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Tag: conveyors

Gebhardt expands management

Posted on by David Priestman

The Gebhardt Intralogistics Group, headquartered in Sinsheim, Germany has welcomed two new members to the management team. This change is necessary to maintain strong company growth and meet the challenges of the market, optimally positioning the company for the future. Volker Nicolai has been appointed the new Managing Director of Sales and Service. Kevin Stadler will be responsible for Human Resources and Finances as Managing Director. With these positions, Gebhardt strengthens its current management consisting of Fritz and Marco Gebhardt and Reinhold Himmelhan.

Gebhardt Intralogistics Group has been on the market for 70 years and is proud of the many years of continuous growth. Fritz and Marco Gebhardt and Reinhold Himmelhan reflect happily on the successful past and made the company a reliable and innovative intralogistics provider.

Fritz and Marco Gebhardt explain the motivation behind the expansion: It was an important step “to ensure this development continues and to best position the company for the future, as well as to expand the market position further.”

Nicolai is no stranger to the company. He began his Gebhardt career in 1993, taking a short hiatus as Head of Project Management at ICM Airport Technics GmbH from 2005 – 2012. Since then, he has led the International Sales team.

“Gebhardt is more than just an employer to me. It is a long-standing connection, both professionally and personally. I am looking forward to the new task and am thankful for the trust they have put in me,” explains Nicolai, pleased about the new position as Managing Director of Sales and Service.

In December 2006, Stadler started his professional career at Gebhardt after successfully completing his industrial engineering degree at the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim. Over the years, he has gained professional experience in many areas, primarily in controlling, finance, and human resources, and he looks forward to bringing his expertise to the management team. “In this position, I will do my part to ensure that Gebhardt continues to be at the forefront of intralogistics providers and remains an interesting, sought-after employer in the region and other locations,” comments Stadler.

“With Volker Nicolai and Kevin Stadler, we welcome two skilled professionals in their field and long-time employees to the management team. With this step, we are focusing on continuity and continued positive development. Intralogistics is facing great challenges, whose solutions we want to actively shape with the expanded management and the entire Gebhardt team,” Marco Gebhardt concludes.

ZipLink belts help reduce downtime

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Working closely with OEMs and end users, Ammeraal Beltech – a leading manufacturer of process and conveyor belts with a well-earned reputation for developing innovative belting solutions for a wide range of applications across many industries – has developed a truly revolutionary concept in belting design, the ZipLink range of belts.

These belts feature a specially designed linking mesh carcass that can be fitted with a selection of different top-cover materials, including natural rubber, carboxylated rubber, Silam, Teflon, Nitrile, SBR and cotton/felt fabric – the choice of top-cover material depends on the application.

The greatest benefit from the ZipLink belt is less downtime. Thanks to the belt’s innovative linking mesh, it can be quickly and easily spliced without the need for special tools, presses or other equipment, without lengthy production stoppages or the need to call in specialist services. After installing ZipLink belts, many end users found that the time and the personnel they required to change belts was less than half of what they’d had to devote in the past.

Furthermore, the special ZipLink construction eliminates points of weakness after repair. There’s no loss of strength at all in the “splice” area because the mesh carcass has simply been linked up again. This means a reconnected ZipLink belt is as strong as it ever was, and will last longer than belts that have been seamed or fused when spliced.

The logistics industry is one of the main sectors to benefit from this breakthrough. Parcel sortation facilities often have many short belts installed in awkward places where it’s often very tricky or even dangerous (in the case of hot-splicing) to carry out a splice or install a new belt. In many cases, time-costly disassembly is required.

ZipLink belts can be replaced in minutes, and that’s not all. The ZipLink range was designed to meet just the requirements present in a number of sortation belting applications, including general and inclined transport, gapping, live roller, strip merge, and high-speed merging.

BEUMER showcases new pouch technology at LogiMAT

Posted on by Keith McKinley

BEUMER Group‘s BG Pouch System can meet the growing demands of e-commerce fulfilment – and the combination of retail and D2C. The operator benefits from simplified returns handling because dynamic buffering eliminates the need for re-storage and picking. The sorter increases throughput by 25% compared to conventional pocket sorters. It requires little space and is suitable for a wide range of items – from high-tech to high heels. BEUMER Group presented the BG Pouch System to the German public for the first time at the recent LogiMAT 2022 event.

This innovative system, which was developed in response to shifting market trends and customer demands, expands BEUMER Group’s offering for the warehouse and distribution industry. Making great use of available space, the BG Pouch System can be installed in unused overhead areas where single items can be buffered, sorted and sequenced to automate the order handling and returns processes, reducing floor space requirements by up to 30%. The modularity of the system means that it can easily be scaled up with minimal installation time.

The system features a capacity of 10,000 items per hour per sortation module, allowing logistics centres to flatten their handling peaks and reduce the amount of manual handling to dramatically improve overall logistics efficiency. The system has an item capacity of 7kg, making it ideally suited to handling fashion goods such as shoes and garments on hangers, as well as print and media, pharmaceutical and beauty products, and electronics.

