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W&H Systems, Inc.
Application ProfileJ. E. Morgan (Flat Item Sorter)
W&H Systems, Inc. was chosen to provide a distribution system for J.E. Morgan’s new facility in Hometown, Pennsylvania. J.E. Morgan, a subsidiary of Dawson International, Inc., is a manufacturer of men’s thermal under garments. The system, designed by W&H Systems, Inc. includes two major components: a pick/pack sorter system and a carton sorter system. Pick/Pack Sorter System At the heart of the J.E. Morgan system is a flexible sorting unit. The sorter can sort up to 10,000 units per hour. It contains 250 dual bin chutes that can be assigned up to 500 stores. The sorter has five induction stations where garments are inducted in waves as directed by the warehouse management system (WMS). Before a wave begins, the WMS directs wave-grouped batch picks from the storage area to the induction stations. Also, cartons are assembled in four carton make-up areas from reports describing the type of carton required and the chute locations for each wave. At this point, the sortation process begins. Operators bring merchandise to the sorter induct stations via pallet lifts or conveyors. Operators use handheld scanners to read the case information (i.e., SKU and quantity) into the WMS. The WMS then downloads this information into the sorter control system. The control system communicates the induct requirements to the operator via a display terminal mounted at the induct area. The operator is instructed to induct a specific quantity of an SKU onto the sorter. The quantity ranges from one item to the entire case. Operators remove items from the case and place them on the empty sorter trays. The sorter control system monitors the quantity of each item inducted and gives the operator a “count down” by displaying the remaining quantity required from the carton on the display terminal. When a carton is empty, it is placed on an empty carton conveyor and transported to a carton reclamation area where it is processed for reuse or fed directly into a trash baler. After induction, the sorter control system tracks the product to its destination, items not required for the current wave are discharged at an overflow chute. During the wave, the sorter is monitoring each chute looking for chute full status. When chutes are approaching full, a flashing light alerts the operator to the chute status. When a chute is full, an operator packs the chute contents into a shipping carton, places a license plate barcode on the side and scans the chute barcode and the license plate using a handheld scanner. At this point, the chute is reset and ready to receive merchandise. The sorter control system then creates a carton manifest file and relays it to the WMS. The operator then temporarily seals the carton and places it onto a takeaway conveyor that leads to the carton shipping system. Print and Apply Carton Sorter System Cartons enter the conveyor system from several sources: pallet flow area, case flow area, pallet stripping area and a pick/pack sorter pack-out area. Cartons leaving the pick/pack sorter pack-out area pass through an automatic taping machine. After “sealing”, cartons are identified by a barcode scanner and weighed on an in-line scale. The conveyor control system links the carton license plate number and weight, then sends the information to the warehouse management system (WMS), which determines the route. For example, if the carton is bound for shipping, a VICS shipping label is automatically applied to the side of the carton, but if it requires further processing (i.e., quality control check), the system diverts the carton to a quality check or pack and hold area without a label. Ultimately, cartons from all areas are merged before they are scanned and inducted onto a Buschman Unisort V shipping sorter. Here, a line scanner reads the information on the shipping label and sends the carton to the proper divert point. At this point, the case will travel down a gravity line directly to a truck or to a palletization area. If required, routing information can be printed on the side of a carton by an ink jet printer.
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