A Winning Warehouse Automation Strategy on a Legacy WMS
How a leading sporting goods retailer chose Tompkins tSort to increase throughput without upgrading their WMS
INDUSTRY
RetailSOLUTION
Warehouse Operations & AutomationOFFERING
Automation Assessment & Strategy, Automation & Robotics Implementation, WMS/WCS IntegrationTECHNOLOGY
Manhattan, Tompkins RoboticsLow prices. High friction.
A North American sporting goods retailer with a long history faced a very modern operational challenge. Founded in 1937, the discount chain spent decades building a “complete sports outfitter” experience from camping, fishing, and hunting to fitness and team sports. Today it operates 250+ stores across 25+ states, concentrated primarily in the Midwest and South.
The company is known for a simple value promise: Big Names, Low Prices. And this promise is won or lost in the supply chain execution details. In a discount model, there isn’t any margin to spare. You win by turning inventory fast, keeping operations and labor lean, and getting products to stores while customers are still interested in buying them.
During the COVID-bubble of increased outdoor activities, the company made opportunistic buys which inadvertently poked holes in their operational setup running on legacy systems. Truckloads of discounted,
high-demand products arrived fast, forcing the DC to absorb inbound surges while still trying to fulfill store inventory on time. Their operations were stretched thin. Door-to-door cycle time went through the roof. Space to hold inventory was scarce. These throughput constraints started to dictate what the business could move, rather than the other way around.
At the time, “just upgrade the systems” wasn’t a feasible solution. The retailer was operating on a legacy WMS with a significant amount of custom code and integrations, exactly the kind of configuration that makes technology modernization expensive, slow, and risky.
The next best option? Warehouse automation. The problem? Choosing the right solution and making it work with their legacy systems. Enter, Spinnaker SCA.
Solving the problem behind the problem
When our warehouse optimization experts were brought in, it was under the working assumption that the retailer needed a traditional, high-speed fixed sorter, something bolted to the floor with impressive spec rates. However, when we collectively took a deeper look, factoring in long-term maintenance, flexibility, the cost to implement, and potential disruption to live operations, the payoff wasn’t there. It wasn’t the best long-term fit for the retailer’s distribution operations after all.
And that’s when things got exciting. At first, the retailer’s operators didn’t believe advanced warehouse automation like robotic AMR-based sortation was even in the realm of possible based on their WMS constraints. But after careful analysis, a clear path forward emerged, one that delivered the benefits of automation without a rip-and-replace of their WMS or locking them into a rigid system that couldn’t adapt as the business changed.
- 01 Start with flow, not technology
- 02 Keeping our eye on the ball
- 03 Orchestrating robotics
- 04 Process-first approach
- 05 Winning the long game
Figure out the constraints before you buy the fix
We began with an operational assessment to map how products moved through the DC, identifying the constraints and where existing material handling equipment and WMS configurations were quietly throttling throughput.
A Material Flow Analysis (MFA) then put numbers behind the bottlenecks and non-value-added movement, ensuring the business case was rooted in reality.
Planning for tomorrow, not just today
The original fixed-sorter path looked strong on paper. But once we weighed construction impact, lifecycle maintenance, speed-to-value, and the ability to adapt as the business changed, a different solution became the clear winner.
The solution needed to deliver throughput without being bolted to the floor, leading to the selection of Tompkins Robotics tSort.
Using existing systems to drive change
This wasn’t a rip-and-replace program. We built robotics orchestration to work with their legacy WMS.
To make it work, we selected and designed a control layer (WCS)—managing execution messaging, destination logic, and exceptions so automation could run reliably under heavy volumes.
Redesign the process, then configure the system to support it
We reworked operating flows to reduce touches, travel and rework—then did the integration and WMS enablement required to support the future state. The result was a system and process combination that operators could run without fighting it every shift.
However, not every SKU belongs in the robot lane. We intentionally kept the retailer’s existing Pick-to-Light (PTL) automation equipment in place for heavier items and constrained handling categories like ammunition—products that can’t be dropped into a sorter. At the same time, we shifted the right volume of product mix into the faster tSort lane to maximize throughput and flexibility.
Go-live is a milestone, not the finish line
We program-managed the implementation across WMS, controls, and automation workstreams, then stayed involved to stabilize operations, tighten exception handling, support training and operator readiness, and then drove follow-on improvements that compounded value.
Legacy modernization in the real-world
This work delivered what the sporting goods retailer needed most: A step-change in DC performance without paying the rip-and-replace tax.
By orchestrating Tompkins tSort on top of a legacy WMS—and keeping legacy automation in place for constrained handling categories—the DC gained a faster, more flexible fulfillment lane, improved labor leverage, and created space to keep growing and innovating for the long haul with budget to spare.
- Modernized DC operations and avoided new technical debt and a disruptive, costly rip and replace of Manhattan WMi (2014)
- Improved throughput by targeted the real bottlenecks (i.e., technology-related constraints) so the operation could do more volume with less friction
- Prioritized speed-to-value with a fact-based automation strategy that maximized long-term ROI, flexibility and future growth
- Smarter handling for real-world product constraints with a two-lane fulfillment model that respects categories like ammunition while pushing the right volume through the most efficient path
You don't need a new WMS to modernize your warehouse or DC.
If your DC is throughput-constrained and your budget is tight, we can help you modernize with
the systems you already have to keep you moving forward.