GAME Group Ltd

GAME Group Ltd. is the UK’s leading retailer of computer software and video games. Currently operating from 310 outlets in the UK, Eire and Sweden, the GAME philosophy is based around a customer service orientated approach with the stores supported by a strong infrastructure.

The infrastructure goes from strength to strength, with continuous investment in technology and more specifically GAME’s state-of-the-art Distribution Center. The company realizes the value of making optimal use of technologies, enabling its stores to receive product as efficiently as possible, ultimately providing the customer with whatever video game, DVD or peripheral they may require. The most recent investment was in the adoption of Belgravium’s e-lite put-to-light system, which has enabled GAME to achieve record throughput in the latter part of 2000 and early 2001.

The 310 GAME high street stores each has between one and five tills, depending upon the size of the store. Each store till is polled overnight and the information on daily sales is transferred to the GAME IBM AS400 mainframe. The mainframe computer runs JDA Warehouse Management Software. The software matches remaining store stock against available stock within the GAME Distribution Centre, before transferring subsequent label-driven or semi-automated picking routines to a dedicated pick control system (which is described in greater detail later in this feature). The system is ‘intelligent’ enough to match the physical dimensions of required product against the constraint of box size and picking slot size and to translate this into a ‘number of boxes required for pick’ figure. Each box is labelled with a sequential bar code Carton Control Number (CCN). This label is critical as it ultimately determines the routing of the box via conveyor throughout the Distribution Centre, assists GAME’s parcel carrier (Lynx) in their checking and tracking routines and allows the Stores to easily determine whether a box is missing from their allocated sequence.

The GAME Distribution Centre facility is broken down into three separate warehouses, a ‘New Release Warehouse’, a ‘Back Catalogue Software Warehouse’ and a ‘Hardware Warehouse’. The centre receives stock from suppliers. The stock always arrives as complete pallets and the products can range from a small Memory Card through to a complete console or ancillary item (such as the new SnowBoarding simulators). All Stock Units received are checked against Purchase Orders. The Stock falls into the following categories:

New Release
Back Catalogue
Out of Stock.

Stock processed by Goods Received is passed to Putaway, in the following fashion.

New Release stock is moved to the ‘New Release (Put-Pick)’ area of it’s dedicated warehouse. Back Catalogue stock is moved to Bulk Storage. Out of Stock is moved directly to the conventional paper-driven pick faces or, alternatively, to Bulk Storage.

The 310 stores are divided into 9 Waves. This methodology consolidates the overall volume into easy manageable chunks. Each day at 5:00am (earlier in Christmas period) Let Down labels are generated.

The Labels are produced in Wave order and this wave sequence is mirrored in the Pick volume. Let Down crew take first Wave labels into the bulk area in order to locate the specific box to be ‘let down’ to the Pick face. At this stage there are multiple manual checks to ensure the accuracy of the subsequent pick. The specified slot is shown on the Let Down label and ‘Shelvers’ check the contents of the box against the label description.

The conventional pick areas are divided into Zones and within each zone there are a number of Bays. GAME adopt a flexible rostering system that allows them to allocate differing numbers of workers to each bay, dependant upon the incoming volumes for each particular day.

The boxes, which are to be picked, arrive in the zone via conveyor. Each box is labeled with the CCN. A Picking document is produced for each box, this also has the same CCN number and operatives know that the next level of check is that the Picking document and Label CCN number’s must match. The picking note is unique to that box and the note and box must remain together at all times. Although essentially a manual system, unit picking accuracy is continually monitored and recorded and typically runs at 98.5% success rate.

Once the pick is completed the box is moved via conveyor to Despatch. The order is, once again, confirmed via the Pick List. Special protective packing is used which is address labeled and then sealed via an automatic strapping and taping machine. The completed box is then loaded onto a Lynx vehicle for delivery to store.

All the warehouses are controlled via an IBM AS400 system and the JDA software. However, in the recently established New Release Warehouse the pick-put methodology is semi-automated, thanks to GAME’s investment in the Belgravium e-lite system. AS400 hands information to Belgravium’s DACAM data handler system, via GAME’s in-house developed ‘Allocations’ utility. The utility is steered by the Allocations Department who determines the exact stock quantity allocation by store. Once the allocated quantity is fed to DACAM, the information is interpreted into a put / pick instruction for each of 310 locations (each store having a unique location). For example, ‘Store 1’ in ‘Location 1’ will be instructed to pick X quantity of a Playstation Game. The whole sequence happens in the following manner.

