Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The most challenging task in any warehouse automation project is picking, i.e. compiling different articles to create the desired shipment. Until now companies could only apply totally automatic solutions to border items, such as an A-frame for fast-moving small articles. That means for almost 90% of their sku’s, they pay their employees to perform this fatiguing and largely monotonous task. There was not a way to replace the complexities of the human eye and the human hand, at least not with an economic solution for everyday use.
However at the Logistica 09, Schaefer Systems International presented a world premiere. The Schaefer Robo-Pick is one of the first fully automatic picking cells that can be smoothly integrated into existing warehouse architectures. It is unnecessary to teach in the articles to be picked (enter the individual products with their characteristics and features), or to arrange the articles in a particular position. The innovative two-step image processing system automatically recognizes the position of the products on the tray and controls the universal picking robot. When combined, the robot and the vision system can achieve more than 2,000 picks per hour.
Typical users of the new Schaefer Robo-Pick are wholesalers, e-commerce companies and mail order shippers. This profile would mean compiling a shipment of 2 to 20 articles in the correct quantity according to a customer’s order from a range of 5,000 to 50,000 articles on stock. This occurs several thousand times a day for as many individual customer orders. The result in picking is the incredible quantity of more than 100,000 individual articles in a typical distribution center on a daily basis. In principle, this would be the ideal task for a robot.
But attempts to automate picking with robots have failed due to the lack of flexibility in picture processing. Additional labels on the products for a special sales promotion, beveled product edges or particularly dark or bright colors have doomed more than one logistics robot project to failure.
SSI Schaefer achieved their technological breakthrough with the innovative combination of 3D and 2D picture processing. In a matter of seconds, the picture processing cell, consisting of industrial standard components, identifies 4 to 6 products on the passing article tray. Products in several layers or inclined position, jet-black articles, round products or asymmetric or beveled packages do not affect the vision system.
Another important aspect is that there is no need to program the individual products beforehand or gather their properties. The Schaefer Robo-Pick makes use of the already existing allocations of transport units and articles in automated warehouses to ensure that the customer receives the correct articles. Each carton, tray or tote is always allocated to a particular article. For instance, the blue socks are in carton no. 4711, and the red felt-tip pens are in tray no. 4321. No conveying system in an automated warehouse would work without this information. Schaefer Robo-Pick does not require any additional information.
Not only is article picking with the new Schaefer Robo-Pick very fast but it is also very precise. Companies can reduce picking error rates by the factor 10 to 100 as compared to manual picking. Considering the costs for processing returns due to incorrect deliveries clearly shows the profitability of the Schaefer Robo-Pick. Additional factors include:
• that the Schaefer Robo-Pick cell costs less than corresponding conventional workstations with the same throughput
• that the robot can process orders outside the usual shift times
• that the high speed reduces the order processing time in the warehouse and the customer receives his deliveries more quickly
• due to the extremely flexible and fast picture processing, more than 95% of all articles of a typical wholesaler or mail order trader can benefit from the Schaefer Robo-Pick advantages
The application of Schaefer Robo-Pick is not limited to order picking. Schaefer Robo-Pick is also highly suitable for returns handling. This area of logistics is gaining more and more importance - especially in mail order trade.
Together with the Schaefer Case Picking introduced at the CeMAT 2008, this makes SSI Schaefer the undisputed technology leader in applying robots in warehouse automation. SSI Schaefer offers fully automatic picking with robots for containers, such as cartons or packages of several products, and individual products alike.
So SSI Schaefer not only achieves a technological breakthrough, but also an unprecedented price-performance-ratio. And this is crucial for Schaefer: Sustainable innovations with high return on investment for the customers.
SSI Schaefer ranks among the leading suppliers of warehousing and logistics systems worldwide. The services offered include concept determination, equipment of the warehouse with products of their own manufacture, as well as the completion of complex logistics projects as a general contractor. The grouping of the competencies under the family brand SSI SCHAEFER generates the basis for developing market-driven, inter-branch warehousing systems and for designing integrated solutions of the intra-logistics.
Being a specialist for complex logistics systems, SSI Schaefer Noell GmbH in Giebelstadt, Germany, completes the service portfolio. As a general contractor the company already completed more than 300 logistics systems worldwide. The spectrum ranges from system planning and consultation, realization of turn-key systems to tailor after sales services.
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For more information please contact:
Travis A. Baker
704.73.1613
travis.baker@ssi-schaefer.us
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