Pouch sorting increases efficiency by reducing the number of touch points, which is particularly critical for handling returns. The BG Pouch System facilitates the e-commerce driven demand for fast cycle times. Reverse logistics efficiency can also be improved by effective handling of returns using built-in interim storage for returned products.

Different types of products, held for different clients and destined for different types of shipping, can be held in a single intelligent storage system. As the BG Pouch System is a single item handling system (one item per pouch) the warehouse management system can move the relevant item from this buffer for packing swiftly without any human touch. This means that returned goods can be sent for shipment direct from the dynamic buffer without ever being sent back to the main storage area for re-picking. For logistics operators handling a diverse array of goods, this flexibility can prove invaluable for both outbound items and returns.

The system has already seen successful use in Italy, where international fashion brand Calzedonia Group implemented BEUMER Group’s pouch technology to optimise e-commerce operations for its Tezenis brand. The company had seen a steady rise in its direct-to-consumer business, and needed to optimise its despatch operations to handle this growth while raising the level of efficiency and customer service. Following the installation, Calzedonia Group has transformed its warehouse, optimising it for omnichannel operations while continuing to achieve high efficiency in handling and fulfilment. Calzedonia Group has joined some of the world’s leading warehouse and distribution operators in embracing BEUMER Group’s solutions, along with companies including Nike, Foot Locker and ASOS.

BEUMER Group can facilitate the entire process of installing the pouch sortation solution through every stage, from the selection of the solution, through design, build, test, implementation, training, maintenance and growth. As well as operating independently with its own technology, BEUMER will also act as a full-service integrator throughout the process, working with third-party suppliers to provide a complete system.

 

Innovative drive concepts from Nord

Posted on by David Priestman

E-commerce is booming and so is warehouse automation. Flexible warehouse systems are also in demand in large grocery chain warehouses, and require environmentally friendly, sustainable and intelligent drive concepts. Drive specialist is highly familiar with the industry’s requirements and offers a variety of dynamic drive solutions which are suited for various applications and requirements in warehouse logistics.

Nord offers customised drive solutions for warehouse logistics for an optimum compromise between investment, operating and maintenance costs. With motor efficiency class IE4 and system efficiency class IES2, the drive units achieve excellent efficiencies – especially in the partial load and speed range. The latest generation IE5 permanent magnet synchronous motors achieve an even higher energy efficiency and significantly reduces the energy consumption. The constant torque over a wide speed range allows for a targeted version reduction. This minimises administrative expenses, and enables leaner manufacturing, logistics, storage and service processes.

NORDAC ON frequency inverter

The decentralised NORDAC ON frequency inverter has been developed for horizontal conveyor technology requirements in warehousing, and the NORDAC ON+ variant for interaction with the new IE5+ synchronous motor. It is characterised by an integrated Ethernet interface, its ease of maintenance through complete pluggability and an extremely compact design – providing an economical and intelligent plug-and-play solution for IIoT environments.

The compact, smart frequency inverter for decentralised use can be mounted directly on the geared motor. It covers lower power ranges of up to 2.2kW and has an energy-saving function in the partial load range. The integrated Ethernet interface reduces the effort for integration into modern automation systems: Whether for ProfiNet, EtherNet/IP or EtherCAT, the required protocol can be easily set via parameters.

Efficiency in conveyor technology

The NORDAC FLEX SK 205E series is also ideally suited for applications in warehouse logistics. The compact, decentralised and energy-efficient frequency inverter offers a wide power range of up to 22 kW and enables energy savings over the entire load range. The inverter can be used to control standard asynchronous motors, high-efficiency synchronous motors and brake motors. It can be installed close to the drive in the field or motor-mounted.

Power and data cable connections are available as plug-in versions. The decentralised system enables short motor and encoder cables as well as short supply cables to sensors. Encoder feedback can be included, for example, for position-controlled transport systems. The large overload capacity of the NORDAC FLEX SK 205E makes dynamic movements with short start and stop times or cyclic operation possible. The integrated POSICON control enables high precision in synchronous and positioning applications.

Overall, Nord convinces with a wide range of products in the field of warehousing, including both established basics and high-efficiency products. Users benefit from tailored and reliable drive solutions which ensure an optimum system availability. The Nord modular drive system thus enables an optimum compromise between investment, operating and maintenance costs.

 

 

IFOY FINALIST FOCUS: IKEA Project Flat Pack Picking by SSI Schäfer

Posted on by David Priestman

Next up in our series examining each of the IFOY Award nominated finalists ahead of the winners announcement on 30th June at BMW World, we look at the first of two solutions in the Integrated Warehouse Solution category –  IKEA Project Flat Pack Picking by SSI Schäfer.

IFOY category: Integrated Warehouse Solution

Flat pack picking lets SSI Schäfer offer a truly unique, automated and turnkey system solution from a single source, providing safe, efficient and volume-optimised palletising of heavy and bulky items typical for the furniture sector. The picking module with gantry robots facilitates the efficient handling of an especially heterogeneous range of items, reduces the burden of non-ergonomic tasks on employees and stands out with its high degree of scalability.

