Many beverage distribution facilities were originally designed to support a few hundred SKUs but are now being challenged to handle thousands as portfolios expand beyond beer into wine, spirits, seltzers and RTDs. The resulting SKU proliferation is straining storage capacity, increasing travel distances and creating bottlenecks throughout fulfillment operations. 

Hy-Tek’s Beverage Solutions Group developed Hy-Flo and Hy-Sync to give distributors flexible alternatives to rigid, one-size-fits-all automation builds. 

• Hy-Flo (Unified "All-In" High-Velocity Flow): Integrates automated case storage and retrieval, robotic de-palletizing and palletizing options and autonomous pallet load movers to deliver step-change productivity gains while ensuring picking and inventory accuracy along with stable pallet builds.
• Hy-Sync (Surgical Long-Tail Buffering): Isolates and automates slow-moving long-tail SKUs or high-velocity fast-movers within a dense robotic buffer, eliminating miles of manual walking for selectors and sequencing cases directly to outbound staging docks. 

"Beverage distribution has reached a critical inflection point where traditional manual walk-loops simply cannot keep pace with exponential SKU growth and labor turnover," says Zac Boehm, chief automation officer and beverage solutions group leader at Hy-Tek Intralogistics. "With Hy-Flo and Hy-Sync, we are removing the friction of warehouse automation. Whether a distributor needs an end-to-end, high-throughput overhaul or a surgical buffer to isolate long-tail complexity, our proven solutions protect core operating margins and ensure trucks depart on schedule."