Optimal material flow in individual part picking

Published on: March 9, 2015 / Updated on: April 24, 2021 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

[In cooperation with Kardex Remstar and Servus Intralogistics – ADVERTISEMENT]

“Mastering Complexity – Shaping the Future Intelligently” is the motto of this year’s LogiMAT in Stuttgart . This guiding principle aptly describes the increasingly complex and demanding processes in logistics. Logistics in which comprehensive solutions are increasingly needed to help companies manage these heightened requirements holistically. This is especially true for intralogistics providers, whose customers must store and pick ever larger quantities of items in ever shorter timeframes for an increasing number of individual orders.

Clear advantages open up in the industry for the manufacturer who manages to cover the entire intralogistics process—from goods receipt through storage and order picking to consolidation and shipping of small orders—with a single application. The supplier's market opportunities increase when these four stages are intelligently networked.

From pallet to individual item shipping

Intralogistics manufacturer Kardex Remstar is addressing the market trend towards increasing product variety, smaller orders, and shorter delivery times with standardized applications that significantly reduce order turnaround times. The manufacturer aims to offer customers in the retail and manufacturing sectors simple intralogistics solutions for increasingly complex material flows.

Station 1: Goods Receipt

At the first station, "Goods Receipt and Acceptance," single-type pallets with packaging units are initially recorded using the warehouse management software developed by Kardex Remstar. The MMove-CrossDrive, a universal vehicle for transporting pallets and wire mesh containers developed by Mlog, a Kardex Group company, then handles the direct and safe transport to storage.

Station 2: Repackaging

Here, the delivered packaging units are stored in the Kardex Remstar Shuttle XP 500 storage lift and repacked into order boxes on two trays simultaneously positioned in the access opening. After being retrieved, autonomous transport robots from the manufacturer Servus Intralogistics take over the transport to the next stations. They pick up the order boxes and transport them precisely to the next station via a ceiling-mounted transport system.

Station 3: Order picking

The primary focus here is on faster retrieval of individual parts and achieving high picking rates. This is where the newest member of the Kardex Remstar lightweight product family comes into play. Specifically designed for the efficient storage and picking of small parts in individual orders, the machine can achieve up to 500 picks per picking station per hour. Depending on the configuration, each unit can store up to 3,000 small load carriers (KLTs) or other standard AS/RS-compatible containers, with the ability to stack multiple units indefinitely increasing throughput. Thanks to its space-saving design and height-adjustable configuration to suit existing ceiling dimensions, this dynamic retrieval system allows for optimal use of available space.

Apart from the throughput times, the new solution scores particularly well in terms of ergonomics and energy efficiency. For example, the system saves around 50 percent energy compared to an automated small parts warehouse (AS/RS).

Station 4: Buffering and Consolidation

Here, a Megamat series carousel storage system acts as an automated buffer warehouse, where small orders are temporarily stored until they are finally consolidated and forwarded for shipping.

In summary, the entire warehousing process can be managed using equipment and software solutions from a single provider. This has the particular advantage of avoiding friction losses caused by the integration of different systems, and furthermore, there is only one point of contact for all questions relating to the equipment solution.