ACS Limited, Europe’s largest formal dress hire group, has invested in a new distribution centre to cope with planned business expansion following their acquisition of Etiquette Formal Hire. The Glasgow-based business supplies formal wear, evening wear and Highland dress.
As part of an overall £3.5 million investment in the new head office and DC in Lanarkshire, nearly €2 million is being spent on sortation equipment from Dürkopp Fördertechnik.
Dürkopp, which was awarded the contract in November 2012 with phase 1 being completed in April, has been chosen to design, supply and install the automation equipment for hanging garments and ancillary items to facilitate the increased throughput. Their RollAdapter system has been proven as the most suitable system for individual hanging garment and ancillary item tracking, storage and sortation.
The Dürkopp system will track individual garments from goods in/return from hire, throughout the system using RFID technology.
Garments being returned from hire can be put into static storage for longer term storage or into dynamic storage for popular items that need a quick turnaround. Any single garment can be retrieved automatically from the dynamic storage for delivery to the three stage sorter within one hour of the order appearing on the Warehouse Management System (WMS). The sorter will then sort into “order sequence” ready for despatch.
The RollAdapter system can also be easily adapted to use the Dürkopp sorter bag technology for automatically processing ancillary items such as shoes, belts, ties and sporrans which can all then be sorted and transported in “order sequence” at the packing / despatch area. This means that only one automation system is needed for both hanging garments and ancillary items.
The Dürkopp RollAdapter system is ideal for handling hanging garments and with the future addition of the bag, items that would in the past have required a separate flat conveyor system – such as shoes and packaged shirts – will all be transported on one system. This will provide greater efficiency, reduce order errors, use less floor space, reduce initial investment and lower running costs.
Due to the unique design of the Dürkopp RollAdapter, gravity is used wherever possible to minimise power usage. It has been designed to suit both current and future throughput requirements for hanging garments and ancillary items and can be easily expanded if necessary.
The Dürkopp Fördertechnik WCS (Warehouse Control System) will also be seamlessly integrated with ACS Ltd‘s WMS.
Dürkopp Fördertechnik
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