The 310 stores are sub-divided into 6 zones. The UPC bar code of a particular product is scanned and the resulting data is fed back to DACAM. DACAM already holds the ‘total quantity required by store’ and will also verify that the UPC code is a legitimate one in the picking sequence. The information is then fed back to Belgravium’s e-lite node.

DACAM feeds the exact quantity to be picked to the display of the individual node, within the correct location and zone. The pick is then ‘downed’ and the requisite quantity is placed into the store’s unique box. The speed of data transfer and the integrity of the data have been secured by Belgravium’s adoption of a wiring ‘bus’ system, similar to those adopted within modern vehicles. In many ways, this is the reverse of conventional ‘pick by light’ philosophies as GAME are ‘putting’, rather than ‘picking’, into a store box and then despatching. This methodology is adopted because of the ultra-fast turnaround time required within the New Release operation. The adoption of the e-lite system has yielded ‘enormous benefits’ within the New Release Warehouse, according to Steve O’Connell Director of Distribution at GAME Group Ltd. He remarks that ‘although simplistic in concept, the speed of data transfer and consolidation is remarkable. We wanted the system to go ‘live’ in time for the pre-Christmas sales rush. Previous years had seen our existing paper-driven systems under severe pressure and struggling to cope with the increased volumes. To say we ‘took it in our stride’ this year is an understatement. As an example, with one new Playstation title alone we managed to effectively ‘cross-dock’ 30,000 units within a three hour period - a process that would have normally taken one full day. This is all due to the investment we’ve made in both conveyor and the e-lite technology to reduce the physical handling of the stock to a minimum. In addition to increased throughput, the other big gain was accuracy. Overall the picking accuracy within the New Release Warehouse is now running at close to 100%.

GAME’s Operations Team are continually pushing for greater efficiency gains throughout their warehouse facility. As the company is still growing they are actively examining the possibility of a new purpose-built warehouse. As Steve O’Connell explains; ‘Although we are pleased with the operational gains we’ve made during the last twelve months and the overall efficiency of the warehouse, there’s no doubt we’re constrained by the physical dimensions of the building. The eve height of the three warehouses is currently only six metres high, with each warehouse at a different floor level. We have determined that if we are to further improve the operation we need to be on one level covering the same footprint, but to a height of at least twelve metres. If we proceed, the new facility is likely to have three mezzanine areas, automated mini-load and narrow aisle racking. Belgravium’s e-lite and DACAM systems have made a huge impact upon our operation and it’s recognised that the new facility would re-adopt this equipment and extend its usage into the Back Catalogue and Bulk Storage Areas. It’s likely that the current set-up would also be enhanced by the adoption of a fixed scanning point and cross-belt sorting technology. We’re also looking at Belgravium’s Radio Frequency (RF) systems with regard to running the receiving areas on a real-time basis.’

As the GAME stores example demonstrates, ‘Pick by’ or ‘put to’ light technology is viewed as the optimum fulfilment solution for many retail and e-tail applications. Many large organisations, such as EMI Music seen here, are using the systems to achieve error rates of less than 0.1% and improve pick rates by over 40% (This looks like repetition of points made under GAME story). The key attribute of Belgravium’s e-lite system is it’s inherent flexibility.

The system nodes are connected on a CAN bus. The multidrop bus system reduces installation costs and utilises one of the most secure serial transmission buses available ensuring 100% data integrity at high data rates.

Due to the varied nature of the products being handled through the pickface and the productivity levels of the pickers the e-lite picking nodes allow the number of locations within a pick zone to be varied through the controlling software. A different colour LED’s within the node identifies it's zone group.

The exact picking methodology adopted by the e-lite system is always client-led. For example, it is possible to utilise the membrane buttons of the node to indicate a ‘short pick’ scenario. The warehouse operative decrements the node to indicate the number actually picked and the system can be configured to prompt for the entry of a ‘reason code’. Only by entering this information can the operative move on to the next pick.

Belgravium have developed the e-lite syst em to meet almost every variation in modern warehouse operation. There are nodes for cold store operation, nodes that allow the connection of peripherals such as printers and overhead displays, IrDa nodes that allow uplifting of data to hand held terminals and many other variations. Belgravium’s philosophy is to understand your requirement and transform your vision into a turn-key system that will help to optimise your supply chain.