Dematic has launched its modular goods-to-person storage and retrieval system to Australian distribution centres that the company says can deliver a picking rate improvement of 500% compared to a traditional environment.
The new modular GTP system is said to be a flexible, off-the-shelf picking solution for a wide variety of small to medium-throughput order fulfilment applications, suited for businesses distributing from 200 to 1,000 or more order lines per hour.
"In busy distribution centres getting the right goods on shelf, or delivered to the right customer at the right time, is critical. To help address these stock availability and delivery efficiency issues, we developed the new modular GTP system, resulting in productivity improvements where one operator is capable of achieving the same sort of picking rate as up to five people in a traditional picking environment,” said Dematic’s wholesale and distribution logistics manager Darren Rawlinson.
The modular GTP system presents only one SKU to the operator at a time. An integrated weigh scale at the pick location checks expected weights in real time.
With stock being delivered to picking stations in the precise sequence required for order assembly – heavy items first, fragile items last, by family group or in whatever sequence needs dictate – pickers can achieve very high productivity rates of more than 1,000 items per hour.
Staff can work in parallel at multiple picking stations, unaffected by each other’s pace, and pick stations can be opened and closed according to business volume on a particular shift. The system also provides full redundancy as orders can be processed at any location with all pick stations operating independently.
