BY DAVID MALONEY, SENIOR EDITOR
CONVEYORS AND SORTATION
POLARIS INDUSTRIES’ STAR
is shining brightly these days. In
fact, business has been so
good that the company
is expanding its picking capabilities at its largest distribution center, located in Vermillion,
S.D. The well-known maker of snowmobiles,
off-road vehicles, and other sporting equipment uses this facility and a regional one in
Wilmington, Ohio, to distribute parts and
accessories.
For the expansion project, the company has
chosen a fulfillment method that combines
conveyors with split-case picking. Known as
zone routing, the strategy is a form of goods-to-person order fulfillment, meaning it eliminates
the need for workers to travel up and down
aisles to gather items for orders. And it can be
a highly efficient strategy. Zone routing often
results in productivity rates of 100 to 150 line
items picked per operator per hour, according
to Dematic, a company that specializes in automated material handling and logistics solutions
and was the supplier of the Polaris zone routing
system.
“One reason to use conveyance and zone
routing is [that it’s] an efficiency play, as it
eliminates walking. Instead, the cartons come to
you,” says Paul Eickhoff, director of operations
for Polaris Parts, Garments, and Accessories
(PG&A) distribution.
As for how it works, zone routing is essen-
tially a variation of pick-and-pass technology.
In pick-and-pass operations, conveyors send
order cartons or totes through each of the
various pick zones. Workers select any items
needed from their zones and pass the carton
along to the picker in the next zone. What’s
different about zone routing is that the carton
is not routed through each zone. It is diverted
only to those zones that contain items required
for the order. In a sense, it has the advantages
of a goods-to-person system at a fraction of the
price. Think of this as goods-to-person “lite.”
“Zone routing is an accepted technology
with a good return on investment,” notes Ken
Ruehrdanz, manager, distribution systems mar-
ket for Dematic. “You can get a lot of through-
put and performance from zone routing. It
works for low, medium, and high rates, and
is productive while being fairly compact.” For
these reasons, he says, the application has caught
on across a wide range of industries, including
materialhandlingupdate
Zoned in
Looking to stay on top of your order
fulfillment game? Zone routing offers
the benefits of goods-to-person picking
at a fraction of the cost.
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