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.”