Do you happen to have any links to more info about this schedule system. If I Google “sears schedule system” I get a bunch of results about vaccines, and if I append “logistics” the top result is your comment.
Here's a brief summary from Sears' archives.[1] I read a much better description in a business book once, but it's not online.
Here's the concept. The simple way to fulfill orders is Doordash Shopping. One person goes to a store and picks the entire order. Performance degrades with the size of the store. This takes O(orders * inventory size) effort.
If too many shoppers are trying to fill orders, they get in each other's way and the building traffic starts to choke. This is why Doordash Shopping has a big markup vs. Amazon.
The classic Sears schedule system takes the incoming order and breaks it down by department and picker. Pick slips are generated, originally by hand, and sent to the various pickers, originally by pneumatic tube. Pick slips have a 45 minute time window and a destination bin number. Pickers get pick slips, all of which are for items in their area, grab the item, and put it on a conveyor with the pick slip attached. The conveyor leads to the destination bin area, where orders are assembled in the bins. At the end of a 45 minute cycle, all bins are sent to order checking and outprocessing, and new empty bins are placed for the next fill cycle.
The order paperwork is already attached to the bin, so the checker checks off the items in the bin vs. the items on the order. Excess items from picker errors become go-backs; missing items are not charged to the customer. The total is computed and billed. The bin and paperwork go off to packing and shipping.
Each picker moves only short distances. No running around the giant warehouse.
That gets the overhead down to O(orders * log(inventory size)). Pneumatic tubes carry the data that drives the pickers, and conveyors do most of the carrying. The system can develop a backlog in the incoming order area, where it's obvious and can be managed. The picking areas don't usually choke, because their load is bounded by the number of bins per cycle.
It was all done with paper, forms, carbon paper, clipboards attached to totes, cash registers,
conveyors, and pneumatic tubes. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) designed the original system and became quite wealthy.
Sears should have become Amazon. They had the fulfillment system. They had catalog ordering working well. They never got the online front end right.
Here's the concept. The simple way to fulfill orders is Doordash Shopping. One person goes to a store and picks the entire order. Performance degrades with the size of the store. This takes O(orders * inventory size) effort. If too many shoppers are trying to fill orders, they get in each other's way and the building traffic starts to choke. This is why Doordash Shopping has a big markup vs. Amazon.
The classic Sears schedule system takes the incoming order and breaks it down by department and picker. Pick slips are generated, originally by hand, and sent to the various pickers, originally by pneumatic tube. Pick slips have a 45 minute time window and a destination bin number. Pickers get pick slips, all of which are for items in their area, grab the item, and put it on a conveyor with the pick slip attached. The conveyor leads to the destination bin area, where orders are assembled in the bins. At the end of a 45 minute cycle, all bins are sent to order checking and outprocessing, and new empty bins are placed for the next fill cycle.
The order paperwork is already attached to the bin, so the checker checks off the items in the bin vs. the items on the order. Excess items from picker errors become go-backs; missing items are not charged to the customer. The total is computed and billed. The bin and paperwork go off to packing and shipping.
Each picker moves only short distances. No running around the giant warehouse. That gets the overhead down to O(orders * log(inventory size)). Pneumatic tubes carry the data that drives the pickers, and conveyors do most of the carrying. The system can develop a backlog in the incoming order area, where it's obvious and can be managed. The picking areas don't usually choke, because their load is bounded by the number of bins per cycle.
It was all done with paper, forms, carbon paper, clipboards attached to totes, cash registers, conveyors, and pneumatic tubes. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) designed the original system and became quite wealthy.
Sears should have become Amazon. They had the fulfillment system. They had catalog ordering working well. They never got the online front end right.
[1] https://www.searsarchives.claeys.co/history/history1900s.htm...