Customer: Inter IKEA Group

Realisation Phase:
From: 2019-08-08
To: 2021-04-19

Description

The multinational furniture company IKEA has successfully implemented a fully automated order picking system for handling bulky and heavy items at its customer order distribution centre in Dortmund, Germany, together with its long-term intralogistics partner SSI Schäfer , as part of its efforts to create a more ergonomic and healthier working environment for its employees. The heart of the system is the flat pack picking solution with an intelligent gantry robot picking system. The turnkey, scalable as well as high performance system is flexible in its handling, suitable for a variety of heavy, bulky items and automatically generates optimal pack patterns for the order pallets. Modern robotics applications reduce the workload of the workforce in handling goods of this kind.

Who hasn’t heard of them, those classic products MALM, IVAR or PAX? IKEA opened its first furniture store in Germany way back in 1974. Since then, the Swedish furniture chain has been delighting customers with a wide assortment of products in Scandinavian design. This ongoing successful trajectory has continued even during the pandemic: For the 2020 fiscal year, IKEA Germany reported sales revenue of €5.325 billion in store-based retail. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the home furnishings group generated growth of 0.9%. In the e-commerce segment, sales revenue increased by 74.3% to €861 million. The online share almost doubled as compared to the previous year and is now reported at 16.2%. The growing trend in favour of online furniture purchases is compensating for the downturn in furniture stores caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Providing a consistent response to economic and social challenges
While IKEA is the undisputed number one in furniture retailing in Germany, the industry is still engaged in an intense price war. This makes it important to continuously adapt cost structures and processes, including logistics, to the dynamic market situation to ensure that IKEA can offer its customers an appealing, competitive range of goods. IKEA is handling this challenge with great success: “Steadily increasing efficiency while at the same time increasing throughput is a constant incentive for us,” says Julien Weiß, Intralogistics Development, Inter IKEA Group. “With this in mind, and primarily in order to reduce the manual workload of our employees, IKEA is increasingly investing in the automation of its intralogistics processes.” This is how the furniture group is responding to the persistent cost pressure while also focusing on the health of its staff. Conventional manual picking of heavy and bulky parts, such as chests of drawers or cabinets, can put a strain on the musculoskeletal system. Plus, hiring the right warehouse staff for positions that involve physical labour is tough.

Concept study as the initial spark for the pilot project
IKEA Intralogistics acts, for all intents and purposes, as an in-house consultant and also ensures continuous improvement of the processes at its customer order distribution centre in Dortmund. In 2017, management there began to consider the deployment of robots in the area of order picking in collaboration with SSI Schaefer, a project partner they had trusted for many years. This approach was part of a concept study, also developed jointly, to optimise logistics in the handling of customer order business. “Both the heterogeneous range of articles and the large proportion of heavy and bulky items were particularly challenging here,” says Tim Langenbach, Director Business Development Retail & Wholesale, SSI Schäfer . “As a full-range supplier in the field of intralogistics, we were able to work in close coordination to identify a suitable solution to this problem.” As part of a test installation and subsequent simulation, the flat pack picking system, which is being used for the first time in Dortmund, was determined to be the ideal solution after a “proof of concept.” The predefined customer requirements were met with an integrated logistics solution from a single source, an intelligent software concept and modern robotics applications: As a result, IKEA enjoys efficient and more ergonomic processes, handling flexibility as well as scalability.

Steady replenishment process and intelligent palletising
“Our original intention was to embrace this exciting concept and test the system together,” says Julien Weiß. “We provided the location and the items here in Dortmund, and SSI Schäfer installed the solution, facilitating a reliable ‘proof-of-functionality’.” The results were impressive across the board, and the partner contract to implement the real system was signed at the end of 2019. The system went live in April 2021, and the flexibly scalable flat pack picking module comprising hardware and software, which SSI SCHÄFER supplies as a complete system from a single source, was integrated into the customer order distribution centre’s existing hall, almost ten metres in height. Since it was started up, the incoming pallets are first checked for contours and weight. Then, energy-efficient SSI Exyz storage-retrieval machines perform the storage in the pallet warehouse with almost 900 storage locations. Along the hydraulic buffer aisle, four ro-ber FP150 series gantry robots, which access both statically provided A-items and dynamically provided B- and C-items within their action area, pick pallets. The gantry robots are equipped with multifunctional grippers that automatically adapt to the dimensions of the items and the type of packaging by means of servo-motor-adjustable suction cups. The gantry robots and grippers were developed by ro-ber Industrieroboter GmbH, a subsidiary of SSI Schaefer. The process is supported by vision technology in combination with the WAMAS logistics software, so that each picking robot is able to quickly identify the proper position of the requested item. Goods up to 2.5m in length and weighing more than 60kg are safely picked up from the source pallet and transferred to the ready-to-use order pallet. The removal of intermediate layers is also fully automated. The stored packing pattern generator (SSI Pack Pattern Generator) ensures a safe, optimised arrangement of the items on the order pallets, which are prepared for further processing via a buffer as part of the outbound process.

