As Canada’s most-shopped general merchandise retailer, Canadian Tire Retail is the category leader in sports, leisure and home products, as well as automotive parts, accessories and service. Founded in 1922, Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a growing business comprised of more than 1,100 general merchandise and apparel retail stores and gas stations. Canadian Tire Retail is the company’s subsidiary retail arm and the main growth engine, with 485 stores across the country serving more than three million customers every week. Prior to finalizing design, Canadian Tire Retail had experienced 8.4 percent annual growth in cubic shipment volume. Compounded with a new store footprint that would accommodate bulkier consumer items than previous retail outlets, Canadian Tire was facing a distribution center (DC) capability challenge.

To address its new DC needs, the company turned to Honeywell Intelligrated, an automated material handling systems provider with a long-standing relationship with Canadian Tire. Together, the team would develop a new facility, the largest DC in Canada to date, at 1.5 million square feet. Located about 45 minutes outside of Montreal, the DC features technology and material handling systems designed to sort and ship inventory arriving from more than 1,000 suppliers.

“Our products can range from a small six-pack of jelly jars to vacuum cleaners to elliptical trainers. There is no precise item profile – there is not even a general profile,” noted Dan Chan, vice president of supply chain major projects at Canadian Tire. “Our facility needed to store and move large, bulky items while at the same time transport small each picks.”

Check out the rest of our case study to learn how Honeywell Intelligrated’s sortation system helped Canadian Tire to reach its facility goals of reducing footprints and fingerprints, enabling greater handling flexibility, and increasing energy and wear efficiency.