A light comes on

In the distribution center of the office supplies cooperation Soennecken at the Overrath site, 15,000 articles are stored in a managed area of 21,000 square meters. All goods leave the logistics center on the same day they are ordered. More than 97 percent of them reach the recipient the very next day. Fast and error-free order picking forms the basis for this business model. Soennecken has invested in a new pick-by-light solution to make the work of the employees at the picking stations easier and to further increase efficiency. The retrofit was implemented in collaboration with the long-standing project partner and general contractor Unitechnik.

The employees pick almost five million order items per year. The office supplies are sent to retailers and commercial end customers - a total of 1.3 million parcels. To ensure that they do not experience any nasty surprises when unpacking, a series of error prevention measures are implemented before each dispatch: for example, when packing an order box, each item is subjected to a weight check during each picking process.

If the weight of the picked item matches the target weight from the master data, the picking process can continue. All parcels are photographed before dispatch in order to be able to react quickly in the event of a complaint, for example. However, the basis for a minimum error rate during shipping is created by smooth picking processes. This has recently been ensured by a new pick-by-light solution.

Formerly voice-controlled - now lights go on

"Nobody stocks up on office supplies these days. Our customers order on demand and expect delivery within a day," says Klaus Schneider, Head of Company-wide Process Management at Soennecken, describing the framework conditions for logistics. In addition to the high delivery performance, the company must react immediately to changes in the order structure if required. These requirements are best met with manual picking processes. "For our employees, this means a high workload in an activity that requires maximum concentration," explains Dirk Leischner, Technical Manager at Soennecken. "To create a balance, we invest in the best possible working conditions. The technology used should support our employees and make their work easier." Soennecken has been using pick-by-voice for order picking since the logistics system was commissioned. The advantage: the employee has both hands free and can concentrate fully on the picking process and careful handling of the goods.

In the spring of 2015, Soennecken decided to look for an alternative that would enable a comparably high level of efficiency and quality of work while improving working conditions for employees. Based on an internal company analysis, the choice fell on pick-by-light. The company placed its trust in its long-standing project partner Unitechnik for the planning and implementation. The general contractor was already responsible for the construction of the system in Overath in 2009 and implemented numerous optimization projects in the following years. Thanks to its good project management and understanding of processes, Unitechnik was also awarded the contract for the conversion of the order picking solution. This was followed by the joint detailed design by the Soennecken logistics process team and Unitechnik.

2,800 ads instead of 13,000

The chosen solution manages with a relatively small number of newly installed screens and pick-by-light interfaces. The basic idea is to divide the picking aisles into longitudinal and vertical axes. In contrast to conventional pick-by-light systems, where each compartment has its own display, the pick-by-light interfaces at Soennecken are only located along the longitudinal axis. For this reason, each interface has two displays: The first indicates from which level to pick, the second shows the quantity to be removed. Thanks to this system, Soennecken manages with around 2,800 pick-by-light displays in the picking area. "If we hadn't worked with axes, a total of around 13,000 displays would have been required. That would have made the solution uneconomical," explains Andreas Klee, Sales Logistics Systems at Unitechnik Systems GmbH.