Findings of the simulation confirmed in operational use
IKEA distribution centres store an average of 10,000 different items. Tests have confirmed that 1,500 of these can be picked automatically. Ten percent of these items have been identified so the area can be optimally utilised. They are primarily fast movers, such as the PAX cabinet, the body of which weighs just under 60kg. “The reduced burden on our staff is a major plus,” emphasises Julien Weiß, who has headed the project since 2019. “They no longer have to pick bulky and heavy parts; instead, this is done by the robots. This takes an enormous amount of strain off the workforce, which is highly motivated to focus on boosting other value-added processes.”

Collaborative innovation for the furniture sector
IKEA and its employees immediately benefit from the increased performance values and automated processes. “We have enjoyed a consistently positive collaboration with SSI Schäfer , also in this pilot project,” Julien Weiß concludes. “The partnership approach favoured and lived out by both companies in particular has contributed to the success.” IKEA reserves the option of rolling out the innovative system at other locations. At the same time, the system will be of interest to other players in the furniture sector that would like to offer their customers an exceptional shopping experience across different channels, also in the heavy-load segment. This is because the solution delivers streamlined and efficient logistics processes with the help of automation, while at the same time offering employees an appealing working environment. “The innovative concept and the added value that can be achieved in real terms mean that the flat pack picking solution is extremely relevant to the market,” adds Tim Langenbach. “This is why we are excited to be able to implement this scalable system, which can be adapted to a wide range of different SKUs in the future and also provided on a turnkey basis to other customers.”

CLICK HERE to watch a video.

IFOY TEST REPORT

Ikea operates Germany’s largest customer order distribution centre in Dortmund. Together with its long-standing partner SSI Schäfer, Ikea has successfully relieved its employees of heavy physical work. Heavy and large items are palletised in a volume-optimised manner with the help of the new picking module from SSI Schäfer, employees are freed from unergonomic work. At the same time, optimal packing patterns for the order pallets are automatically generated.

How does Flat Pack Picking work in use at Ikea? The introduction of this sustainable, innovative picking concept from SSI Schäfer in Germany’s largest Ikea distribution centre was preceded by a concept study and proof-of-concept starting in 2017. By means of a test installation and subsequent simulation, Ikea put SSI Schäfer’s flat-pack picking system, implemented for the first time at the Dortmund site, through its paces – and found it to be good. The go-live started in April 2021. Both the heterogeneous range of articles and the large proportion of heavy and bulky articles were a particular challenge here. It turned out that of the approximately 12,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) located in the distribution centre (DC), about 10%, i.e. 1,200, can be handled fully automatically. These are usually the so-called “fast-moving items”.

The goal of the four gantry robots used, which are supported by two small gantry robots outside the actual picking area, was to relieve the employees of heavy tasks by means of automated gantry picking. One of the four gantry robots, with its 16 suction cups that grip the packaged goods from above and the cameras at the four corners, has a theoretical (technical) picking performance of 70 to 80 picks per hour. This makes the four robots the fastest link in the entire system. Together, the four gantry robots can handle a maximum of 312 picks; in real operation, they currently handle a good 200 picks per hour. Intermediate layers on the individual packages that get in the way of the fast lifting and transporting process of the packages are reliably detected and removed.

The turnkey, scalable order-picking solution basically consists of three areas: the left-hand part of the system for the dynamic provision of the slower-moving furniture packages, the actual picking area in the middle where the four “ro-ber” gantry robots do their work and to which no human has access, unfortunately not even for testing purposes, and the right-hand part of the system for the static provision of the fast-moving items. The gantry robots are equipped with multifunctional grippers that automatically adapt to the dimensions of the articles to be picked and the type of packaging by means of servomotor-adjustable suction cups. Packages of goods up to 2.5 metres in length and weighing over 60 kilograms are safely picked up from the source pallet and transferred to the order pallet. SSI Schäfer’s Pack Pattern Generator ensures that the requested items are optimally arranged on the order pallet and can be picked up for the customer order.

IFOY Test Verdict

According to Ikea’s own information, the new system enables the company to handle about 3,000 more customer orders per week than before. This is a great advantage because customer orders tend to be smaller, but the quantity is significantly higher. In times of e-commerce, more and more customers have their Ikea purchases delivered and also set up. However, SSI Schäfer’s sophisticated flat-pack picking solution can also be adapted to a wide range of different SKUs outside the furniture industry and is therefore highly interesting for other industries as well.

IFOY INNOVATION CHECK

Market relevance: The challenge of picking large and at the same time carton-packed packages has long been known in logistics. As a rule, teams of two order pickers or one order picker with a mechanical lifting aid, such as a balancer, must be used for this. The solution presented is very attractive for this market segment. However, an essential prerequisite for successful use is reliable and stable carton packaging to implement the gripping process with vacuum suction pads.

