Originally developed by the grocery sector, store-friendly-sequencing is becoming more widely adopted. Who needs a stockroom when pallets and roll-cages arrive stacked with goods stripped of outer packaging and all sequenced in shelf order?

However, there are a number of critical issues to address. Achieving in-store efficiency requires careful preparation of loads in the distribution centre – and that takes a well-ordered sequence of operations. 

Within the warehouse, traditional labour intensive methods of preparing mixed case pallets for store replenishment are coming under increasing strain, as up-scaling of operations and tightening labour resources take their toll. A newly-developed strategy integrating robotics, driverless forklift trucks, automation and artificial intelligence is fast becoming a preferred solution – giving scale, accuracy and consistency. 

The advantages of automation can be realised within retailers’ existing 10 – 15m high warehouses and existing pallet racking.

Thinking is changing, thanks to more flexible solutions combining, for example, Dematic’s Automated Mixed Case Palletising with Dematic Egemin’s advanced technology for driverless forklift trucks. Existing warehouses can be transformed internally and upgraded in a flexible and scalable way, radically shrinking the floor space needed to prepare store-friendly-sequenced unit loads. 

Dematic’s AMCAP is a palletising system designed to assemble pallets that are ready for easy shelf re-stocking. As it combines scalability with a compact footprint, it can be easily integrated into existing facilities. The design allows flexible throughput variations up to several thousand cases per hour, bringing the cost per case down from typically 12p, for manual operations, to 5p with AMCAP.

In effect, AMCAP is an automated robotic system comprising three distinct processes: Case De-palletising, where cases are taken from the stock pallet using a robot or hoist equipped with vacuum and side clamp technology: Case Storage and Retrieval using a Dematic Multishuttle store, where de-palletised cases are temporarily stored; and Pallet Building where products from the DMS are re-oriented and assembled onto a pallet or roll-cage, either semi-automatically or fully-automatically,  and then wrapped in-situ before being labelled and taken away by conveyor or Dematic Egemin driverless vehicle to dispatch or storage.  

Dematic’s AMCAP system has evolved over the last five years. Early projects required cases to be placed on trays with bespoke plastic bases; continued development has eliminated the need for a tray on in-bound cases, which in turn has removed the requirement for dedicated equipment for ‘traying’, ‘de-traying’ and tray buffering. Direct case handling from de-palletiser to palletiser lowers the risk of accidental damage to cases and saves costs and space. In addition, product is securely tracked from pallet to case, which cuts out the need for reading case barcodes. 

Dematic’s iQ Pack Builder software directs pallet building according to how the retailer wants to receive the cases – by family group or store planogram. Cases arrive at the palletiser in precise sequence and are automatically loaded accordingly. When the mixed-case pallet arrives in store, cases are unloaded in order of the plan, minimising shelf-stocking time.

The combination of AMCAP technology with Dematic Egemin’s expertise in creating driverless vehicles from KION Group manufactured forklift trucks brings rewards. By automating standard very-narrow-aisle trucks and low-level pallet trucks, conventional racking installations can be fully used and easily upgraded to efficiently move in-bound pallets of product in and out of storage, feeding the AMCAP cells as demanded by Dematic’s iQ control software. In turn, completed mixed case pallets or roll-cages can be taken away by driverless trucks to either despatch bays or storage.

Dematic Egemin’s HYBRID automation pack, comprising intelligent software, sensor, safety systems controls and navigation technology, makes fully automated guided vehicles from standard warehouse trucks, enabling them to be driverless, navigate and handle goods automatically, whilst still retaining the ability to be manually driven.   

Using Dematic Egemin’s traffic management software, 360° intralogistics automation can be readily achieved, optimising the control and allocation of vehicles across the entire system.

Trucks can be manually operated, if required, and automation can be introduced in stages – as demand dictates – giving scalability, without the need to undertake expensive structural changes to the building.