The MultiPick receives stacks of products from production – one SKU per stack. At the in-feed, the product identities of the stacks are registered to the MultiPick system. The robot picks the stacks and stores them on the floor storage area under the robot. The very high density storage system allows for the necessary buffer capability required to balance continuous production with specific delivery time windows.
The Cimcorp WCS software receives customer orders for picking and plans the picking process to meet demand in order of priority. The robot travels from storage stack to storage stack picking the required number of crates in one pick sequence, making up a full mixed stack of different products. If a large volume of single product is needed it can also pick a complete stack in one lift.
At the output end of the system, the stacks can be placed on a conveyor for transport to a loading bay or to further packaging operations. Depending on the size of operation, a single robot can pick complete customer orders. Alternatively several robots pick part of the order; each robot handles a number of SKUs and customer orders are consolidated after the picking. The whole process, including consolidation, is controlled by the Cimcorp WCS. Consolidation and dispatch planning can organize loads in reverse drop sequence for the delivery vehicles.
To read about Food manufacturers and retailers using the Cimcorp solution visit our archive.