Customer benefit: If the aforementioned prerequisite is fulfilled, the solution offers both an ergonomic benefit through the relief of the employees and a benefit through the automatic provision of the article pallets for picking. The latter function reduces the load on the supply warehouse for order picking, as the article pallets are held in the staging area for flat pack picking according to their access frequency and are made available for access at the exact time. Together with the precisely specified stacking sequence and the automated movement of the customer order pallet through the picking system, this results in a stable and reliable build-up of the load.

Novelty: The well-known picking task of flat pack picking has never before been implemented so consistently and efficiently in an automated system. The clever design of the material flow of the article pallets combined with the flexible gripping technology for handling the carton-packed parcels account for the high degree of innovation, which has not been achieved before.

Functionality / type of implementation: The functions are very well and appropriately designed for the application at IKEA. According to the information provided by the developer SSI SCHÄFER and the user IKEA, the limitation of the achievable throughput does not result from the robots with their grippers but from the capacities for cross-distribution of the customer order pallets and the article pallets with distribution trolleys. For a general use case, there is therefore still potential to make the function more adaptable for different order compositions.

Verdict: Not all interested users will have the prerequisites of stable and flat carton packaging. However, if these are given, it is a relevant and innovative solution for efficient order picking.

market relevance Ø
customer benefit ++
novelty ++
functionality / type of implementation +
[++ very good / + good / Ø balanced / – less / – – not available]

For an overview of all the finalists, visit www.ifoy.org

CLICK HERE to find out more about Flat Pack Picking by SSI Schäfer.

IFOY FINALIST FOCUS: e.scala by Stow Robotics

Posted on by David Priestman

The latest product in our series examining each of the IFOY Award nominated finalists ahead of the winners announcement on 30th June at BMW World is the e.scala goods-to-person system entered by Belgian intralogistics specialist stow robotics.

IFOY category: Robot

e.scala is a highly standardised, robot-based goods-to-person system that replaces all the classic components of an automated storage system with a robot and thus enables a realisation time of just three months in addition to a significantly lower investment and lower running costs.

Description

The e.scala is a robot-based storage and order-picking system, whereby the robot moves in three dimensions in a storage cube and can easily reach any point in a warehouse or in production via a rail system. A patented ramp system enables the robots to move from storage level to storage level and to overcome height differences outside the storage cube. Due to the high flexibility of the robots, multiple workstation variants can be mapped very easily. This makes it possible to map almost every procedural customer requirement with standard modules.

The area of ​​application for e.scala is in small and medium-sized installations with a focus on applications in e-commerce, in production supply and on micro-fulfilment solutions. The high level of standardisation of the system makes it possible to automate even small requirements from 500 storage locations and thus enables full automation to be carried out significantly earlier compared to classic systems.

CLICK HERE to watch a video.

IFOY TEST REPORT

The manufacturer stow robotics is coming to the IFOY TEST DAYS in Dortmund with a demo system of a classic goods-to-person shuttle system, which was transported from the truck to the test hall in one go. The only moving part in the storage and picking system is the shuttle that moves on rails, which stow calls “robot”. Otherwise, the customer is supplied with pure redundancy. The strength of e.scala lies where it comes to entry into automation goes.

The USP of the installation is the fact that the complete system consists of only 15 different parts. However, only the “exciting” pre-storage zone is shown with three lines to get to four levels in the warehouse. How the system works is also stored in the product name: The “e” comes from escalator, i.e. an escalator. And the “scala” is intended to demonstrate the scalability. And something else very special is immediately noticeable: the entire installation does not require a vertical lift, i.e. no elevator: the individual aisles are accessed via sloping ramps, which significantly reduces the susceptibility to errors. The module on which the robot can change the direction of travel in order to move the goods to be transported into or out of the warehouse and, with or without goods to be transported, is called the “connector”.

In principle, the system is similar to a multi-storey car park, with the actual ordering system usually being outside the warehouse. The manufacturer attaches great importance to the redundancy of the system: The only thing that can break, according to its own statement, is the robot. But it doesn’t block the whole system. stow uses the 200-year-old concept of the railway. The transport robot has eight wheels: four for driving in the X direction, the other four move the robot in the Y direction after the wheel change. In principle, the entire structure only needs electricity twice: once for the charging station, where the individual robots can charge their power caps – with a charging time of eight seconds, they drive around for around twelve minutes – and once for the WiFi robot communication with the warehouse management system. That also means:

The individual modules of the e.scala system are 5m x 2.5m in size and are scalable. The system still tolerates a total height of 24m. The Stow Traffic Control (STC) knows when the robot drives over the built-in passive RFID tags in the respective section of the route. Some would call it a material flow system, while others would call it a warehouse control system.

e.scala is basically intended for use in small and medium-sized installations with a focus on applications in the e-commerce sector, in production supply and in micro-fulfilment solutions. Because the system is standardized to a high degree, even small requirements from 500 storage locations to be automated can be well served with it. Because the 15 basic components of the system and the robot can be delivered directly from stock, a complete system can be planned and implemented within a very short time. Even in the event of a robot breakdown, the availability of the system is extremely high, because the accessibility of every place in the system is secured at all times via multiple routes.

