Hallmark’s path to modernizing its distribution operations

When Hallmark opened its Liberty, Missouri, distribution center, it boasted state-of-the-art operations. But that was in 1972. Nearly 50 years later, homegrown systems and operations dependent on paper, manual movement, and institutional knowledge just didn’t provide the capabilities and flexibility the company needed.

“There was one point where something was going on with one of the homegrown systems that was written in COBOL, and we had to call in someone who was 80 years old to come in and help fix it,” recounted Rachel Olson, senior director of operations for Hallmark. “We clearly needed to modernize.”

At the same time, Hallmark was facing a much tighter labor market, as Amazon, Chewy, and Kohl’s were all opening warehouses in Liberty, she said.

To move its operations into the 21st century and reduce its labor needs, Hallmark began a three-year modernization effort that included voice picking, data analytics, labor management tools, and automation of some of the simpler work in its DCs. The labor management tools proved to be particularly valuable, increasing productivity by 15%-20%. According to Olsen, Hallmark was able to get employee buy-in for the labor management system by tying it to incentives.

This story was originally published by Supply Chain Quarterly. Read the full story at Supply Chain Quarterly →