Children’s apparel company scales from 30,000 to 150,000 units per day while reducing labor dependency and bringing outsourced 3PL operations in-house.
LT Apparel Group, a New York-based, family-owned company founded in 1958, is known for designing, manufacturing, and distributing high-quality children's clothing. To support ambitious goals for business growth, they needed to smooth out their distribution processes while bringing previously outsourced Third-Party Logistics (3PL) operations in-house.
Empowered by KPI Solutions, LT Apparel installed an AutoStore system at their Browns Summit, North Carolina distribution center.
LT Apparel’s biggest operational challenge was unit-level fulfillment across thousands of SKUs. While approximately 75% of the company’s volume already moved efficiently as case-in/case-out, unit picking and order assembly created significant bottlenecks during peak periods.
“We were facing capacity issues,” said Steve Wuebker, Senior Vice President, Operations at LT Apparel. “Operations constraining the company’s ability to grow is the worst thing in the world.”
The company needed to:
The AutoStore system delivered both immediate efficiency gains and long-term scalability advantages.
Rather than fully automating the entire distribution center, LT Apparel focused specifically on solving its unit-picking challenges through a phased automation strategy.
The company launched the first phase in 2022, combining AutoStore with Tompkins Robotics tSort technology. The initial deployment included approximately 20,000 Bins dedicated to unit-level picking. As order volumes grew, LT Apparel continued expanding the system over time.
Today, the solution includes:
The automated setup reduced the footprint required for picking, sorting, and packing from approximately 125,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet.
“We really only built what we needed to service the business we had,” Wuebker said. “And we left white space in the building.”
Improved processes were seen throughout the facility, which led to faster, more efficient order fulfilment.
AutoStore's technology provided LT Apparel with the operational improvements needed to support their growth. The system delivered both immediate efficiency gains and long-term scalability advantages.
The impact of AutoStore was immediate across throughput, labor efficiency, and operating costs. LT Apparel can now process significantly higher order volumes with fewer resources while maintaining operational flexibility for future growth.
“We don’t have a staff of mechanical or industrial engineers,” Wuebker said. “When it’s time for us to make a change, we build partnerships to help us grow.”
The system provided additional storage capacity within the existing facility footprint.
LT Apparel’s phased automation strategy transformed a growing operational bottleneck into a scalable fulfillment operation built for long-term growth. Today, the company operates a faster, more cost-efficient, and more scalable fulfillment operation capable of supporting future growth without expanding its warehouse footprint.
“If you’re already seeing capacity constraints,” said Steve Wuebker, Senior Vice President, Operations at LT Apparel, “it’s already time to be implementing automation.”