IFOY Test Verdict

The “charge on the fly” system of the robots, which can recharge their power caps at any time, guarantees customers 100 percent performance of this storage and picking system in 24/7 regular operation. Because for the automation of smaller systems, low initial investments and a later easy scalability are of great importance, e.scala is perfect for SMEs that don’t want to go “full” with their investment in automated intralogistics.

IFOY INNOVATION CHECK

Market relevance: With e.scala, Stow robotics is targeting small and medium-sized container-based warehouse automation solutions based on the goods-to-person principle, which are currently in particularly high demand in the growth sectors of e-commerce, micro-fulfilment and production supply. Economical use should already be possible from 500 storage locations or 250 square meters of floor space. e.scala has to compete with systems from Autostore and Exotec in this area. Market potential and relevance are expected to be high due to the special features of the system.

Customer benefit: The ramp system for changing the robots between the storage levels makes it possible to dispense with lifts, rigid conveyor technology and electrification of the storage area and thus achieve low system complexity with low investment, operating and maintenance costs. The standardization allows rapid implementation and commissioning within just three months. The storage cube can be scaled quite freely in terms of height, width and length and allows a certain degree of flexibility when choosing between storage density and capacity. The advantages over AutoStore are the higher payload, faster response time, higher throughput and better redundancy. In certain configurations, even higher storage densities should be achievable.

Novelty: The innovation consists above all in the low system complexity caused by the use of the ramps. The robots are the only actuated units in the storage structure, which makes the solution extremely scalable at a moderate cost. In addition, there is increased redundancy since each container in the system can be reached via multiple paths. Containers can be flexibly sequenced at three points in the system, but this is not an innovation compared to other systems. The charging management of the robots is excellently solved by supercaps, which are quickly charged during the picking process in 8 seconds for 12 minutes of operating time, which ensures that the robots are available 24 hours a day.

Functionality / type of implementation: The functioning of the test system was successfully demonstrated. The robot with two-way chassis changed storage levels safely with and without a load via the ramps. Apart from the integrated lifting function for picking up the boxes, the robots are kept simple and robust. Using the rail system, the robots can also carry out sequencing in the pre-zone and drive to other areas of the building for production supply.

Verdict: The specific customer benefit of e.scala is given above all for small and medium-sized systems, which are to be implemented quickly and cost-effectively due to the simplicity and standardization of the solution. The system is technically simple and solidly built and impresses with its flexibility in choosing between storage density and performance as well as with the comparably high level of redundancy even if individual robot units fail.

market relevance ++
customer benefit +
novelty +
functionality / type of implementation ++
[++ very good / + good / Ø balanced / – less / – – not available]

For an overview of all the finalists, visit www.ifoy.org

CLICK HERE to find out more about stow robotics’ e.scala solution.

Highly integrated geared motors from NORD

Posted on by David Priestman

The fewer interfaces, the higher the system efficiency – based on this maxim, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has introduced a revolutionary geared motor in a hygienic wash-down design one year ago, where the especially energy-efficient IE5+ permanent magnet synchronous motor and a single-stage helical gear unit are installed in one single housing.

The completely new, compact design with full integration of motor and gear unit in one single housing is described by NORD as an extraordinary leap in the development of geared motors and has now been successfully patented. The long-term durability and reliability of the innovative solution in terms of design and materials has been successfully proven in months of testing during the development of the DuoDrive, and thus real pioneering work has been accomplished in the field of geared motors.

The integration has been decisively advanced to achieve an optimal utilisation of installation space. Along with the IE5+ motor on which it is based, the encoder, speed feedback and brake are all safely accommodated in the housing.

Excellent system efficiency

As a system, the very compact DuoDrive concept achieves a significantly higher energy efficiency than the already proven drive systems with IE5+ synchronous motor and bevel gear unit, says NORD. At up to 92%, DuoDrive currently offers the highest system efficiency on the market in this power class, and achieves very high efficiency in the partial load range. It is thus future-proof and a real cost reducer.

The constant motor torque over a wide speed range allows for consistent version reduction and reduction of operating costs. Market-compatible connection dimensions facilitate the replacement and the integration into existing plant designs.

The first available DuoDrive size covers gear unit speed ratios of i = 3.24 to i = 16.2 and is designed for output torque ranges of up to 80Nm and speeds of up to 1,000rpm. In addition to the high system efficiency, the smooth, unventilated and compact design, and the quiet running with minimum noise emissions are further important features of the new DuoDrive geared motor. Elimination of many wearing parts results in lower maintenance.

 

Faster fashion fulfilment

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Challenged by poor labour availability, how will fashion fulfilment cope with a return of footfall to the UK high street and growing omni-channel sales? Darcy de Thierry, Managing Director of Ferag UK, believes advanced pouch sorter technology holds the answer.

Successful fashion retailing is all about maximising margin, growing sales volume and getting faster throughput. But for the last two years, omni-channel businesses have, by necessity, had to rely on their ecommerce channels for survival. The strain on fulfilment centres has been enormous, particularly as ‘single’ and ‘few’ item picking and packing operations are traditionally highly labour intensive activities – and labour has become a scarce and costly resource, leading to concerns over performance during critical peak periods.

