PJP’s Solution to a Common Warehouse Challenge
Case Studies
A pet-food warehouse conveyor challenge
A pet-food supplier approached PJP to look at ways they could streamline their end of line / despatch process. Traditionally, this critical order despatch process can be a bottleneck for many operations.
The specific challenge was to design a transport conveyor which could deliver totes of picked product to sixteen dedicated packing benches. Operators then needed to be able to pack the products into delivery cartons, apply a courier label and send the completed order to a single despatch location. No walking with, or lifting of, any product during the process was allowed.
Bespoke conveyor design on two-levels
PJP designed a bespoke two-tier warehouse conveyor system with the following capabilities to achieve this:
- The top tier delivers totes to packing bench positions using Zero-Line Pressure (ZLP) technology. This ensures no collisions or finger traps during use – health & safety is very important to us and our clients.
- Specially designed packing benches (workstations) then allow operators to simply slide the tote onto their workstation and process it.
- Once complete, operators use the lower tier by sliding the completed, boxed order onto a small decline belt. An intelligent traffic light system then automatically drives every box in the warehouse to a dedicated despatch point with no human action required.
Space saving solution
We also very much needed to keep the footprint of the system as small as possible. Space in any warehouse operation is a very valuable commodity. The two-tier setup and twin lane approach gave maximum performance whilst keeping the footprint to a minimum.
Serious uplifts in productivity
Prior to this warehouse conveyor system being implemented, the client was achieving a completed order every 3-4 minutes. The new system allows them to achieve a throughput of one order every 10 seconds. All in all, a very attractive return on investment was achieved which eliminated manual lifting and walking from the process.
Challenge accepted and solution delivered!
Let us help you too
Why not get in touch to tell us about your warehouse challenges? With our skills in designing affordable conveyor solutions that solve your problems, we are sure we can assist.