Samsung has taken its new material handling system for small electronics and spare parts into operation in its new DC in Breda, the Netherlands. The company decided to move the new DC from the UK to the Netherlands to improve efficiency, reduce costs and be closer to the service market. The heart of the new material handling system is the Vision.Xdock controls software, which manages the entire sortation process in real-time. Together with the crossorter shipping sorter this provides an integrated, turn-key solution. Samsung selected Vanderlande Industries because of its experience in designing and implementing this type of system.
Construction work began in August 2006 and the new DC went live late December 2006. Orders are picked with order carts on three levels based on a batch picking concept.
Products are transported via a central take-away conveyor to several packing stations. After packing, products are manually inducted onto the crossorter, scanned and sorted to one of 200 outfeeds.
Full cartons are collected at a central location, where lids and labels are applied. Bulky products, such as flat screen televisions, are packed and then transported directly to the order consolidation area. In the order consolidation area order cartons and bulky products are consolidated by shipping order and shipped. The DC operates in 5 – 10 batches per day, 20 to 400 customers per batch.
