As conveyor requirements become more complex, particularly in distribution centres driven by omni- channel fulfilment needs at breakneck speeds, the risks of wrong conveyor choice and software supporting them rise. One way to cut those risks is for buyers to procure all their needs from one source, which means no potential problem with interfaces because there is only one central contact partner. Another risk cutter is to ensure as much feasible conveyor flexibility as possible to cope with wide swings in throughput rates.
The choice of fast sortation conveyors, in particular, will often be simplified if the handled products are homogenous, like hanging garments, which employ overhead sortation conveyors like those from SDI Dematic. But even here complexity will creep in if the ultimate customer base demands omni-channel deliveries. To cope with this, warehouse control systems, which traditionally have been dedicated to material flow, are now being made more flexible to handle more sophisticated solutions geared towards merchandise management. This will now often involve the same sorting conveyors being used for preparing despatch orders and sorting container loads of inbound goods or handling returns.
Whatever sortation conveyor is chosen, be it bomb door types, cross belt, pop up wheels, sliding shoe and tilt tray/slat, certain universal considerations apply. Apart from the need to design a system to meet peak demand and ensure that the data on which the design is based is still entirely valid, it is important to realize that there are three definitions of sorter capacity. These are design capacity of individual components, system capability under ideal test conditions, and operational capacity, which is influenced by many factors around the periphery of the sorter (people, business processes, etc). If these factors are disregarded the result could be underperformance and so risk the business case.
As the meteoric growth in online shopping changes the order characteristics in favour of more orders with less items per order it is important to remember the possible need for making the hardware modular enough to build in flexibility to support business growth, volatile market conditions and internal changes in production/distribution processes. Some types of sortation conveyors, like FSU shoe sorters, can be mounted above one another to give a combined sort capacity of 56,000 units/hr, saving valuable space into the bargain. Other designs, like Plussort conveyors, well geared for books, can allow up to five vertical sorting levels and so only needs a fifth of the footprint associated with single level sorters. Such systems, however, are more mechanically complex than other sorters and so higher maintenance may be necessary to ensure adequate uptime.
As regards cost justification for fast sorters, one rule of thumb suggests that the software will account for 15-20% of the project. Planning and contract management will absorb another 10%, training 2-2.5% and hardware about 70%. Payback periods will vary widely but operators should aim for below three years. Given the importance of reliability and after-sales back up, however, once the conveyor type has been chosen potential buyers should visit existing installations that their potential provider has done to satisfy themselves that there is nothing that should disturb them.
Fast, reliable sortation conveyors are now the beating heart of any distribution centre coping with multi-channel buyers because they must cope with next or even same-day delivery demands from customers. But they can only do so much no matter how flexible they are and retailers and others who supply online buyers directly should remember that if they do not want a repetition of bargain Fridays and cyber Mondays that for one day only sharply reduces merchandise prices, leading to huge demand spikes and failure to deliver anywhere near on time. Otherwise they must expect much higher delivery charges for such manic days.
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