DC Velocity - April 2012

pendicular to the conveyor. On the backsides of the shelving walls are pack stations. The arrays of shelving, called “put walls,” hold various-sized bins that are used to gather individual orders, with each bin representing an order. The entire wall is wired with put-to-light technology.

As batch totes arrive from picking, workers unload them and allocate the items to bins in the put wall. To begin the process, the worker at the put station removes an item from the tote and scans it. This causes lights and quantity indicators to flash below an order bin that requires that product. The worker simply deposits the items into the bin and push-es a button to confirm that it’s the correct tote. He or she then scans another item and repeats the process. The scanning and putting of items into totes, as directed by the lights, continues until all of the items in the batch tote have been assigned. Then, another tote arrives, carrying more products that will be divided among the customer bins. All told, the put system is designed to accommodate 500 puts per hour, per operator.

Once an order is ready for packing, a light flashes at the pack station on the opposite side of the put wall. Employees spend considerable time wrapping individual items, Smith says. “We carry glass, we carry liquid, we carry food goods, and we carry durable goods. All that has to be packed so that it’s going to survive that trip to your house.” Particular attention is given to international shipments to ensure they arrive intact at the 180 country destinations iHerb serves.

As a purveyor of natural and organic products, iHerb is committed to using environmentally friendly packaging. The company recently moved to a biodegradable, compostable clamshell-design packaging for its breakable bottles. It also uses recycled materials wherever possible.

Once products are packed, they’re placed onto takeaway conveyors that pass through stations where void fill is added and the cartons are sealed. The products are also weighed using an inline scale before heading to a sliding shoe sorter that diverts the cartons to 10 shipping lanes based on carrier and destination.

out, Smith has nothing but praise for
the system. The automated system’s
speed has allowed iHerb to meet its
same-day shipment pledge while
achieving an accuracy rate that has
cut returns by 60 percent, he reports.
“The pick to voice allows us to
achieve essentially 100 percent accu-
racy in what we pick—whatever goes
in that box is exactly what that cus-
tomer ordered.” ;