Sager Electronics, a North American distributor of interconnect, power and electromechanical components, recently engaged a team of students from Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to conduct a case study at Sager's 100,000 sq ft distribution center in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Sager Electronics targets an accuracy rating of 99.9% as a key performance indicator of quality, and the purpose of the study was to provide potential solutions aimed at improving order accuracy at the company’s primary distribution facility.
Engineering students sought to develop systems to reduce the average number of errors per month at the firm’s Massachusetts distribution center, which ships approximately 20,000 items each month. The company’s quality program allows one error for every 1,111 order lines shipped. The goal was to reduce the number of monthly errors from 40 to no more than 20. After studying company operations, the students focused on 
short shipments and wrong part shipments as the two most common types of errors.
An LED pre-cueing system was designed that uses lights to help workers find the right parts. Microcontrollers and multi-color LEDs would be wired along the shelves at the Sager Electronics warehouse, with each employee assigned a different color. When that employee scans an order, the system converts the RF scanner ID to an LED color, and the shelf where that part is located lights up in the employee’s assigned color; that light turns off when the next item is scanned.
The students suggested that Sager implement a commercial scale with product counting functionality and the ability to store weights and developed software the firm could use to test a counting scale. The software is capable of connecting to a scale and reading the weight, as well as product weight information and number of parts from a database of orders. The user can select which order they are filling, and then the software uses the product weight from the order information and the weight readout from the scale to tell the user how many items they have weighed and whether they have reached the target number.
“Following our internal efforts identifying areas for improvement, we engaged with Harvard SEAS to assist in developing cost-effective and easy-to-implement solutions designed to help us consistently achieve 99.9% in order accuracy,” remarked Shannon Freise, vice president of operations for Sager Electronics. "Over the course of the study, the students learned the intricacies of our business and the varied processes that go into operating a large distribution operation. We were impressed with their thorough and professional approach, and the recommendations they presented."
