Project Details

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Optimize Cooler Restocking

Company: Sheetz, Inc.

Major(s):
Primary: IE
Secondary: ME
Optional: CMPEN, EE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: YES

Intellectual Property: YES

Sheetz is a major convenience store brand in the Northeast. One of the challenges in operating a brick and mortar retail facility is keeping merchandise stocked on shelves and available to the customer. Maintaining fully stocked coolers of individually sold canned and bottled drinks can be particularly tough, due to the volume of sales. The store is shipped excess stock beyond what fits in the cooler display so they can replenish cooler stock between store deliveries. The restocking process is inefficient: the product requires multiple employee touches to move it from the truck to a backstock location to the cooler. Managing the organization of backstock also requires staff attention and labor hours. In our ideal state, every type of cooler product we carry would be always accessible to the customer, with no more than one touch by a store employee. Deliverables for this project include an analysis of the current restocking process and reimagining of how we can optimize our product merchandising. Optimizaton can be through design or automation, with the primary goals of maximizing inventory availability to the customer while minimizing employee action needed to maintain.