Hanging loose

Durkopp Fordertechnik has launched a Sorter Bag which enables both hanging and flat goods to be carried on the same system

The sorter bag from Durkopp Fordertechnik is the result of an intensive four year development programme at the firm's main production facility at Bielefeld in Germany.

The company is confident the system - which can carry goods such as shoes, toys, books, CDs and mobile phones - will be of huge benefit to firms involved in the order fulfilment and e-commerce sectors.

"E-commerce presents major challenges for those companies involved in handling goods as orders are often small in quantity as well as varied in size.

In addition, returned goods have to be dealt with quickly and efficiently as well," says Annette Sommer, Durkopp Fordertechnik's general manager in the UK.

"Previously, the picking of hanging and flat goods had to be done separately which was labour intensive and also liable to be error-prone. Now, for the first time, flat goods and hanging garments can be simultaneously processed together as part of one order."

The new sorter bag can be incorporated onto Durkopp Fordertechnik's proven Pick Rotor system for hanging goods which uses a standardised RFID-equipped adapter.

The bag - which has a stainless steel frame - can be filled by an operator who passes the articles over a scanner so they, too, can be tracked through the bag's RFID transponder.

"Any item that would fit into a normal shopping bag can be carried on the new system which handles up to 10,000 items an hour," adds Annette. "Picking is
optimised, single items can be placed in any order on the system and minimal space is required. The streamlining of all these processes leads to reduced costs and quicker order fulfilment. E-commerce demands the handling of goods to be faster and more accurate - the Dürkopp Sorter Bag system makes this possible."

The Sorter Bag has been installed at Bierbaum Proenen, the international supplier of workwear. The firm outsources logistics operations to the Fiege Group and the Sorter Bag helps them handle the global distribution of 2.5 million items a year, comprising some 14,500 different workwear products.