Improving Store-Specific Sorting Efficiency with AGVs
Enhancing operational efficiency and accuracy through total picking and automated sorting.
Customer：Apparel Manufacturer
Challenge (Before)
For store-bound shipments, the company issued picking lists for each individual store and adopted a single picking method in which workers collected products on a store-by-store basis.
With this method, workers had to repeatedly move back and forth to the same shelves, resulting in long walking distances and limited processing capacity. In addition, differences in worker experience led to variations in work accuracy and speed, which occasionally caused delivery errors and resulted in lost sales opportunities.
To address these issues, the company required greater processing capacity to handle fluctuating shipment volumes during peak seasons, as well as a stable operation that would not depend heavily on worker proficiency.
Solutions
NX Solution
- The operation was shifted from conventional single picking to a total picking method. At the same time, the store-specific sorting process after total picking was automated using AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles).
- By picking orders for multiple stores simultaneously (total picking), access to the same shelves was minimized, significantly reducing workers’ walking distances.
- After picking, AGVs automatically perform sorting. By reading product codes via RFID and automatically identifying the corresponding store, sorting accuracy is improved while enabling labor saving and workforce optimization.
- Workers’ tasks were consolidated into relatively simple operations such as transport, item input, and packing, enabling the establishment of standardized operations that are less dependent on individual skill levels.
Benefits
Benefits (Results)
The introduction of AGVs enabled labor saving and workforce optimization while simplifying workers’ responsibilities, leading to standardized operations.
Processing capacity increased, allowing the operation to respond flexibly to fluctuations in shipment volumes during peak periods and stabilizing shipping operations.
In addition, because AGVs automatically perform sorting using RFID, operational accuracy has improved significantly, helping prevent lost sales opportunities caused by delivery errors.
