Apparel Maker Achieves Lightning-Fast Fulfillment with New Robots
Cutter & Buck Implements New Automation System
The move is part of a growing trend of suppliers leveraging intelligent automation solutions in distribution centers.
From three-to-five days to just 25 hours
That’s the rapid acceleration in the time it takes Cutter & Buck to get a custom-embroidered logo order out the door since it implemented a new automated system to fuel efficiency at its distribution center in Renton, WA, according to company executives.
The new Robotic Cube Storage System or AutoStore, as the solution is called, is described as a goods-to-person storage and retrieval system for small to medium-size products.
C&B’s use of the system is another example of an industry supplier introducing an automated fulfillment-streamlining solution that involves humans working in tandem with intelligent, automated systems.
“Efficiency is the future,” said Andrew Pudduck, head of brand marketing at Cutter & Buck.
“We looked into and implemented automation to stay ahead of our customers’ growing desire for rapid delivery of customized product, whether it’s a one-off D2C order coming through an online retail partner like Fanatics or a 1,000-piece order from the ASI world.”
“Within 30 seconds of the order information coming in, the machine is picking the product.”
Andrew Pudduck, Cutter & Buck
HOW IT WORKS
Under the old way, an order would come into Cutter & Buck and a receiving system would transmit the particulars to a distribution center employee on the floor. The employee would then pick necessary products from boxes on pallet racks and put items on a conveyor, sending them over to the decorating department. “It works, but it’s time-consuming,” said Pudduck.
AutoStore streamlines things, he said. To get a sense of the system, picture a roughly 50-yard-by-50-yard condensed grid of vertically stacked bins. Humans pre-fill the bins with particular products, such as polo shirts, outerwear and quarter-zips in Cutter & Buck’s case. The system alerts employees when a bin is getting low so the diminishing SKU can be restocked.
When an order arrives, The cube systems snaps into action, Pudduck said. Intelligent, battery-powered machines travel on top of the grid system, picking bins with the ordered items and delivering them to an employee, who sends the selected products to the embroidery department for decorating.
“It happens almost instantaneously,” said Pudduck. “Within 30 seconds of the order information coming in, the machine is picking the product.”
The cube system can adapt to changing order fulfillment requirements through a flexible configuration of the robots, ports and quantity of bin locations.
Industry’s Best-in-Class Automated Packaging Solution
IMPACTS
Pudduck said that the AutoStore system went live just in time for the holiday sales rush during the fourth quarter of 2023. The speed with which orders could be moved helped propel business in both Cutter & Buck’s direct-to-consumer channel and in the promo world, according to Pudduck.
“Because our turn was so quick, we found that both online and brick-and-mortar retailers, for example, were able to sell more of our product sooner, which led to quicker re-orders,” Pudduck shared. “Efficiency drives revenue.”
Cutter & Buck’s North American promo sales rose 31.5% year over year in 2022. Pudduck said Cutter & Buck was up double-digits in percentage terms across all business channels last year.
When discussions of robotics and automation in the workplace arise, there’s always a corresponding question that comes with them: Will this cost human jobs? Pudduck said not in Cutter & Buck’s case. The new automated goods-to-person works in tandem with human operators, he said. In addition the sales growth it’s helping propel is catalyzing the need for more hiring.
“The investment in automation,” Pudduck shared, “has increased our investment in human capital.”
About Cutter & Buck
Cutter & Buck is a manufacturer of upscale clothing for golf and other sports. Founded in 1990, the company went public in 1995 and was sold to New Wave Group AB, a Swedish-based corporation, on April 13, 2007.
Founded on Seattle’s working waterfront, the words “Cutter” and the “Buck” were chosen to symbolize the Pacific Nothwest region, where the sea, represented by a Cutter, and the mountains, represented by a Buck, meet and live-in harmony.
Cutter & Buck is a proud subsidiary of New Wave Group, AB. Their sister brands in North America include Ahead USA, Au Clair Gloves, Craft Sportswear, Kosta Boda Art Glass, and Orrefors Crystal.
The company sells its products primarily in the licensed sports, e-commerce, golf specialty, and corporate clothing markets in over forty countries around the world, and has been recognized for its sponsorship of Swedish golfer Annika Sörenstam. It also sells into the collegiate clothing market and in 2005, commenced a consumer-direct catalogue and e-commerce site. In the mid-nineties, Cutter & Buck became a founding member of the SA 8000 Social Accountability Platform, which holds its members to a code of conduct in outsourced manufacturing and domestic operations.
Originally founded by Harvey Jones and Joey Rodolfo, Cutter & Buck's headquarters are now at 101 Elliott Avenue West in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. From April 2, 2014, until present, Cutter & Buck's CEO is Joel Freet.
