Fast Shipping Enhances Customer Satisfaction

A company's Outgoing Goods and Shipping department is the last process step before the final delivery. It is also an important interface between internal and external materials management. The goods must be made available in the outbound area, the packaging and picking quality, as well as the corresponding documents must be finally examined, recorded and the dispatch must be prepared. In each company, the finished packages must pass through different stations before they can be prepared for shipping and loaded.

GEBHARDT ensures premium outgoing goods solutions for your individual requirements, be it with a consolidation function or with the integration of sorting or sequencing functions. Whether you require it a manual or an automatic solution. Our objective is to shorten throughput times and make the best use of space.

The outgoing goods process can significantly vary from warehouse to warehouse. This primarily depends on the spatial conditions, the picking technologies, the stored goods and their characteristics such as quantity, weight and volume.

Products and Solutions for Outgoing Goods and Shipping

Conveyor Systems

Our conveyor systems, whether for cartons and containers or for large load carriers, ensure the smooth transport of packaged goods which are ready for transport. The conveyor system is the connecting element in the Outgoing Goods department. It is also used for buffering and preparation before handover to the freight forwarder or shipping service provider.

Sorting Systems

Our sorting systems allow up to 16,000 packages to be sorted per hour, enabling efficient and cost-saving transfer of the goods to the package service provider. Whether using the cross-belt or multi-belt principle or classic conveyor technology, efficiency in the Outgoing Goods process increases substantially.

Telescopic Belt Conveyors

GEBHARDT ConBoom® telescopic belt conveyors extend the automated conveyor line into the truck loading space. This makes them "the first and last metre" of the internal warehouse control system. The ramp employees can concentrate on two tasks: The extension or retraction of the GEBHARDT ConBoom® telescopic belt conveyor at the push of a button into the correct position and the placement of the unit load. This substantially improves ergonomics and safety.

GEBHARDT StoreWare Software

Our GEBHARDT StoreWare software package also optimises the shipping process. This makes it possible, for example, to control the utilisation of resources or the occupancy of shipping routes and gates. Comprehensive interfaces to specialised shipping or customs software ensure smooth processes.

Examples of Outgoing Goods and Shipping Solutions

Loading with Telescopic Belt Conveyors

This solution is used to distribute complete and ready-to-ship packages to different shipping destinations. The conveyor system is suspended from the ceiling to save space on the floor. ConBoom® telescopic belt conveyors make it possible to load swap bodies, trucks or vans. To achieve this, the telescopic belt conveyor can be extended and therefore reach into the inside of the truck. This allows an employee to stay in the truck and get the packages transported to the right place depending on the fill level. This solution includes a telescopic belt conveyor for each shipping destination. The shipping destinations can therefore be served at the same time. The goods are sorted either by using a barcode scanner and, if necessary, by communicating with a higher-level system to locate the destination, or by manual settings if the destinations are served consecutively. Barcodes can also be read without communicating with higher-level systems. In this case, however, the barcode itself must clearly indicate which destination is to be served.

Process Description

  • The packages which are ready for dispatch are transported via a belt conveyor to a higher conveyor level. The packages travel to the shipping destinations on a conveyor system suspended from the ceiling.

  • The packages are then sorted to shipping destinations/carriers. The destination is either determined beforehand via a scanner or can be changed manually.

  • The packages are transported via chutes to telescopic belt conveyors.

  • The telescopic belt conveyors are used for loading trucks or swap bodies.

Strapping Cartons and Loading with Telescopic Belt Conveyors

This solution is used to strap packages that are ready for shipping and distribute them to different shipping destinations. The packages are aligned to one side using angled roller conveyors and then strapped. Several strapping machines can be used in series for redundancy or performance reasons. The conveyance goods are then brought to a higher conveying level to allow them to pass through to the telescopic belt conveyors. This can also be achieved optionally on the floor with a lift-up gate. If the goods are conveyed to the telescopic belt conveyors, however, the conveyor flow is interrupted when the lift-up gate is opened. ConBoom® telescopic belt conveyors can be used to load swap bodies, trucks or vans. To achieve this, the telescopic belt conveyor can be extended and therefore reach into the inside of the truck. This allows an employee to stay in the truck and get the packages transported to the right place depending on the fill level. This solution includes a telescopic belt conveyor for each shipping destination. The shipping destinations can therefore be served at the same time. The goods are sorted either by using an optional scanner and, if necessary, by communicating with a higher-level system to locate the destination, or by manual settings if the destinations are served consecutively. Barcodes can also be read without communicating with higher-level systems. In this case, however, the barcode itself must clearly indicate which destination is to be served.

