operators walking cartons between storage, weighing, labeling and shipping. Thirteen different carton sizes made shelving, picking and conveying difficult to standardise. Inventory accuracy eroded during peak apparel seasons, picking errors slipped downstream to garment factories, and labour costs climbed while the available workforce shrank.
The Solution
An integrated storage-transport-control system was deployed around dense automated storage, autonomous transport and a tightly connected software stack. A pallet ASRS provides 504 pallet locations for bulk inventory, while 11 mini-load ASRS modules deliver 93,280 tote/case locations for piece-level trim inventory. Variable-pitch forks, dual-station load platforms and single/double-depth high-speed mini-loads allow automated handling of all 13 different carton sizes without manual re-packing. AGV fleets move totes and cartons seamlessly across zones and floors, eliminating manual transfer between storage, value-add and dispatch areas. A conveyor network of chain conveyors, vertical lifts and heavy-duty conveyors links every subsystem with automatic weighing checks and millimetre-precision dynamic labeling. WMS, WCS and MES are fully integrated, giving the planning team real-time visibility and closed-loop control of every carton.
Systems Used
- Pallet ASRS (504 locations)
- 11 mini-load ASRS modules
- AGV multi-floor transport fleet
- Multi-floor conveyor backbone with auto-weighing
- Integrated WMS/WCS/MES
Why This Matters for South African Operations
For suppliers who sit between component makers and garment factories, speed and accuracy are non-negotiable. A single mis-pick on a zipper SKU can idle a garment assembly line downstream. This use case shows what a purpose-built, integrated warehouse can do when storage, transport and control systems are designed together. The same blueprint — dense ASRS, multi-floor AGV transport, a unified conveyor backbone and connected WMS/WCS/MES — is directly applicable to any manufacturer facing too many SKUs, too little time, and too little labour.
Partner Technology Case Study
This project was delivered using automation technology from Allied Automation's manufacturing partners. Allied Automation supplies, integrates and supports the same technology platforms across South Africa and Africa. The results and specifications shown are those of the original deployment.
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