Managing SKU proliferation in FMCG facilities

As customer demand for product variations (colors, sizes, flavors and designs) increases, the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry continues to struggle with SKU proliferation. In fact, some organizations have more than doubled their SKU counts¹ in expansions of brownfield locations and the opening of larger greenfield facilities. SKU proliferation is an operational headache that drives decreased efficiency, increased storage demand, product damage, and heavy reliance on laborers’ tribal knowledge to fulfill orders on time.

Every new SKU carries hidden costs for an operation, including slotting, training, exception handling, and the headache of managing complexity across seasonal and promotional peaks. Adequate storage, pick location, slotting and personnel onboarding are often forgotten cost assessments during the commercialization plan. FMCG organizations face the reality of either cutting customer offerings or finding the right automated solution that not only keeps up with demand but also scales flexibly as demand grows.

Automating in a brownfield facility

While consumer demand for more product options and faster fulfillment grows, distribution centers cannot afford to build new greenfield facilities along with new automated systems. The challenge is to stay in their brownfield sites while automating as they continue to operate. Footprint, capacity and power demands can be challenges in integrating automated solutions into an existing facility. To maximize a company’s investment, solutions should be:

• Simple: Fast integration to reduce disruption to current operations during cutover
• Flexible: Ability to handle multiple workflows, packaging formats, and operational modes without major hardware or software changes.
• Versatile: Able to handle various objectives, both planned and for potential future operations
• Scalable: The solution has to be able to grow with you, while avoiding expensive redesigns
• Proven Return on Investment (ROI): The solution has proven products with references providing solid ROI

Why layer picking has become a popular solution

A layer picker automates palletizing and depalletizing, as well as layer handling, across a wide range of package types. This enables operations to automate product handling rather than rely on manual labor. That means efficient onboarding for new SKUs, consistent, configurable handling for unique packages, and predictable throughput during peak periods. It is a modular, flexible and scalable solution that can lead to business outcomes, such as:

• Efficient SKU proliferation and source pallet complexity management: while merchants have expanded SKUs, layer pickers can flexibly adapt to varying package sizes and weights while increasing throughput and productivity
• Labor reduction and redeployment: It allows for labor to be redirected from highly repeatable tasks to more operationally needy areas
• Reduced BD&L: Consistent, machine-controlled picks greatly reduce damage to products

Types of layer pickers

Layer-picking solutions are optimized and customized to meet your throughput, footprint, and temperature requirements. These solutions can also be integrated with automated guided vehicles (AGVs/AMRs) and conveyance equipment.

• Layer Picker Hoist: High-volume layer depalletizer with a compact footprint for general depalletizing
  
• Layer Picker Gantry: Very high throughput for mixed-layer pallet building
  
• Layer Picker Robot: Flexible, compact and can handle high-volume depalletizing and layer building tasks together

Körber - A Good Choice

As SKU counts keep rising, the right layer‑picking solution delivers immediate operational relief by reducing manual handling, cutting damage and returns, stabilizing throughput during peaks, and freeing labor for higher‑value work. Körber Supply Chain is an industry leader with proven layer‑picking architectures and real‑world deployments across FMCG, cold storage and 3PLs.