DC Velocity - November 2014

Leading in warehouse automation your challenge, our solution

Vanderlande is dedicated to improving its customers’ business processes and competitive position by providing automated material handling systems and services. We improve our customers’ logistics processes and increase their logistics performance today, tomorrow and throughout the entire life cycle.

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cartons from bumping up against one
another. This is crucial for any zone rout-
ing application, says Intelligrated’s Webb.
“Accumulation allows you to pause the
carton for a moment and wait for that
zone to clear.”
In Polaris’s daily operations, bar codes
attached to each carton are scanned auto-
matically as the carton approaches a zone.
If nothing from that zone is needed for the
order, the carton continues its journey.
But if that zone does contain a required
item, a set of small belts, about the width
of a car’s fan belt, pop up between the
conveyor’s rollers to gently divert the
carton to a nonpowered conveyor spur at
the pick zone.

When a carton arrives at the zone, a worker stationed there scans its bar code with a radio-frequency (RF) device to find out what items are needed. (Voice and pick-to-light technology can also be used for this purpose.) Once the selections have been made, the worker deposits the carton back onto the powered conveyor system. If more items are needed to complete the order, the carton heads to the appropriate zones; if not, it proceeds directly to shipping.

While Polaris opted to pick directly to cartons, not all operations make that choice. Some companies prefer to use totes to gather picks and repack the items later, according to Dematic’s Ruehrdanz. That might be the case if the company’s processes call for a worker to scan each item right before shipping for one last accuracy check or add extra protective packaging for high-value items.

It’s worth noting that uses for zone routing systems aren’t limited to order picking. Polaris, for instance, is also using the conveyors to feed replenishment. Workers can deposit original cartons from vendors or totes of repacked items directly onto the conveyor at the start of the zone routing system. The control system then diverts the cartons or totes to zones that require replenishment. Workers there scan the bar-code labels for directions on where in the racks to place the incoming items. Inventory systems are updated at the same time to reflect that the products are now available to fill orders.

in a shipping carton later in the process. But the decision did have some implications for the conveyor design. In particular, the shift meant the new conveyors had to be a bit more carton-friendly than their predecessors. For example, the rollers had to be spaced closer together than

they were in previous models. In addition, the conveyors and transfer points had to be designed to convey empty (or nearly empty) cartons that have little weight to provide the necessary friction.