Change to picking

Materials handling specialist Exmac Automation is helping Asda change the way it picks online grocery orders at its new 'Home Shopping Centre' in Morley, near Leeds.

The 50,000ft2 facility uses an Exmac belt and roller conveyor system to transfer merchandise from a mezzanine floor to a despatch point on the ground floor, enabling online orders to be picked and processed, and shopping baskets compiled.

Merchandise stocked in the centre is picked by 500 operatives and placed in totes ready for delivery. Totes from the mezzanine area are deposited manually on shelves located either side of two Exmac conveyor systems.

Each system consists of 45m of conveyor modules featuring a combination of horizontal and inclined belt conveyors, roller conveyors and powered bends.