Williams-Sonoma's DC in Olive Branch, Miss. needed a materials handling solution that would ensure continuous, smooth product movement at all times and deliver high throughput. The specialty retailer of home furnishings ships millions of products each year. To meet high product demand, product jams on conveyors and sorters as well as down time were out of the question.

The answer was a high-speed large parcel singulation (LPS) system designed specifically for shipping and crossdocking applications. Keeping products in a single file line, the system allows random-sized cartons to flow continuously and merge without the aid of accumulation conveyor or saw-tooth merges.

As cartons enter the LPS system, they are driven to one side by a series of skewed rollers. Successive sets of rollers increase in speed to create spaces between the packages. Cartons then move to a section of conveyor that reduces side-by-side orientation of cartons. This area consists of a high-friction belt, skewed rollers and a roller section that is parallel with package flow. While narrow cartons pass through the belt section, other product on the skewed rollers re-circulates to the beginning of the singulator.

Next, packages enter a flow controller module where cartons are spaced for downstream processing. With an average throughput rate of 8,000 cartons an hour and up to 11,000 cartons/hour during peak periods, the system provides smooth operation.