DC Velocity - October 2017

40 DC VELOCITY OCTOBER 2017 www.dcvelocity.com
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If the order includes any of the slower-moving C items, as about 20 percent of orders do, these are picked first. To select items in the C area, a worker equipped with an RFID reader scans the tote’s tag. This brings up a display showing the items and quantity to pick as well as their locations in the adjoining shelves.

Orders that include heavier items start in a zone that uses pick-to-light technology. Workers select these heavy products from source pallets. Lights and quantity indicators linked to the pallets show which items to pick. To confirm the pick’s completion, workers can use either traditional pushbut-tons or pull cords that hang above the pallets, depending on their preference.

Orders that do not contain a C item or a heavy product
start in the A picking area before moving on to the B area.
In both the A and B areas, source products are stored in
flow racks opposite the picking zones. These racks are auto-
matically replenished from the miniload automated stor-
age system via conveyor. Two shuttle cranes are deployed
in the B area to automatically load the flow racks.

The A area holds 15 of the smaller, very-fast-moving SKUs (stock-keeping units), such as cleansing oils and face wash powder. The section also houses promotional merchandise, including calendars, diaries, seasonal items, and samples. “This area contains our most popular products, so usually almost every order will have one or more items from here,” Nakazawa notes.

In total, the A area consists of three picking zones. Four totes at a time stop here, and a pick-to-light system provides directions for item selection.

After leaving the A area, the totes pass on to the B area for further picking if needed. Here, The picking zones here are outfitted with shelves above the staged order totes, where workers can store batch-picked products that will be needed for totes scheduled to arrive shortly and for future orders. The items are held there until the totes arrive, at which time lights will provide further picking instructions.

Workstations in this area feature an innovative type of labor management technology. Lights above the zone flash if the worker is picking too quickly or too slowly—a red light indicates that performance is too slow, while an orange light warns that the speed is less than optimal. In some cases, workers may move to other locations within the picking zones to help bring a line up to speed and avoid bottlenecks elsewhere in the system.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Once the orders are assembled, the totes are conveyed to inspection and packing areas. A sliding-shoe surfing sorter directs each tote to one of 60 packing stations (totes are assigned to stations based on the size of the shipping carton required for the order and the need to balance work). When a tote arrives at a pack station, an RFID device scans its tag to bring up a list of the items the tote should contain. The display also tells the worker which size carton—the facility stocks 14 different-sized boxes—to use for the order.

The associate next removes each item from the order tote, scans it for verification, and places it into the shipping carton. As each item is verified, its entry grays out on the packing station’s computer screen. A chime sounds when