tify the parts and take photos of them for inventory
purposes.
The faster-moving parts are then conveyed to the
AutoStore, while bulky parts and slower-moving
items head to pallet racks, where wire-guided turret
trucks supplied by Crown perform putaway duties.
The pallet area has 10,000 pallet positions and can
hold 38,000 bins. When items in the pallet racks are
needed for orders, workers gather them using order
picker trucks.
The facility also has an air tube system that it can
use to whisk small parts around the facility. The system consists of 31 stations where items are delivered
swiftly in the air tubes, similar to systems used at
drive-through bank windows.
Items that need repairs are sent to 12 stations
where they are evaluated and then directed to one
of 12 specific work areas for repairs by type—for
example, small drives, large drives, robots, PLCs
(programmable logic controllers) and controls, and
circuit boards.
Products for the AutoStore are conveyed to the
five input stations, where workers remove each item
from the transport bin,
They then place the item
into an AutoStore bin
that a robot has delivered to the station.
Random parts are added
to the bin until it is full
or reaches a weight of
65 pounds. A robot then
picks up the bin and
deposits it in an open
slot on the top of one of the stacks.
The WMS works with the SyncQ software to analyze incoming orders and determine the location
of bins containing the required parts. The software
then assigns robots to shift bins to other locations to
allow access to the desired bin.
When parts are needed for orders, the robots
deliver the bins to four picking stations, which are
part of the Swisslog “Click&Pick” system. A display
screen shows which part or parts are needed from
the incoming bin along with a picture of the item
to help with identification. Most picks can be com-
pleted within 30 seconds and total orders within 90
seconds, even those requiring multiple parts from
different bins. The system is capable of delivering
140 bins an hour to each processing station.
A key benefit of the AutoStore is the way it consolidates parts. The process differs from the method
used in conventional warehouses, where parts must
be broken down into individual orders after they
are zone-picked. “With the AutoStore, all bins with
parts needed for an order are delivered at the same
time, so it does the picking and order consolidation
in one step,” says Todd Radwell.
The worker selects the parts from the AutoStore
source bins into order bins. When an order is complete, the picker places the bin onto a flow rack
that feeds one of nine adjacent pack stations, where
orders are readied for shipment. Two robotic carton
erectors from Xpak Robox build shipping cartons
in six sizes. A machine from Sealed Air supplies
air-filled dunnage for the cartons, while a CubiScan
dimensioning system is used to measure and weigh
outbound cartons.
Every outbound carton also gets a small bag of
candy, which is a treat that customers have come to
expect. “We started it many years ago. This is a practice that once you start,
you can never stop,”
notes Todd Radwell.
KEEPING UP WITH
GROWTH
As for how the new
system is working out,
initial reports are decidedly positive. Since the
company began using
the AutoStore, processing time has been cut
significantly while volumes have steadily increased.
“It has taken over about three-quarters of our
daily volume and about 800 orders a day,” reports
Brian Janusz, global program manager at Radwell.
Currently, the system operates with just four pickers
on one 10-hour shift.
As for its experience working with Swisslog, the
systems integrator for the project, Radwell has
nothing but praise for the team. “We were a month
ahead of schedule on the installation,” Janusz says.
“They’ve been a great partner.” c
DAVID MALONEY IS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR AT
DC VELOCITY.
