Solution promises to speed up lorry loading
The beverage industry is a typical application where empties and full bottles, cans, drums, crates, packing material, and pallets, are handled in multiple logistic flows.
In a beverage application, it is not uncommon for bottles to be handled multiple times, for example, bringing in empties, filling bottles, output of full bottles etc.
The company says: “All these logistic flows, typically result in each bottle being handled between 3 to 5 times in trailers shuttling between two or more locations. Then our single bottle becomes part of a truckload with pallets. Now consider that a traditional forklift truck can easily take up to 45 minutes for (un)loading one single truckload. Our Ancra ATLS shuttle application reduces this time to only 3 minutes.”
The solution is said to offer reduced costs, improved health & safety conditions for employees/truck drivers, and can result in a reduction of trailer fleet. The technology is suitable for any load, as long as it is within trailer dimensions. It can be custom engineered to load slip sheets, racks, skids, IBCs, etc into a trailer.
In addition, Ancra's SkateLoader automated lorry loading system is based on fully automatic one-shot-loading and is said to reduce trailer loading time by 70%.
The system is developed for one-way-loading of outbound goods, for example from a production facility outbound to customers or from a DC to multiple end-users. The company says typical return on investment for the SkateLoader is 12-24 months depending on customer situation and driving distances.
Scanning and alignment takes two minutes, the one-shot-loading takes three minutes and retracting the system two minutes. In combination with buffer stations three to five trailer loads per dock per hour can be achieved, says the firm.
