Expert Insight: Guest Contribution
     
 

by Ken Matson, President, Invar Systems

 
     
  February 21, 2008  
 

Sortation System Upgrades

 
     
 

Often, the Upgrade Path Can Be The Least Disruptive and Most Economical Choice to Increase Material Handling System Throughput

 
     
 
Matson Says:
Dynamic sorting algorithms make decisions with every tray increment and change chute assignments due to physical or logical changes, such as blockages, reducing recirculation and sort time.

What do you say? Send us your comments here

High speed item and package sortation systems have been available for several decades. These systems have proved to be the heart of many order fulfillment operations. Replenishment, picking, packing, and shipping are designed to “keep the sorter busy."

The sorter performance has also proved to limit the capacity and flexibility of the facility, especially when dealing with business changes, such as:

  • Changes in suppliers, products, customers, competitors drive changes in mix, volume, and mission.
  • With business changes, the information systems may require updating and improvements.
  • The electro-mechanical and control systems technology has a limited life and can become obsolete.
  • The expertise to support many existing systems may not be available from the original suppliers.

With these changes and the sorter having such a critical role in the facility, the business has to consider maintaining, replacing, or upgrading the system. The upgrade path can be the least disruptive and most economical path.

Advanced sortation control systems, sitting above the machine control, overcome many current limitations. Dynamic sorting algorithms make decisions with every tray increment and change chute assignments due to physical or logical changes, such as blockages, reducing recirculation and sort time. Chutes are assigned based on order volume and dynamically reassigned as needed, reducing the end of wave tail and allowing more orders in a wave. Chute balancing maintains throughput when a large imbalance occurs. Using emulation, the overall operation can be modeled to determine compatibility with changes and reduce implementation risk.

Advanced sortation systems capture extensive data in standard databases and present the data in graphical displays, dashboards, reports, and e-mails and make the data available for internally generated reporting. These systems are built on modern, industry-standard platforms and development technologies that are supported locally and readily accepted by internal IT teams.

The sorter, however, is just one element in the overall process. Operational benefits and flexibility are achieved by managing the overall process. With an integrated solution, waves can be dynamic or continuous to maximize flow. Buffers can be managed to sequence product appropriately. The sortation process can operate with visibility of the upstream and downstream processes for more informed decision making.

The Invar Warehouse System (IWS) from Invar Systems is a complete integrated Warehouse Control-Management System.IWS Sortation provides advanced sortation features, including dynamic sorting, dynamic chute assignments, automatic balancing, and emulation. IWS Sortation can be implemented in existing or new facilities and can operate with existing systems or integrated with the IWS Warehouse Management/Warehouse Control System.

Agree or disgree with our guest expert's perspective? What would you add? Let us know your thoughts for publication in the SCDigest newsletter Feedback section, and on the web site. Upon request, comments will be posted with the respondent's name or company withheld.

 
 
 
  Send an Email  
.