Pouch Sorter System
Raising the bar on complex order fulfilment with the Dematic Pouch Sorter System
Retailers face a growing list of new and unique challenges for order fulfilment:
- Consumers wanting their orders fast
- Managing the expense of high return rates
- Finding and retaining quality workers
- Creating a competitive advantage with omnichannel fulfilment
Dematic Pouch Sorter is a flexible order fulfilment system featuring pouches suspended from rolling adaptors running in a track. Each pouch carries a single item, which can be identified by its radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. Items of various types can be inducted into pouches, including hanging or folded garments, shoeboxes, accessories books, and general merchandise.
An operator inducts items and then the system sorts, sequences, and delivers them to the pack stations for pack-out and shipping.
Typical applications and areas of use for Pouch Sorter Systems
The Dematic Pouch Sorter is particularly flexible and adapts perfectly to changing requirements in different industries. Typical areas of application for the Dematic Pouch Sorter are:
- E-commerce and online retail: Here, the pocket sorter enables fast, flexible sorting of a wide variety of items. Orders are sequenced, which facilitates packaging and supports fast delivery times. Returns can also be automatically reintegrated into the shipping process.
- Fashion and clothing industry: In the fashion industry, the system efficiently sorts both hanging and flat goods. It helps with seasonal fluctuations by pre-sorting items and buffering them for later deliveries or store deliveries. This improves product availability.
- Returns management: Returns can be integrated directly into the sorting process. This speeds up the availability of goods, reduces storage costs and increases customer satisfaction.
- Shipping logistics and consolidation: The bag sorter consolidates items from different storage areas into complete orders. Sequenced sorting minimises errors and makes the shipping process more efficient.
- Store delivery in retail: For store deliveries, the system sorts items in the correct order so that they can be placed directly on the shelves. This saves time and improves product availability on site.
Benefits of the Dematic Pouch Sorter
Shorter order cycle times
Dematic Software provides fast, easy processing of urgent and priority orders without the need for expensive expediting.
Dematic Pouch Sorter: Solving omnichannel fulfilment and returns challenges
E-commerce growth is fuelling the rise in omnichannel fulfilment. Consumers expect their orders with the correct items to arrive within a very short time frame. Dematic Pouch Sorter supports store replenishment and direct-to-consumer orders from a single distribution centre.
The Dematic Pouch System makes it easy to fulfil any order for both retail and e-commerce from the same workstation. Regardless of how many items are in an order, operators simply pull the sorted items out of the pouches as they arrive (in sequence if required) and pack them out. And because the items are delivered overhead, operators have plenty of workspace to handle other value-added services.
Pouch systems seamlessly integrate the returns process into the fulfilment process to make the returned goods available for shipment immediately upon processing.
The Dematic Pouch System is suspended from a mezzanine or a steel suspension structure to take advantage of unused overhead space, making it ideal for space-constrained operations. In rare cases, the system can be suspended from the ceiling.
Ergonomic workstations and quiet components make the Dematic Pouch System extremely operator friendly. The European Union’s PPE Regulation, for example, identifies workplace noise as a significant health risk, prompting a category change for hearing protection. Even without regulations, workplace noise is a comfort issue that can improve employee retention.
Dematic Software uses patented waveless algorithms to dynamically streamline the picking process and route items for rapid order fulfilment, extending order cutoff times while ensuring on-time shipments.
Are you ready for a Dematic Pouch System?
The modular design handles demand variations without sacrificing productivity so you can idle unnecessary capacity when demand is low to save energy.
The rail structure extends throughout your facility and is easily elevated to take advantage of unused vertical space. The system supports simple and clear workflows from induction to packing:
- Carriers are equipped with RF tags for a secure trace throughout the system.
- At the induction station, an item is married to a pouch.
- After the item is in the pouch, it’s not touched again until being packed for shipping.
- Sequenced delivery to pack stations is possible, with the option to display pouch contents on a screen in an item list or picture format.
Dematic Pouch System features
- Ideal for high-volume eaches picking operations
- Item dimensions up to 500 x 400 x 160 mm and up to a weight of 3 kg
- Any mix of small orders (e-commerce) to large orders (retail)
- Ideal for space constrained or odd layouts
- Can be used for items stored and picked from conventional shelving or automated inventory systems such as the Dematic Multishuttle®
- Ideal for seasonal peaks
- Ideal for high returns volumes (online apparel return rates can be greater than 50%)
- Ideal for same-day shipping and/or next-day delivery
Typical functions within your facility
A typical Pouch System includes induction, buffering, transport, sortation, and packing areas on one or more levels. The layout can be configured to fit nearly any space.
Items are loaded into a pouch manually or automatically, with the option to manage over-size items in dedicated bags and garments on hangers by attaching them on a hook at the face plate.
It is critical to select the right supplier - one that will be a trusted partner throughout the entire process.
As a company that’s led innovation in Supply Chain for more than 200 years, Dematic provides the widest range of solutions and the expertise to build the solution you need for complete control and visibility over your operation.
Our solutions are tailored to your business challenges. Using standardised sub-systems and industry-leading insight and expertise, Dematic provides world-class integrated hardware, software, and support to help you empower people, optimise space, drive growth and improve efficiency.
With Dematic, you can grow your business to compete locally, retain customer loyalty, and deliver with speed and accuracy on a global scale.