Witron unveiled its Case Order Machine, a component of the fully automated picking system Order Picking Machinery (OPM). By using an OPM case goods with the most varied SKU characteristics and dimensions can be picked without the need for directing personnel to the correct order and sequence.
OPM is ideal for the automatic picking of case packages with large volumes, a standard practice in the retail trade. The revolutionary new component of this integrated system is the COM loading machine which stacks trade goods on pallets or in fixed wheeled containers in a fully automated mode.
Single articles delivered as case packages on pallets can be de-palletised in layers if required, following intermediate storage in an automated pallet high bay rack. Each individual case package can then be loaded onto a tray which proceeds to the automatic tray storage via the linked automatic materials handling system and automated stacker cranes.
Once required to make up an order, the case packages are retrieved from the tray storage separately and in a specified sequence giving full account to both an optimal stacking volume and pallet stability. The trade packages thus arrive in correct sequence at the COM loading machine. In addition to optimising the stacking volume and pallet stability when compiling the pallets the software also takes into account the goods groups as requested by the retail outlets.
Before the order pallet is loaded, the case packages are first separated automatically from the tray and then passed on to the COM. The separate case packages are then stacked in a fully automated process by the COM onto the order pallets that have been prepared. COM can pick fix-wheeled container carts, Euro pallets or US pallets.
Witron has overcome the problems in the fully automatic picking of