Process Description

  • The packages which are ready for dispatch are aligned on the conveyor system and then optionally weighed and strapped.

  • In case of high throughputs or if redundancy is required, at least two strappers are necessary.

  • The packages are brought to a higher conveying level using a belt conveyor and then sorted to different shipping destinations.

  • The shipping destination can be manually set or determined by a scanner.

  • Swap bodies or trucks can also be ergonomically loaded at the shipping destinations through the optional use of telescopic belt conveyors.

Sorting to Shipping Destinations with Sorters

Sorting systems can be used to sort large volumes of ready-to-dispatch conveyance goods to a wide range of destinations. A sorter not only offers economic advantages. The automated process, in particular identification and determining the destination, minimises errors and simultaneously reduces the demand for shipping personnel. Our sorting solutions can be used in a flexible capacity.

Process Description

  • The picked goods are packed and loaded onto a feed line to the sorter

  • The feed lines run to the sorter infeeds, which transfer the conveyance good to the sorter

  • The sorter transports the conveyance goods to the desired destination or end point and can manage high throughput rates

  • The packages are removed at the end points either directly or via a telescopic belt conveyor and placed in trucks, containers or loading bridges

Simplified Sorting with Conveyor Systems

The solution is used to sort cartons which are packaged and ready for dispatch to various destinations. The sorting process is carried out automatically. The destination lines offer a certain number of buffer spaces in order to absorb asynchronous processes during the removal of the sorted conveyance goods. This sorting solution can be used in Shipping / Outgoing Goods, for example. The destinations may include different shipping service providers or destination countries. The solution requires the conveyance goods to have a label with a unique ID. The destination can either be coded into the label or the destination can be determined by communicating with a higher-level system (e.g. ERP, WMS and LVS). Optionally, the conveyance good can also be labelled, weighed with a scale or strapped beforehand. After sorting, the packages are removed from the conveyor system and then placed on pallets or in trolleys.

Process Description

  • The packages are transported to the shipping destinations on the conveyor system. The packages are scanned on the way there. The packages can be weighed, labelled or strapped in front of the scanner.

  • The packages are then distributed to the shipping destinations. The packages can be distributed either manually or according to the information provided by the scanner.

  • The destination lines are often designed as gravity roller conveyors without a drive. The packages are then sorted onto pallets or into roller containers. Gravity roller conveyors should not be used for goods that significantly vary in weight

AGV-based Outgoing Goods Delivery of Pallets

Automated guided vehicles can organise outgoing goods in a highly flexible manner with overhead transport systems. The autonomous vehicles pick up pallets or other large load carriers in the warehouse or in production and transport them to buffer tracks in the Outgoing Goods department. The buffer tracks can be used to buffer several pallets, for example, before they are loaded into a truck or container. Sequence-controlled buffering can also be used to make the subsequent unloading of the truck as efficient as possible.

Process Description

  • AGVs pick up load carriers in production or in the warehouse

  • AGVs drive into the Outgoing Goods department

  • AGVs feed pallets onto buffer tracks

  • After the buffer tracks, the packages are loaded onto the truck or into the container. This can be carried out manually with a forklift truck or automatically with a truck loading system

Automated Dispatch Processing for Pallets and Large Load Carriers

A GEBHARDT apron conveyor solution can be used to strap and stretch a wide variety of pallets up to 1.5t before shipping. The modular apron conveyors used move goods with a wide range of dimensions, weights and properties. Secure and reliable dispatch processes can be implemented in conjunction with a direct SAP connection.

GEBHARDT Aligns INTERSPORT Logistics Centre with New Market and Sales Requirements

INTERSPORT is the number one company in sports retail and supplies more than 1,000 retailers worldwide. The company is using an omnichannel platform to supply its product range with ever-growing success. A shortage of storage space and outdated software made it necessary to upgrade the Incoming Goods department. Solutions supplied by GEBHARDT now make it possible to check in more than 2,000 containers per hour at the Incoming Goods department and to store and retrieve around 1,800 containers per hour. You can see how this was implemented in detail in the reference video.

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