Now that consumers are returning to the high street, how can businesses re-balance their fulfilment operations to cope with growth and higher throughput across all channels, and at the same time contain costs to maximise margins?

In addition to the challenges of finding labour, the National Living Wage is set to rise from £8.91 to £9.50 per hour in April 2022, coinciding with a hike in National Insurance of 1.25p in the pound for both employers and employees.

With operational costs rising and fewer people available to carry out manual picking operations, many retail fashion businesses are turning to the use of automation to boost the productivity of their labour force. Automation applied to the right processes can free up people for tasks that require human ingenuity, judgement and manual dexterity – tasks such as packing and inspecting returns.

Advanced technology

An innovative technology helping to transform operational performance in the fulfilment centre, freeing-up human resources for value-adding activities, is the pouch sorter. Overhead pouch sortation systems offer a flexible and highly scalable, conveying, sorting and dynamic buffering solution appropriate for both fulfilling ecommerce orders and assembling store friendly sequenced replenishment. One pouch system is capable of sorting and processing many thousands of orders an hour, with each pouch able to carry both hanging garments and flat items, such as shoes and flat pack goods, enabling fast order fulfilment from a single pool of inventory.

Creating a single pool of inventory from which store replenishment and ecommerce orders are served offers significant financial and operational benefits. Efficiencies in accessing available stock, greater flexibility in allocating stock to maximise sales and faster processing times for preparing orders, are just some of the key advantages.

In particular, pouch technology lends itself to ecommerce operations, allowing for greater wave picking efficiency, with late order cut-offs of around 10pm for a promise of delivery to the customer first-thing the next day. The speed and reliability of Skyfall, Ferag’s ultra-fast automated pouch sorter solution, enables the retailer to gain greater operational efficiencies by accumulating orders in advance of a final pick-wave at 10pm. With processing speeds of up to 25,000 units per hour orders can be picked, sorted, packed and dispatched within the shortest time window, giving fashion brands the keen competitive edge of a late cut-off with an early next day delivery.

For consumers fast, reliable fulfilment and delivery is often a decisive factor when purchasing a fashion item and a positive experience is likely to result in repeat sales and recommendations on social media. However, a late delivery of a party dress has the potential to cause great distress and may lead to negative reviews, with the loss of future sales, so a reliable fulfilment process is essential. Of course, pick accuracy is important too, as a mispicked item is likely to be disappointing for the customer, as well as costly to the business. However, automation enables exceptionally high pick accuracy.

Store friendly sequencing

As stated earlier, the same high-speed Skyfall pouch sorter system used for fulfilling ecommerce orders can also be deployed to create store friendly sequenced consignments for high-street shops – pulling from the same, pooled inventory. The benefit of sequencing product for a particular store’s layout is that the shop assistant assigned to replenishing shelves and rails is able to perform the task quickly and efficiently, freeing them to spend more time with customers – potentially, to secure more sales.

An obvious advantage of a high-speed pouch solution, such as Ferag’s Skyfall, is that it uses available overhead space – the third dimension of the building – keeping floor areas free for pedestrians and other processes. What’s more, pouch systems are a highly cost-effective alternative to other forms of goods-to-person automation, like multi-shuttle and mini-load solutions, that can cost up to 30% more. Then there is the core benefit that the Skyfall overhead pouch system undertakes high-speed sorting, conveying and buffering processes too, which with Ferag’s modular conveyor technology allows for tremendous flexibility and scalability. And as the pouch has the ability to carry flat items, such as shoes, and flat pack goods along with hanging items, there is no need to have a separate cross-belt sorter for flat items, with all the issues associated with bringing flat and hanging items together.

Leaders in fashion

A number of leading fashion brands are taking advantage of pouch sorter technology to increase capacity and boost performance of their fulfilment operations. Ferag has recently installed a flexible high-speed Skyfall system at a new distribution centre for children’s fashion company, Mayoral Group, in Malaga, Spain. The extensive overhead pouch solution is one of the largest to date, with a mix of hanging pouches and garment hangers totalling more than 58,000 Skyfall hangers, and a throughput of up to 12,000 units per hour. The system features fully automatic unloading of pouches, including flat goods.

Ferag has developed an advanced automated induction process where pouches automatically open at an induction station, the operator scans a product, passes it down a chute and it drops into the awaiting pouch. The process is fast and efficient.

Similarly, Ferag has also introduced auto-unloading technology with three levels of performance depending upon product characteristics and gentle handling requirements. Contingent on the items, between 1500 and 2200 orders per hour can be automatically unloaded from pouches at packing stations. Driving performance, the rate at which orders are presented at the packing station can determine the pace of packing.

Interestingly, when comparing traditional goods-to-person operations, where you may have six to twelve open orders at the packing station, with a pouch system there can be a hundred or more open orders, simply by keeping them in a dynamic buffer near to the packing station. Items can quickly be called from the buffer as required, providing greater flexibility and speed.

