Glen Urquhart, Sales Manager at Dexion Intralogistics shares a cost-effective sorting system that will be a game-changer for order fulfilment in Australia.
Today’s sort-to-order challenge has been escalated to a whole new level due to the pressure on e-commerce following new peaks in online shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Common challenges for businesses today are identifying order trends, peak days and slow days, all whilst ensuring there are no bottle necks in the operation on a daily basis.
Glen Urquhart, Sales Manager at Dexion Intralogistics, says ensuring a system is designed to minimise bottlenecks, regardless of the level of activity during any given day, is critical in moving inventory and improving operations.
For a 3PL business in Wetherill Park, Sydney, their online fulfilment operation was successfully detangled, due to a compact and cost-effective solution that has proven to be an international success.
Sure Sort success
In 2015, when e-commerce sales were slowly beginning to account for a percentage of retail sales in Australia, a 3PL business in Sydney was proactive to seek a highly scalable, cost-effective, and configurable single item sorting system.
Glen says the company deployed Sure Sort system, by Opex Corporation. Glen says Dexion is the only distributor that deploys this solution to the domestic market in Australia.
“The 3PL business in Sydney was the first site to implement the Sure Sort system. The company has a vast range of clients with online order requirements, and they were amazed at the efficiency of order volumes since it was first installed all those years ago,” Glen says.
Glen notes that many businesses across the current 3PL and e-commerce fulfilment sector are bursting at the seams with the high-volume levels across operations following unprecedented demand due to the current pandemic.
“Picking and sorting technologies should be explored by all companies in the market looking to manage their order volumes,” he says. Glen thinks some companies find it daunting to completely change their warehouse solution.
“The Sure Sort is looking to simplify existing systems, not completely change operations in a complex manner,” Glen says. He thinks the reason the Sure Sort system is becoming increasingly popular with 3PL’s and e-commerce operations is because it can be integrated with existing systems and other picking technologies.
“Sure Sort is a tool that can complement existing machinery and systems. It’s definitely a leverage tool to enhance operation and in most cases, we’re looking at a return of investment well under 3 years,” Glen says.
Proven technology
Warehouses and distribution centres are handling increasing volumes of small multi-line orders. Efficient sorting of items remains an obstacle, because of the various sizes and shapes of products that make up an order.
Although it may not be feasible for a small to midsize retailer to achieve full automation immediately, replacing the traditional manual sorting system with an automated solution is a good place to start.
Sure Sort was developed in response to challenge and represents a faster and more innovative approach to small item sorting. Glen says following the success of the Sure Sort deployment in Sydney, small businesses looking for a cost-effective entry into warehouse automation as well as large fulfillment operations looking to streamline their processes should also consider the benefit of the solution.
Developed in the USA, Sure Sort is utilised by leading global e-commerce clients. Glen says there is a reason that leading companies are installing the state-of-the-art warehouse automation technologies and its proven profitability and efficiency in a variety of settings around the world shows the potential it can have to Australian fulfillment operations.
Glen says Sure Sort is smart automation based on iBOT delivery technology. iBOTs are powered by ultracapacitors which automatically recharge as they move throughout the system, helping Sure Sort deliver attractive energy efficiency.
“Multi-directional iBOTs are intelligent wireless vehicles that can effectively transport the smallest of items and inventory up to 2.3kgs, and regardless of size, packaging, or orientation of an item, Sure Sort will read every barcode and sort each item in a single pass,” Glen says.
“This automated sortation solution is modular, making it a fit for all business sizes, allowing companies to have the flexibility for the goods-to-person system to grow, incrementally, at the actual rate a retailer’s e-commerce business is growing.”
Supportive solutions
Dexion has operations and a team presence across North and South Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, where the company is trusted by some of the largest organisations in the world.
Glen says despite the company’s worldly knowledge and solutions, it understands that Australia is a unique market. He says partnering with Opex, a leader in warehouse automation technologies is an exciting collaboration for the nation.
“Dexion is a very trusted and well-known brand. We are looking after our clients by bringing over international solutions and innovative products especially for the Australian market,” Glen says.
He says the global partnership helps fast-track the installation of the Sure Sort system that is manufactured in the USA. “It’s comes together very quickly. We set a world record on site at Wetherill Park in 2018, we had the iBOT technology up and running in two days once it arrived and the machine acceptance test was completed a few days after,” Glen says.
“We haven’t done any other piece of machinery that was as seamless as Sure Sort to install. The service technician on site for the first 12 months is also an added bonus that comes with this compact solution, proving it’s an extremely well supported solution.”
Glen says the Sure Sort system is the most compact solution available on the market. He believes e-commerce will continue to spike, so preparing warehouses and distribution centres with a smart automated solution is the only answer to aid growing order fulfillment.
“Sure Sort the only machine we see available on the market today that can provide a solution for demands now and in the future too. Sure Sort is highly scalable in both size and throughput. Simply add expansion modules and iBOTs to adjust to growth and peaks in demand,” Glen says.