UK e-commerce sales continue to rise. In 2021 they accounted for over 19 percent of total retail sales. As a result, online retailers face increasing pressure to manage high order volumes, often with same day or next day delivery schedules. Automation in the supply chain has become essential, therefore, to speed up and streamline processing whilst reducing future costs. One of the most popular ways to increase throughput and combat shrinking order deadlines is to invest in an automated sortation solution. Due to their high performance and reliability, sortation systems are now used extensively by many different industries including fashion, food and home goods.
This article was first published in the May 15th 2022 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.
As the only UK company to manufacture sliding shoe sortation systems, Axiom GB has seen an influx of orders for its recently launched MSS Sliding Shoe Sorter. The sorter combines high throughput speeds with low running costs, making it a competitive sorter that is ideal for a diverse range of products; it is capable of handling parcels, totes, cartons, books, CDs/DVDs, polybagged items and jiffy bags. The cell control automatically controls the optimum number of shoes for the length of the product being diverted.
TGW is building a high-performance fulfilment centre for UpFresh in the harbour city of Ostend, with completion scheduled for November 2023. Automation will allow maximum flexibility and help the Belgian grocery specialist meet its ambitious growth targets. The individual areas of the fulfilment centre will be connected by more than 1.5 kilometres of energy-efficient KingDrive conveyors.
A leading consumer delivery company officially opened its new purpose built, 15,000 square metre, parcel distribution hub in the north-west of England back in 2014. The latest challenge was to introduce a sortation solution specifically designed to accommodate small sized parcels or “Chinese Traffic” as it is known in the industry. The solution utilised LAC Conveyor Systems designed induct and feed conveyors, handling bulk parcels on infeed for initial parcel separation which were then separated further utilising a flighted belt conveyor, leading on to a horizontal conveyor with 5 moveable ploughs and 1 fixed.
One of the UK’s leading supermarket chains, Asda, has renewed its site-based, life-cycle services contract with Vanderlande for the next five years, further cementing the partnership. The efficiency of this site has been improved by Vanderlande’s future-proof automated case picking (ACP) solution and the dedication of colleagues in the operational and support teams responsible for overall system performance and maintenance activities, 24 hours a day. The ACP solution handles an average of two million cases per week, processing nearly 9,000 SKUs, and helping Asda supply stores across the northwest of England.
It is exciting to see sortation solutions helping the supply chain manage the increased order volumes.
George Simpson
Features Editor
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