Staples improves efficiency, throughput and lowers costs with Vanderlande sortation system for office supplies

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Staples, the worlds largest office products company, has a warehouse and distribution centre in Daventry, UK. The company cooperated with Vanderlande Industries to design and build the facilitys sortation system. The company invested in this warehouse to handle its growing business in the UK and neighboring countries. The sortation system increases efficiency, improves accuracy and lowers the costs per carton/tote handled. The pick and sortation system provides Staples with the business process flexibility to handle a growing number of orders and a range of order patterns for a variety of store sizes. Both full-case and broken-case orders are handled on the system (in various sizes ranging up to 600 x 900 mm). Broken-case orders are picked into standard-sized totes, which are sent directly to stores, without requiring extra packaging, thus saving costs. The entire sortation process is managed in real time by Vanderlande Industries VISION.XDOCK controls software. The software is fully integrated with the POSISORTER shoesorter system. This provides Staples with a proven, turn-key solution for their specific requirements. The sortation system increases the companys efficiency, improves accuracy and throughput and lowers the costs per carton/tote handled.

Warehouse process
Products are picked-to-belt in batches and transported, via a scanner array and profile check, to the POSISORTER shoesorter system, where they are sorted to 20 outfeeds. Any items failing an integrated profile check, together with any no-reads, are diverted to a workstation for rectification prior to re-induction. Following sortation the items are manually palletised to order. The POSISORTER was selected because of its proven high conveyability and reliability.

About Vanderlande Industries
Vanderlande Industries is a leading materials handling company with nearly 60 years of experience. The company has successfully automated more than 1,000 warehouses and distribution centres worldwide. Vanderlande Industries specialises in designing and building intelligent IT-driven materials handling systems and related services, which cover the entire warehouse process, from Goods Receiving to Shipping. These solutions enable customers to organise their process in the most efficient, cost effective way. Vanderlande Industries automated materials handling solutions have low labour requirements, make efficient use of available floor space, and enable companies to deliver higher customer service levels, while keeping costs down. In financial year 2009 the company had sales of more than 650 million. Vanderlande Industries operates from its headquarters in the Netherlands and Customer Centres in the UK and many other countries.