Advanced Pick Station | SSI SCHAEFER

Advanced Pick Stations: Work station systems based on goods-to-person principle

Ergonomically optimized Pick-to-Tote work stations with high picking performance in totes and cartons.

Our Advanced Pick Stations in the one- or two-level variants increase picking speed by up to 1,000 picks per hour. Orders are picked directly into order bins and cartons. With clear operator guidance and optional bin compartment illumination, Pick by Light and light grid monitoring of the target points ensure superior picking quality. One particular advantage of this system is the well thought-out human-machine interface based on ergonomics@work!®. Light-controlled picking guidance, ergonomic design, and touch-friendly surfaces optimize and simplify working processes. The systems design also takes operators with disabilities into consideration.

Product-friendly order picking in confined spaces: Advanced Pick Station one-level

We have developed a special work station for the ergonomic handling of heavy or fragile products that have to be layered in totes or cartons and cannot be thrown. This could be used in any industry, as it can be used to pick electronic items, books, bottles, glasses, spare parts and similar items.

Health-preserving, ergonomic design

The ergonomic design of the Advanced Pick Station one-level is one of its key characteristics. What's more, the Institute for Ergonomics & Human Factors at the Technical University of Darmstadt (IAD) has examined the ergonomic design of the work station and has confirmed its health-preserving work methods.

This resulted in a design that allows the picker to perform his tasks ergonomically and quickly over a longer period of time with consistent quality. At the picking station, storage load carriers and picking load carriers (bins or shipping cartons) are at the same height. Items are taken from one storage load carrier and picked into four picking load carriers. An intelligent communication and display system ensures intuitive and comfortable user guidance. The possibility to push picked goods over to the correct picking load carrier via a confirmation bar made of touch-friendly wood facilitates the work.

HEALTH-FRIENDLY ORDER PICKING FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY

Ergonomic and gentle picking of non-litterable products
Reduction of picking errors to almost zero as well as consistent picking quality over longer periods of time
Parallel picking in four order totes (2 - 6 possible) with a picking performance of 800 picks per hour
Automatic transportation of storage load and picking load carriers to/from the station (goods-to-person system)
Centralized or decentralized order start possible
User guidance through graphical user interface and Put to Light
Height-adjustable platform for optimized ergonomics
Use of natural wood material on many relevant contact surfaces for a comfortable, user-friendly working environment

Ergonomics and Impressive Picking Performance: Advanced Pick Station two-level

The Advanced Pick Station two-level is suitable for small and throwable items that can be gripped with one hand. It is fast, ergonomic and allows multi-order picking with a performance of up to 1,000 picks per hour. The source and target bins are served on two different levels and the gripping sequence is from “top to bottom.” This allows the daily load and thus the workload to be significantly reduced. As early as in design phase, we took into account that people with disabilities can also work at these stations – such as in two distribution centers of the leading US drugstore chain Walgreens.

EFFICIENT GOODS-TO-PERSON PICKING

Highest picking quality is guaranteed thanks to clear operator guidance and precise counting of the picking quantity with the aid of light curtains at the target locations. Touch-friendly surfaces such as wooden elements optimize the human-machine interface and facilitate the work. This is also evidenced by stress tests performed in collaboration with universities and research institutes.

Error-free and highly dynamic picking is especially required in fast-moving e-commerce and omnichannel business. Our ergonomic work stations are also used, for example, in the superlative omnichannel logistics center that we implemented for the Chinese retail giant Suning . There, partially automated work stations ensure that orders can be processed quickly.