URBN Outfitters needed a high-throughput distribution center capable of coordinating thousands of automation events across conveyors, sorters, and warehouse control systems. The existing tools could not orchestrate work across multiple subsystems or provide reliable visibility for a $200M build with aggressive timelines.

We designed a distributed warehouse execution system where each section of the facility ran its own localized stack while a central orchestrator coordinated end-to-end flows. My team of developers and testers (~15 people) delivered a solution that let URBN route inventory, talk to PLCs, and synchronize with upstream WMS/TMS without bottlenecks. The solution gave operations clear monitoring, predictable message handling, and the flexibility to scale as new automation cells were commissioned.

Distributed Stack per Zone

• On-prem services per warehouse section: service bus, Windows services, MongoDB, C#, and Oracle DB for local state.
• Each zone interfaced directly with PLCs for routing and control messages.

Central Orchestration Layer

• Java + Apache Tomcat application coordinating workflows across zones.
• Communicated downstream via REST to the Windows services and upstream to WMS/TMS via SOAP.

Custom SCADA and Monitoring

• Real-time dashboards for operations to monitor flows, exceptions, and equipment status.
• Alerting integrated to surface bottlenecks and failures quickly.

Integration and Messaging

• Service bus patterns to isolate failures and keep high-throughput message flows reliable.
• Containerized components where appropriate (Docker) to ease deployment and repeatability.

• Zoned architecture with independent stacks for resilience.
• REST APIs between orchestrator and zone services; SOAP integration to WMS/TMS.
• PLC connectivity for routing, diverting, and automation control.
• Monitoring and alerting to surface bottlenecks and equipment issues quickly.

The KC6 facility achieved the throughput targets for a $200M program while maintaining reliability across many automation cells. Operations gained visibility into inter-zone flows, and engineering could evolve each stack independently without risking system-wide outages.