The demand for online shopping, already on the increase in recent years, has soared in 2020 thanks to the lockdown. Both the overall volume of online traffic and the demand for different sized packages has grown. One result of this trend is that sortation conveyors have become an even more important part of any warehouse business. Warehouse owners may feel at a loss when choosing a conveyor, as so many are on the market.
This article was first published in the November 1st 2020 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.
Interroll is to supply more than 9 kilometers of Interroll Modular Conveyor Platform (MCP) for a leading German supermarket chain. The conveyor lines, which include mainly the Modular Conveyor Platform (MCP) equipped with the EC 5000 24-volt RollerDrive including MultiControl, will be installed at a new end-user facility in Germany. High-performance diverts, belt curves and belt conveyors will also be part of the material handling system, which is provided by a leading system integrator.
To support the transformation of Pets at Home’s eCommerce business, Conveyor Networks was commissioned to deliver the integration of a fully automated picking and packing operation of the business’ Northampton distribution centre. The segregation process was enhanced based on order-type to allow streamlined automation, while the customer order packing processes was improved to increase throughput, efficiency and accuracy.
More innovative automated equipment will be needed to cope with the trend towards smaller shipments, more frequent, single parcels, according to the Supply Chain Consulting Group. There will be an on-going quest for higher speeds with equivalent high accuracy, while new innovations will bring more flexibility and adaptability. As always when considering logistics solutions there are many considerations and trade-offs between space utilisation, productivity, capital and operating costs to consider. It is important to fully understand what you are trying to achieve and undertake a cost/benefit analysis for a range of options. Engaging with equipment vendors in an unstructured way can leave you with more questions than answers.
Beumer Group, a global supplier of automated parcel and post distribution systems, has been chosen by Royal Mail to design the technology for its new fully automated parcel super-hub in Warrington. Scheduled to be fully operational by early 2022, it will be the size of four-and-a-half football pitches and, once complete, handle 800,000+ parcels per day. To achieve the desired levels of parcel sortation Royal Mail specified widespread use of automation at the hub.
Plastic Omnium recruited the expertise of L.A.C. Conveyors & Automation to design, build, test, and install a wide belt conveyor system solution to solve its manual handling of moulds problem. L.A.C. Conveyors and Automation was approached to help develop a wide belt conveyor system that would reduce the manual handling of the moulds to a bare minimum. The final design allowed for parts to be placed directly by an operator from the moulding operation onto a 2000mm wide belt conveyor which was built in two tiers.
It is a great encouragement that conveyor firms are expanding their business during these challenging times.
George Simpson
Features Editor
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