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Package Handling
DCS’s design and engineering team has more than 40 years of experience creating unique parcel handling systems for diverse customer applications. With installations including semi-automated handling in small city distribution centers and fully automated, integrated hubs with advanced conveyor and sorter equipment, DCS routinely thinks outside the box.
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E-Commerce and Multi-Channel Fulfillment
DCS designs and implements end-to-end warehouse automation solutions for e-commerce and multi-channel retailers that address numerous workflow challenges. This includes solutions for receiving, putaway, storage, replenishment, order fulfillment, picking, packing, sortation, and outbound shipping. Our custom integrated warehouse, distribution, and fulfillment systems draw from a deep pool of conventional, semi-automated, and automated material handling technologies.
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Various Distribution Applications
Whether an operation is considering the construction of a new distribution or fulfillment center, or a retrofit or expansion of an existing facility, it’s important to create a solution that fits the overarching supply chain strategy. DCS has four decades of experience designing and integrating comprehensive, end-to-end material handling solutions that meet a multitude of operational goals. Whether conventional, semi-automated, or fully automated, DCS can help your organization implement a custom solution that meets its goals while maximizing return on investment (ROI).
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Supply Chain Consulting
The DCS Supply Chain Consulting team offers a range of services to help your operations address the challenges it faces. Working in partnership with you, DCS consultants analyze your business data- existing workforce, workflow processes, inventory, order data, operations, and more- to determine a strategy that addresses your unique needs. Whether you need an operations assessment, process improvement recommendations, or distribution design services, DCS consultants will help guide you to the material handling system or operational solution that best meets your current and future needs, as well as your budget.
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Customer Support
Keeping your warehouse operations and material handling systems running smoothly and at the peak of productivity are the goals of DCS’ Customer Service Team. By partnering with DCS, your warehouse automation solution is supported from commissioning to end of life. You’ll receive comprehensive in-house training of your personnel, including specialized training of your designated internal system expert. Plus, DCS offers a complete package of spare parts and expert system troubleshooting support from qualified engineers dedicated to your installation.
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System Design & Integration
DCS offers a broad range of material handling equipment and automated system design, installation, and integration services for a multitude of projects. These include retrofits, expansions, upgrades, and more. While every project is unique, our system design and execution processes are the same, encompassing meticulous attention to detail, frequent communication, and a dedicated partnership with our clients.
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About Us
Designed Conveyor Systems (DCS) has 40 years of experience serving major clients in multiple industries by providing material handling, full-scale warehouse operations, and conveyor design solutions that are custom crafted for their needs. DCS does not sell ready-made conveyor systems but builds relationships that empower collaboration to craft custom warehouse designs together. DCS utilizes consulting, engineering design, project management, installation services, and client support to ensure our customers can keep their promises to deliver on time.
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Projects
With more than 40 years of experience providing automated system design, installation, and integration services, DCS has created solutions for companies throughout the United States in a broad range of industries and markets. We’ve completed more than 1500 projects ranging from greenfield facilities with completely new systems to expansions and retrofits of existing operations.

Successfully Automating Mixed Bag Palletizing for Retail Replenishment

Mixed Bag Palletizing

Manually building pallets that contain different, or mixed, stock keeping units (SKUs) is one of the most physically taxing jobs in a warehouse. When the products are sold in bulk quantities ranging from 10 to 50 pounds — and packaged in bags — the physical and ergonomic demands on warehouse associates can be grueling.

Yet, for many distribution centers (DCs) replenishing brick-and-mortar retail stores, it’s a common scenario. Think dog food, flour, and sugar in grocery stores. Or leveling sand, potting mix, mulch, and fertilizer at home improvement outlets. These are all heavy, bulky, and capable of making an enormous mess if the bag is damaged. Further, and they also have to be palletized in a specific sequence to match the store’s planogram for easy restocking of shelves.

Given all those factors, automating mixed bag palletizing for retail replenishment is a great idea. It’s also something that operations managers would love to do successfully — but has been challenging to execute. Although conventional palletizing automation and multi-axis robotic palletizing have been in use to create loads of cartons for two decades, building a mixed pallet consisting of a variety of product dimensions, weights, shapes, and contents is much more difficult to automate.

