Modern Materials Handling - November 2012

modern system reportfulfillment processes. Cartons travel byconveyor from the receiving area to asortation area. There, associates buildpallets and carts with product that willbe stored in those areas. In the slowmoving SKU area (5), product is storedby associates on man-up lift trucks.The associate scans the bar code labelon a carton and on a storage location toconfirm the putaway in the WMS.In the mezzanine area (6), cartonsare placed on carts that are transportedto the right level for storage. Associatesfollow the same process to confirm theputaway in reserve storage (4).Picking: The picking process isinitiated when orders drop from theorder management system into an orderqueue in the WMS. At that point, anassociate referred to as a wave masterprioritizes the orders based on a varietyof criteria. That may include what timeof day the order has to ship, whether it’sa hot order or whether the wave masterwants to balance the work load in certainareas of the distribution center.Orders are entered into a waveplanning software application. Once awave has been built, picking tasks aredistributed electronically to the orderselectors’ RF guns, known as merchandiseselectors. The system is designedto pick all line items in an order individuallyand simultaneously and thento marry those items up in a centralizedconsolidation area.• Slow moving SKUs: Inthe slow moving SKU area (5),merchandise selectors work fromman-up lift trucks. Once a merchandiseselector arrives at a pickinglocation, he scans a locationbar code label and then scans alabel on the item. That will generatea shipping label that is appliedto the item or to a package if theitem is placed in separate packagingfor shipping. The item is thenscanned into a tote. Once thepicks in that area are complete,the tote is placed on a takeawayconveyor and the warehouse controlsystem routes it to the next stop. Singleline orders are conveyed directly to thepacking area (7). If the tote is part ofa multi-line order, it is conveyed to theconsolidation area (9).• Tri-level mezzanine: Merchandiseselectors perform similar steps in the trilevelmezzanine (6): after scanning locationand item bar code labels, the systemgenerates a new pick label for shipping.The item is then scanned into a tote thatis placed on a takeaway conveyor andmerge (8) in the mezzanine. The tote isthen conveyed to the packing area (7) orto the order consolidation area (9).Order consolidation: Totes withsingle line orders are conveyed directlyto the packing area (7). Multi-lineorders, however, must be consolidatedbefore they are sent to packing. Totesarriving from the various picking areasare merged onto one conveyor line at asaw-tooth merge (8). From there, totesare sorted into a two-level consolidationdeck (9). Each level has 128 accumulationlanes; each lane can hold upto seven totes, representing seven linesarriving from seven different areas of thebuilding. A light at the end of the mergealerts an associate when all of the itemsfor a single order have arrived and areready for the next step in the process.Since several orders may be readyat the same time, a blinking light alertsthe associate to the order that must beSystem suppliersSystem integrator, warehouse control system, waveplanning and put-to-light system: Fortna, fortna.comWarehouse management systems: MSC Industrial Supplymscdirect.com, developed internallyBelt and roller conveyor: Hytrol, hytrol.comNarrow belt sorters: TGW Systems, tgw-group.com/usLift Trucks: Raymond, raymondcorp.com, Crown, crown.comMobile computing and bar code scanning: MotorolaSolutions, motorolasolutions.comAutomated packing system: Savoye, savoye.comcompleted first. The associate marriesthe items for an order into just one tote.Once all of the items for that order arein a tote, it is conveyed to the packingstation (7).Packing: Both single-line andmulti-line order totes ultimately arriveat the packing station (7). There, apacker verifies that all of the itemsrequired for the order are present. Thepacker then places the items in an opentop shipping carton for that order. Next,an automated packaging system addsthe packing slip and printed marketingmaterials, adds protective transportpackaging such as air pillows, seals thelid on the carton, and diverts it to theright shipping lane (10), depending onthe carrier.Put-to-light order consolidationand packing: Some orders mayrequire more than seven line itemsor may call for large items that won’tfit into one tote. Those totes are conveyedto a put-to-light carton flow rackwith workstations on either side of therack. The put-to-light area is locatedunder the packing area (7). When atote arrives on one side of the rack, anassociate scans a bar code label on thetote. Lights on the carton flow rack tellthe associate where to place the tote.Once all of the totes for an order arein the carton flow rack, a light on theother side alerts a packer that the orderis ready to be finished. The packerplaces the items in an opentop shipping carton andit is conveyed to the automatedpackaging area (7)where it goes through thesame process mentionedabove in packaging.Shipping: Cartons thatcan be live loaded are conveyed(10) directly into atrailer. Other cartons areconveyed to a palletizingstation where pallets arebuilt for shipping and thenloaded onto a trailer. M24 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 2 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com