How Staples does replenishment
When a case arrives at a replenishment station, in Staples' Chambersburg DC, something unusual happens.
By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 7/1/2007
When a case arrives at a replenishment station, the employee in the station scans the colored bar code label on the case.
This triggers a robot to retrieve a shelving pod from the forward storage area and bring it to the replenishment station.
The employee then scans a "puck"—a small electronic device with a red light on top—and sets the puck on top of the case.
While she waits for shelving pods to arrive, the employee scans additional cases and assigns them to pucks. The series of pucks sit on top of the cases, working as a wireless pick-to-light system.
When a shelving pod arrives, one of the pucks lights up, indicating which case belongs in the shelving pod. The worker presses the light on the puck to turn it off. She then opens the case and de-trashes it.
A laser pointer mounted on the station points at an empty shelf in the pod, showing her where to put away the case. As a backup, a picture on the employee's computer screen also shows where the case belongs.
After putting away the case, the employee presses the "confirm" button in the station, and the robot returns the shelving pod to forward storage.
Another shelving pod arrives immediately, another puck lights up, and the cycle begins again.
The Staples series:
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Staples: A DC like no other
06/30/2007How Staples does picking
06/30/2007Sorting it out at Empire Merchants
08/31/2009
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