Avnet Logistics is a 16-billion dollar company operating on a global scale doing business in 73 countries. With a work force of 11,500 employees and 270 locations, Avnet is number one in the world in the electronics distribution business. Today they represent premiere electronic manufacturers such as Motorola, Intel and Texas Instruments both on the component and computer side. This company has learned that to remain number one, big companies have to operate like small companies. That means a sense of urgency, high quality and a dedication to customer service. As a distributor, Avnet believes in the old adage, “whatever the customer wants…the customer gets”…the key is, he gets it today and not tomorrow. So when Avnet needed to upgrade it’s material handling system, they turned to the professionals at Fortna, Inc., the local distributor of Hytrol conveyors.

Avnet’s management force became familiar with Hytrol through Hytrol’s attention to their needs. Hytrol and Fortna took them to working sites and showed their innovation in material handling. Avnet's managers liked the equipment, the simple yet efficient application, and ease of installation.

They also were interested in Hytrol’s flexibility relating to how easily the equipment could be disassembled and reassembled. The upgrade came at a time when Avnet was also expanding its distribution center so Fortna designed a system that was flexible enough to do multiple things. Building size was being doubled during the transition.

Today, Avnet has more than three and a half miles of Hytrol conveyors operating within their facility. In all that time, there hasn’t been a period when the conveyors weren’t running.

System Results

• Accuracy improved to 99.98%
• Doubled throughput capacity
• Ability to ship 30 minutes after receipt of order
• Extended shipping day by 4-1/2 hours
• Overtime and overall labor reduction
• Improved cube utilization and increased storage capacity
• 99%+ of all receipts entered into system and available for sale the same day

“Before we put this system in, we had 480 people in this facility processing about 7,000 lines a day. Today we have 275 people processing 10,000 lines a day and that’s the whole building, but the Hytrol system is the heart of that, so it follows it contributed significantly to the productivity gains. So it is easily cost justified.”
- Jim Smith, President, Avnet Logistics

“Hytrol and Fortna gave us attention. They took us to sites and showed us they were very innovative. We liked the equipment, its ease of application, its ease of installation, and basically, and it turns out to be true, ease of dis-assembly and re-assembly for other parts of the building. Hytrol has been very flexible”
- Jim Calabrese, Avnet Director of Material Handling and Engineering

“What the Hytrol solution provided us was a system that was not only reputable, very dependable, and easy to maintain, but it offered us flexibility...and in our business, that is crucial. If we can’t be flexible with our customers, we’re just not going to be able to compete in the open marketplace.”
- Jim Smith, President, Avnet Logistics

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