Efficient sorting at Santa’s cave
With a growing velocity of circulation in store, Danish TOP-TOY was facing a need for more warehousing capacity and an increased automation of the high-bay warehouse and distribution processes. A Crisplant sorting system was the ideal solution.
TOP-TOY is the largest toy retailer in the Nordic countries. The company comprises well known toy shops and brands like BR TOYS and TOYS"R"US (Scandinavia). At the time, TOP-TOY had been in a positive growth rate for opening new shops but was lacking warehouse capacity to support further growth. With a promise to deliver to most shops approx. 24 hours after order placement, there was also an imminent need to further automate the sorting solution.
Many distribution centres have peak seasons, such as for the Christmas sale. The challenge for the material handling provider is to design a system, which can solve a well known warehouse challenge: the internal storage, transport and sorting of items with a minimum of handling. The installation of the 870 m long Crisplant sorter was part of an overall plan to improve TOP-TOY’s logistical processes in the distributions centre.
The TOP-TOY distribution centre handles loose and palletised boxes of toys. A small part of the warehouse was already automated but the capacity of the current sorter was too low for the general growth and great fluctuation of items. Previously TOP-TOY had been placing all items into storage without making use of cross-docking. The Crisplant sorter design therefore comprises cross-docking of high-frequency items picked directly from the transport containers, which are all placed close to an induction area and the discharge area.
The new sorter also improves many of the internal transport issues. The marshalling area has become much more efficient and the much used logistics processes in the mini-load storage has been automated with induction and discharge of items to and from the sorter. In addition, all operator stations are designed to optimise a safe and ergonomic working environment for TOP-TOY’s employees.
To meet the requirement for a sorting capacity of 5,500 items per hour, the sorter system at TOP-TOY is based on:
- One S-3000M Tilt-tray sorter, 870 metres long
- 7 inductions including 3 picking lines
- 122 accumulation chutes
- A Crisplant System Controls linked to TOP-TOY’s own WMS system