AMH Material Handling has completed a £3.2 million project for Wilko at its 110,000 sq ft e-fulfilment facility managed by Clipper Logistics in Ollerton. The project has automated the packaging, labelling and destination sortation for 85 per cent of online orders for both home and store delivery. The logistics solution, which was implemented ahead of Black Friday, has already handled a quarter of a million items in the first month of operation.
Colin Holland, project manager, Clipper Logistics explains, “Wilko needed to facilitate growth and make room for extra product storage. In addition, they wanted to limit reliance on manual labour. Furthermore, the system needed to increase throughput efficiencies and accuracy.
The bespoke solution has seen AMH install the automated system over three floors. A carton erecting machine has been installed on each of the two mezzanine floors along with licence plate number (LPN) labelling machines.
Completed orders are placed onto a conveyor infeed which merges them onto a powered spiral conveyor. The spiral conveyor transports cartons down to the ground floor where they join the main conveyor system. Once on the main system, cartons travel down a decline conveyor where they merge with any cartons inducted from the ground floor infeed.
Cartons continue to travel down and turn a 180º bend before being checked automatically for weight. The warehouse control system (WCS) validates the actual weight and any cartons with weight issues are diverted to a reject spur for rectifying.
Further down the conveyor line, the warehouse management system (WMS) alerts the conveyor if a carton contains any fragile items. If so, the system diverts the carton to the fragile repack benches.
After items have passed the weight and fragile stations, one of three document inserting machines place the customer’s shipping note into each carton. They are then sorted by size before they reach either of the two carton lidding machines.
In the despatch area, AMH has installed a total of eight despatch lanes. The first four are for the parcel carrier companies. Three of the lanes transport parcels for instore collect orders whilst the eighth lane is a reject lane.
Colin continues, “Initially, we asked AMH to come up with a solution for a facility at a different location, however, our plans changed and we decided to stay at Ollerton. This was a challenge as the Ollerton site is over three floors which wasn’t part of the design. Despite the site change delaying the start date, our end deadline remained the same.”
“The system AMH has designed is capable of handling our forecasted peak throughput capacity up to 2020/21. In addition, the system is fully adaptable so if our volumes should change, we can add additional automation.
“AMH surpassed our expectations. The quality they have delivered has been second to none. During the whole process they have been extremely open, honest and helpful. It truly felt more like a friendship than a partnership.”
AMH MATERIAL HANDLING
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