The world’s largest supply chain and logistics technology show, CeMat, saw automated case picking elevated to a new level.
SSI Schaefer showcased what it claims to be a world first for fully automated order picking and warehousing processes for food trade and like industries. With the exception of layers with made up of individual items only, the Schaefer Case Picker can pick and sequence the goods according to destination store. The SCP encompasses the complete process from warehousing to store-specific sequencing and palletising.
The SCP takes care of everything from goods receiving, de-palletising, buffering, order-picking, sequencing and customer-specific palletising to dispatch: every step of the warehousing process for ambient and temperature-controlled goods.
The SCP is a modular, scalable and almost endlessly expandable system with a performance of 30,000 to 300,000 cases per day.
The manufacturer’s pallets that arrive at goods receiving or from the bulk warehouse are automatically de-layered. The individual layers are conveyed to the order-picking/ buffer system via special layer-trays.
Vertical buffering of goods therefore allows automatic single or multiple access with only one movement, while maximising the use of cubic space.
An intelligent software controls the building of pallets for each store in a perfect product-group sequence that optimises pallet cube and stability.
Another innovation of the SCP is the registration and continuous update of all product-specific features by the Schaefer Vision System.
The seamless use of these physical product features not only serves to optimise the volume and stability of store pallets, but also the gentle, individual handling of items.
Another innovative component of the SCP is the hybrid packing station. It distinguishes itself by the double-deep placement of pallet lifts and the immediate, localised stretch-wrapping of the pallets.