Men’s Wearhouse Garment Sortation

Problem

Men’s Wearhouse distribution centers were experiencing reliability and productivity issues. The company struggled with aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent regulations, escalating operations and energy costs. For example, their RFID garment position tracking system was ineffective due to the RFID’s electrical sensitivity and the abundance of static electricity generated in garment sortation.

Solution

The Men’s Wearhouse partnered with Patti Engineering in several Distribution Facilities to retrofit the sortation system controls, retaining the best aspects of current systems while gaining the benefits of modern technology. The project included upgrading controls for the Tuxedo Sorter, containing 246 lanes that sorts coats, pants, shirts, vests and accessories. Patti Engineering provided electrical design, hardware, software, and installation for Shipping Sorters and Transportation Conveyors at these facilities. Components and technology used for the project include: Steeplechase Visual Logic Controller (VLC), Siemens S7-300 PLC, Visual Basic (HMI), SQL Server, WAGO I/O, Effector I/O, Mitsubishi Electric Variable Frequency Drives, Siemens S7-1200 PLC and a Siemens TP277 HMI.

Customer Benefits

The Men’s Wearhouse and Patti Engineering have worked together for over eight years and have been able to reduce unnecessary complexity and dramatically simplify operations without having to replace expensive equipment. Machine life was extended by replacing controls and eliminating RFID readers in the Tuxedo and Shipping Sorters to create more accurate, reliable, and efficient systems. Ease of diagnostics and component reliability decreased downtime, provided flexibility, simplified maintenance, increased reliability, and aided the company in overall efficiency. The overall result was huge savings to manufacturing facilities and distribution centers.