Faster returns

When it comes to the fast processing of returns, overhead dynamic buffers can offer a cutting-edge solution to removing the time, cost and effort of placing returned items back into stock. Manually sorting and placing items back into stock is a very time consuming and costly process, but now it can be avoided. For high-demand fashion products, keeping returned items in a buffer close to the packing area enables a quick and efficient re-despatch of the item. In fact, some retailers anticipate and predict levels of returns, allowing them to re-sell items even before they are returned to the warehouse. Such techniques help boost sales and increase margins.

Of course, reliability is absolutely critical for any automated system. Failure to perform at peak or during critical promotional periods can result in unfulfilled SLAs and dissatisfied customers, which in turn may damage both sales and, importantly, brand. Businesses looking to invest in overhead pouch sortation systems should look very carefully at the quality of the engineering, materials and components used. Only ultra-low friction components should be considered and plastic chains should be avoided. Good design and sound engineering bring long-lasting rewards.

Ferag’s Swiss-engineered pouch sorter technology was originally developed for some of the most testing of handling applications, the international print industry, where super-fast overhead conveyors are required to offer ultra-reliable performance on daily newspaper production runs in the millions. The same materials, technology and design expertise has been successfully applied by Ferag within the intralogistics sector, bringing reliable, high-performance conveying at speeds of up to 25,000 units per hour to fashion businesses the world over.

 

Ferag shows efficient fulfillment technology at LogiMAT

Posted on by David Priestman

Intralogistics specialist Ferag, based in Hinwil, Switzerland, is presenting its combined Skyfall pouch sorting solution and automated storage system at this year’s LogiMAT trade fair in Hall 3, Stand C05. By directly connecting storage to the pouch sorter the entire system improves throughput and increases efficiency. Ferag is also giving a live demonstration of the Denisort Compact modular vertical sorter with downstream transport robot.

The focus of the presentation by Ferag AG at this year’s LogiMAT in Stuttgart will be on the #perfectmatch. The company will show that, even when multiple applications are involved, the right combination of existing intralogistic solutions can offer customers clear added value. In particular, the demonstration will be geared to the e-commerce and retail areas, but interesting innovations will also be presented for the B2B and 3PL sectors as well.

Skyfall accelerates the overall order fulfilment process

Visitors to the company’s booth will be mesmerized by the insights into the highly powerful Skyfall pouch sortation system. The system allows Ferag to demonstrate its role as an innovator and an integrator. Current concepts are optimised with the addition of flexible new approaches.

As a response to the sharply increased demands of modern distribution centres, the combination of well-known storage solutions and reliable overhead conveyors has also proven to be successful for higher loads and product volumes. In particular, increasing product diversity (SKUs), more detailed order structures, accelerated delivery and return processes and constant cost pressure in e-commerce present major challenges for service providers.

Ferag offers a direct connection from the sorter and buffer system to any storage system and a sophisticated order picking principle known as wave picking. The public will learn more about this #perfectmatch at Ferag’s presentation in Hall 3, Stand C05.

Modular, efficient and practical

The Denisort Compact logistics solution provides highly efficient sorting services for incoming goods, order picking, shipping, the integrated return process and cross-docking. Of all the flexible tray sorter’s advantages, on first inspection the system’s modular design stands out. The standard modules provide a compact form that can be expanded with any additional elements. This concept enables quick assembly of pretested modules and thus immediate commissioning of the system.

In particular, an evaluation of the sorting system’s performance reveals improved efficiency. The induction station can be operated automatically and combined with feeder belts. But the area where the #perfectmatch is most obvious is the unloading area. The sorted containers are immediately sent to the next station by an automatic guided vehicle (AGV), which visitors to the trade fair in Stuttgart will be able to see for themselves in person.

Cognex launches bottom-side barcode reader with 99.9% accuracy

Posted on by David Priestman

Cognex Corporation recently introduced the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System. With an area-scan-based approach, the system quickly and accurately reads codes on packages with face-down labels, making it ideal for solving high-speed, complex material handling applications in retail distribution and e-commerce fulfilment centres.

“As online shoppers increasingly expect same or next-day delivery, retailers are under pressure to increase throughput as orders move through supply chains and logistics channels,” said Carl Gerst, Cognex Executive Vice President. “By extending barcode reading coverage to the underside of the box, the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Reading System ensures the right products get routed to the right customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System deciphers 1D and 2D codes faster than traditional line scan technology, which builds the entire image before decoding, causing packages to travel longer distances. By capturing images and executing patented algorithms simultaneously, Cognex readers deliver faster results while reducing the distance between the reader and the divert. Additionally, expanding scan coverage to the bottom side of packages yields higher read rates that reduce manual manipulation and rework costs. The system offers the capability to reads codes on the underside of packages with 99.9% accuracy.

Positioned under the conveyor and weighing just 16kg (35 lbs), the Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System uses DataMan 470 barcode readers to decipher codes as packages pass over a gap in the belt. The compact system can be installed individually or as part of a multi-sided tunnel in just 30 minutes.

CLICK HERE for more information.

 

 

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