Autovac Carrier System Improves Order Efficiency

O’Reilly Auto Parts of Springfield, Missouri was trying to address an issue of getting special orders through to their order pickers. They approached our dealer, Air Communications of Houston, Texas to see if they could come up with a good system for distributing special orders from their day order desk up to their order pickers. They required a messenger that would do this on a 24-7-365 basis. After addressing the high volume of orders that would need to be moved through the tube systems on their ‘just in time’ ordering basis, it was decided that a series of systems would provide the best network this application.

Through the use of the Kelly diverter autovac system, it was possible to have as many as 4 carriers traveling through the system at any given time to get orders out to the order pickers. A carrier arriving at the order picker station would light a highly visible signal light to let the order picker know that he had a rush order to process. The paper work that came through the tube system allowed for easy identification of parts coming through the conveyor lines as being for the ‘just in time’ day truck delivery department.

The systems operating on independent PLC’s do system diagnostics if a carrier does not arrive in a predetermined time, the system tests all of its operating equipment for full functionality and will even do automatic system purges until a carrier is located and delivered to one end of the system or another. Full complete control of and report of system malfunctions is available at a sending station in the centralized day shipping room.

To date, over two years of operating time at both the Houston and Dallas distribution centers have shown only one service call required. O'Reillys has found that the use of rugged metal tubing and station equipment has provided them with very reliable and dependable service.