That’s why DCS shared an innovative, automated palletizing solution engineered for handling mixed bags in an educational session at MODEX. Here’s an overview of “Getting the Business Case Right in Automated Mixed SKU Pallet Fulfillment.”

DCS Combines Software, Automation, AI to Automate Mixed Bag Palletizing

The session, walked through the layout pictured above. This automated palletizing solution combines multiple proven technologies. They include:

In this operation, all source inventory pallets and outbound pallets each sit on low racks. The AMRs tunnel under the racks to lift them slightly up off the floor, then transport them where needed. Source inventory sits in rows within eight separate work cells, each equipped with a gantry crane.

The work cells are arranged four on either side of a central aisle where outbound pallets are staged. Each crane has a robotic arm with vacuum end effectors and an integrated vision system. As directed by the WES — which orchestrates the entire process — the gantry crane in each work cell travels back and forth over the pallets of inventory.

The on-board vision system detects and reads data tags, as well as identifies the position of each bag on its source pallet to ensure precise pick up. Further, the integrated AI middleware continuously analyzes the data inputs from the vision system. This enables the crane’s robotic arm to make minute adjustments as it places each bag on the outbound mixed pallet (it resembles playing the game Tetris). The system also automatically makes decisions about each bag’s placement based on its dimensions, while simultaneously following the sequential layout of the destination store for easiest restocking.

Once an outbound pallet is picked complete, an AMR tunnels under its rack and transports it to an automatic stretch wrapper to secure the load. The load is then tagged by an automatic print-and-apply labeler. A different AMR delivers an empty pallet to the vacated location, and the process repeats.

Within the work cells, AMRs also remove the racks of empty pallets once picked out and replenish stock for picking. Because it’s controlling the distribution of picks across the eight work cells, the WES also knows when replenishment inventory will be needed. It stays a few waves ahead, staging those pallets in a close by buffer zone, then slotting them into the cells dynamically.

At peak productivity the system creates approximately 28 pallets per hour for store replenishment. Because it is both flexible and scalable, the system could accommodate a variety of inventory slotting schemes of mixed or mirrored inventory per work cell. But, most importantly, no human intervention is required throughout any of these processes. While it isn’t a dark DC, the system automatically builds stable, store ready pallet loads of mixed, bagged products. This allows associates to be reassigned to higher value tasks that are less ergonomically taxing.

Making the Business Case for Automation

This system addresses the primary objective discussed at the outset of this post: the desire to improve warehouse associate safety and retention. In fact, the majority of companies considering these kinds of automation projects are justifying them for reasons outside of achieving a cut-and-dried return on investment (ROI) within a certain time period.

Automated palletizing solutions like this one eliminate actions that pose a higher risk of ergonomic injury due to repetitive motions like bending, lifting, and twisting. Building pallets by hand is a physically demanding job, and one that employees are more likely to quit. Implementing a fully automated solution eliminates an onerous task, as well as the costs associated with workers’ compensation and constant turnover.

Likewise, employee satisfaction at the brick-and-mortar level also increases. Because the pallets are built to match the store layout, the store associates have an easier time restocking shelves. They navigate up and down aisles, unloading the pallet’s contents sequentially — no doubling back required. And the pallet loads themselves are more neatly assembled and better balanced when built by automation than by hand. That makes them easier to guide through narrow store aisles and to unload without fear of subsequent bags sliding off.

Further, the automation moves at a consistent, predictable pace. That, along with its work cell configuration, enhances overall process reliability and uniformity. Guided by integrated vision systems, each gantry crane’s robotic arm and vacuum grippers methodically pick up each bag in the optimal orientation to prevent damage. Wasted merchandise — and the mess that comes with spilled granules, pellets, grains, powders or other bulk products sold by the bag — is significantly reduced.

All of these business case benefits combine to deliver successful automation of mixed load palletizing of bagged goods for retail replenishment using readily available material handling equipment. Achieving this just requires an innovative approach to combining hardware and software in a unique way — something DCS is known for.

Experience DCS’ Approach to Solving Customer Problems

If you’d like to learn more about how DCS can apply an automated solution to successfully address your challenges while making a positive impact on your bottom line, connect with us.