By Mike Yezzi, North American Sales Manager, ScottTech Integrated Solutions

In our effort to continue the development of the PickPro™ WCS (Warehouse Control System) family of products, ScottTech has released an enhancement that allows the operator to replenish forward picking zones during the picking process.

These zones can be comprised of carousel pods, horizontal carousels, shuttles, vertical carousels, mini storage systems, and other ASRS devices.

Description of Functionality

Opportunity replenishment allows the operator to choose when to put away incoming parts or to replenish forward stocking locations during the picking operation. The function can be configured to operate as a standard put away or replenishment, or intermingled with picking to optimize the operation of the carousel system.

Flow racking within a carousel pod creates what is called a Universal Pod. Flow rack traditionally has been used to store items that require more cube than what currently is available in a carousel bin, or for items that will require replenishment during the picking process

The flow racking is outfitted with lights for each lane and the PickPro™ software system directs the operator to the location of an item. At the same time the carousels are spinning to the next picking location. This allows the operator to be busy during the wait time that occurs while the carousel/ASRS positions the bins for the orders being processed.

The Opportunity Put Away and Replenishment Module take this functionality one step further by giving the operator the ability to fill the location during the picking operation. The concept uses the same technology in the Universal Pod, during design of a system ScottTech includes 2 bays (or more) of flow racking in the Universal Pod. The first bay is used for storing items, the traditional Universal Pod concept; the second bay is used as put away or replenishment lanes.

When a picker starts a batch they are prompted to scan in the first items in each lane of flow racking, the system assigns that items to a light and adds the items to the spin sort list in the PickPro™ software. From there the system automatically starts the batch for picking, directing the operator to the right pick location in either the picking zones from flow racking, or from the carousels in the pod. The system uses lights to direct the operator to the right location for picking.

When the system detects that it is in a location that has an item for put away/replenishment, it automatically changes all light functions and directs the operator to take an item from the put away/ replenishment flow racking lane and place it into the correct carousel bin location. These put away transactions are intermingled with picks so the carousel operator need not reset or restart a new batch to perform the put away/replenishment.

This feature is employed along with the BulkPro™ RF (with or without Voice integration) to allow the system to direct the off-carousel operator to fill the carton flow zones being used for put away or replenishment transactions.

The PickPro™ system knows if the items are required if the forward carousel picking zone and directs the off-carousel operator to place the items in a flow lane. PickPro™ directs that off-carousel operator to scan a bar code lane identifier on the back of the flow racking thus linking the item to a location.

Benefits

• Reduces batch setup spin time
• Reduces the number of carousel spins
• Reduces electricity associated with moving a carousel bin
• Increases operator performance
• Reduces operator wait time
• Reduces wear and tear on motors, gears, tracks, and other mechanical parts
• Increases equipment life

Using the PickPro™ Opportunity Put Away and Replenishment Module allows systems integrators the ability to utilize an efficient carousel picking system where one may not have been applicable due to the size of items being stored, the total amount of cube space required, and the number of replenishment cycles that may be needed to maintain pick levels.

Case Study: Music Industry Supply

ScottTech deployed this technology to a musical instrument string manufacturer. The customer is utilizing the following PickPro™ modules to operate their worldwide distribution center in New York. The PickPro™ WCS system is configured as:

• PickPro™ ICS Version 8.0 (inventory control)
• BatchPro CCS Version 2.1 (automated picking system)
• Bucket Brigade (radio frequency data collection type)
• BulkPro RF Bulk Picking System (radio frequency data collection)
• Conveyor Tote Routing System (conveyor control and tote tracking)
• Administration Manager (supervisor and management system)
• Consolidation Pack Verify Manager (shipping and pack verify)
• Induction Manager (receiving)

Using traditional carousel technology in their DC, the operators could not keep enough inventories in a carousel location to sustain the picking for a single shift, requiring multiple replenishment cycles during the day, constant stock shortages, and short orders being sent to customers. This caused too many items that should have been stocked in forward picking locations to be put away in a less efficient bulk storage location.

ScottTech was contracted to designing the new World Fulfillment Center. During the design process ScottTech preformed a study of parts activity. ScottTech designed into the carousel picking zones the universal pod along with the opportunity replenishment. This concept would allow the operator to keep the order fulfillment rate high by keeping the replenishment inventory for the carousels available in flow racking for opportunity replenishment. We also utilized the standard Universal Pod concept for those items that were being picked for every order, readily available in the flow racking zone.

By introducing the opportunity put away and replenishment along with the RF Bulk for off-carousel we were able to keep items in the pod and available for picking. Utilizing the carton flow universal pod with opportunity replenishment we were able to keep the operators busy during batch set up and spin up times, directly impacting the overall performance of the system. Once the system was installed, the customer decided to move additional items from dedicated carton flow zones into the carousel zones.

The total system included; automated tote induction, conveyor line balancing, RF bulk picking, automated tote return, automated carousels picking zones, and flow racking with bucket brigade type picking. Using all of these technologies this customer was able to process 35% more orders a day with a 20% reduction in operators.

Overall system design included:

• WMS and WCS Software (ScottTech)
• Engineering and Project Management (ScottTech)
• Conveyor System (Ermanco)
• Horizontal Carousels (White System)
• Pallet Racking (Ridge U Rack)
• Turret and Order Picking Trucks (Crown)
• Carton Flow Racking (Unex)
• Push Back Racking (Unarco)
• PLC Controls (AEI)
• Mechanical Installation (GMY Inc)
• Electrical Installation (All Phase Electric)
• RF Data Terminals (Symbol)