Supporting people working in the warehouse while sustaining activity growth is one of L.A.C Conveyor Systems commitments, this commitment has been translated into the launch of an “Automation Toolbox” that offers flexibility and scalability, boosting productivity and efficiency throughout your manufacturing, distribution or warehousing operation.
L.A.C’s Automation offering includes sortation systems that identify items on a conveyor system and divert products or packages to specific destinations. These systems are frequently combined with other common and emerging automated systems. Goods to person systems (Exotec) that automatically transport goods directly to an operator as needed, thus eliminating travel time. Robot systems that are used for transporting goods – often via automated vehicles and heavy load carriers – or to assist in picking, packing, sorting, and storing goods, with the latest addition being the Skypicker by Exotec.
After the success of the Skypod order preparation solution, Exotec wanted to offer a global solution. The Skypicker, a picking module integrated as a plug & play in the Skypod system was born from this ambition. Its advantages include doubling the picking capacity, eliminating the most tedious tasks, and thus reducing the work strain for the operators.
More specifically, the Skypicker is an articulated arm able to move solid objects weighing less than 2kg and with a minimum surface of 2cm x 2cm at a speed of 2m/sec. It is also equipped with its own order mover allowing simultaneous preparation of four orders and transfer to the next station for order completion with manual picking or packing.
The Skypicker is controlled by the Astar software – also driving the Skypod System – in an enclosed and secure environment that guarantees the safety of the operators. Astar synchronizes the articulated arm with the robots operating in the warehouse and defines which bin to send to the picking station. All this is supported by a high-resolution camera and mathematical visualization algorithms.
The Skypicker can reach outputs of up to 600 items per hour and ensure sustained order picking of prehensile products, which account for 30 to 50% of the items in the cosmetics, health, high tech, cultural and food sectors.
The Skypicker, which won a Business Innovation category award at the third E.Leclerc Innovation Awards at the end of 2020, has already been installed at Logilec, one of Exotec’s longstanding customers. Since January 2021, in Logilec’s Chartres warehouse, two fully robotised stations are working alongside the six pre-existing ones. The objective is to reach 600 picks per hour and to further increase the overall productivity using the same warehouse space.
L.A.C solves its customers supply chain challenges with highly automated efficient and future-proof technologies and is uniquely positioned as a leading UK manufacturer & tier two system integrator. Whether you need a complete system solution or simply a single component integration our expertise offers equipment, controls, and software to best fit. Our in-house skillset in the design and manufacture of conveyor, robotic and ancillary solutions along with strong partnerships with Exotec and ABB, enables us to combine the best technologies for your requirements, creating a personalised solution that exceeds expectations.
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