WAREHOUSING,STORAGE & LOGISTICS FERAG & SPARCK
Ferag and Sparck collaborate in
T
he technological leap closes the gap between order-picking and packing, enabling ecommerce businesses to offer its
customers secure and compact boxed orders prepared with complete accuracy, and without manual intervention, from pick right through to despatch. A ‘one touch’ operation.
SINGLE SYSTEM SOLUTION The innovative step, considered a ‘game-changer’, came about soon after Ferag installed its Skyfall automated pouch sortation system at a leading retail brand’s e-commerce centre in the UK. Equipped with 24,000 overhead pouches the
Ferag system carries, directs and sorts a wide variety of picked goods from pick-stations, served by ASRS and Autostore systems, to over 70 manual packing system – a CVP Everest from Sparck Technologies. Ferag’s Skyfall pouch system is located on a the use of available overhead space. Here ordered items are picked from totes into open pouches and carried away, sorted and accumulated within dynamic storage buffers, before being called off to order and delivered at speed to packing benches. The system is designed for a throughput of 16,000 pouches per hour, with a buffer capacity of an hour, where pouches can be held for single or multiple item orders. A key advantage of the system is that each pouch is designed to carry multiple packed and boxed items, such as shoes.
AUTO-UNLOADING POUCH The Skyfall overhead pouch sorter was originally sourced to deliver single and multi-item orders to mainly manual packing desks. However, Ferag had recently developed an automated unloading capability for its pouches. This prompted the idea of closing the gap between picking and auto-packing, creating a direct infeed to Sparck’s CVP Everest to automate the whole process. The CVP Everest is capable of producing 1100 boxes per hour with two operators. So, the question was, could Ferag’s pouch sorter and the new Everest boxing system be integrated to produce a continuous process from pick to despatch, with no manual intervention? If so, it would be a game changer.
THE CHALLENGE The highly versatile Ferag pouch sorter is designed to carry a diverse range of goods, making it well accessories, and shoes. Chris More, Ferag UK’s head of sales, explains
how the pouch design was critical: “When it came to tendering and specifying the type of pouch needed, we put forward a couple of technologies for consideration, one being our soft pouch and the other being a hard pouch. The hard pouch has a wire frame which allows it to be opened automatically by our newly developed auto- unloading technology. We had various options for unloading, and a gentle unloader was ultimately selected. This would prove critical.” But the challenge was, how to present a wide
order and orientation to Sparck’s CVP Everest? It was a complex issue.
SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION Mr More said: “We understood exactly what was needed, so we entered into close collaboration with Sparck to set out how the two systems would exchange information, creating a tight integration
34 December/January 2025 Irish Manufacturing
between upstream and downstream processes, with reliable hand-over and acknowledgement of product and order information.” Meanwhile, Sparck carried out further work related to ensuring a smooth and consistent Everest. A clever ‘Z’ shaped conveyor section for 3D scanning and processing, providing a well matched, consistent pace sequenced with the upstream Ferag sorter.
COUNTING THE BENEFITS After thorough testing in late summer 2023, the ‘one touch’ solution went live. The performance of the system has exceeded the retailer’s expectations, with accurate, consistent and reliable delivery of potential throughput of the system and standing as testament to the successful collaboration between Ferag and Sparck. Jo Bradley says: “Automating the interface
been a ‘Holy Grail’ for the sector for a number of years.”
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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