DC Velocity - April 2016

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American Baler_DC Velocity Magazine.indd 1 2/9/2016 11:22: 23 AM 36 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2016 www.dcvelocity.com

and directly from the receiving docks
replenish two automated miniload
systems. The first, which handles
frozen goods, comprises three aisles
and can hold 2,400 cases. The sec-
ond miniload system has 16 aisles
with 9,984 storage locations to hold
both refrigerated goods and fruits
and vegetables in containers. It does
double duty at CO-OP Kobe: from
4 a.m. until 3 p.m. it holds refriger-
ated goods, and then from 3 p.m. to
2 a.m. it holds fresh goods, such as
fruits, vegetables, and breads. Both
miniloads feed goods-to-person
processing stations where orders are
filled. Cranes on the refrigerated miniload
are also designed to handle two cases or
cartons at a time for faster transfers.

COOL TOOLS

CO-OP Kobe serves about 450,000 households in Hyogo prefecture and part of the Osaka area as well. Customers place their orders once a week; about 45 percent of the average customer order value consists of frozen items. Incoming orders for the day are assigned to pick stations. Picking for frozen items begins at 8: 30 a.m., and picking for refrigerated products takes place in a separate area beginning at 9 a.m.

To begin the process, cranes working in the aisles of the miniloads gather products within the systems. These are transferred to conveyors that transport them to the picking areas, which are located on the second floor of the building. Upon arrival there, the conveyor transfers the containers to storage and retrieval (S/R) machines that pass along the back side of the picking zones. The S/R machines automatically unload the containers into flow racks that feed the pick faces.

Both the frozen and refrigerated picking areas were completely renovated during the recent upgrade. Changes included the elimination of one of the frozen picking lines and one of the refrigerated picking lines. Even with fewer picking lines, the new systems are much more productive, according to CO-OP’s managers.

The three frozen and six refrigerated lines are equipped with Daifuku’s unique “eye-navi” pick-to-light system and another new Daifuku technology called Seven- 9, which uses RFID to confirm picks and works together with the eye-navi system to increase picking accuracy.

Here’s how they work, using the frozen picking lines as an example. A plastic bag to contain the frozen selections is placed inside each delivery container before picking commences. The container is then placed on a conveyor that feeds the picking lines, which are broken into zones. Across from the conveyor are flow racks containing the frozen products. Workers stand between the racks and the conveyors.