Conveying efficiency for ASDA

Exmac Automation is helping Asda change the way it picks online grocery orders at its new Home Shopping Centre near Leeds. The Home Shopping Centre 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. The 50,000 sq ft centre, which carries the full range of products but is closed to the public, is dedicated to Asda’s fast growing online shopping business and is expected to complete twice as many orders per hour and give customers a fourfold increase in the number of delivery slots.

The conveyor systems are designed to handle a tote every 2.5 seconds and are equipped with a touch-panel human/machine interface that holds diagnostic and trouble-shooting information, and enables colleagues to use manual mode if required.

When picking in-store, Asda achieved about 120 orders per hour. At the new centre, colleagues are achieving close to 250 orders per hour, making it possibly the most efficient home shopping facility in the country. Commenting on the installation, an Asda spokesman said: "The Exmac conveyor system plays an important role in maintaining the efficiency of our first Home Shopping Centre and will help us increase the reach of our home shopping business, which currently is able to deliver to 94% of the UK.”