Germany mail order company Klingel has installed an automated storage, tracking and sortation system from Dürkopp Fördertechnik. Based on Dürkopp’s Rolladapter with an integrated RFID device which accompanies every item from goods-in to dispatch, the system is enabling Klingel to store and sort up to 5,000 garments an hour with just 60 minutes pick notice. The system replaces hand-assembled order picking within a static warehouse.
Klingel’s mail order facility at Pforzheim holds between 100,000 and 120,000 line items on hangers suspended from overhead conveyors to serve its mail order and Internet business.
The system installed in the 10,000 sq m store includes 21 sorters and around 60 conveyor sections measuring a total of 6,000 metres. Garments travel along overhead conveyors including inclined sections, with each garment suspended on one of Dürkopp’s own Rolladapters with an integrated RFID device, programmed to carry all relevant product information for tracking, sorting, and printing labels and bar codes. The dynamic store holds up to 120,000 units supplied from the static store and also has to handle the high volume of returns that internet and catalogue sales generate. However, the system has been designed so that goods returned can be shipped out the day after receipt, subject to strict quality controls.
