Axiom GB has designed, manufactured and installed an automated labelling and sortation system for Cinram Iberia’s logistics operation based in Madrid. The high speed system is being used to scan, label and sort randomly sized media products, processing them to a 40 destination sorter at a speed of 180 items per minute.
Cinram is one of the world’s largest providers of supply chain solutions to the entertainment industry. In order to maximise the production of the logistics centre in Madrid, the company’s technical team decided to source a new labelling and sortation system to process the increasing volumes of DVDs and video games.
Luis Fernandez-Pita is the managing director of Cinram Iberia, he comments, “We had the choice of three different suppliers for the system, the one that gave us the best service and the most robust solution was Axiom GB. It is a professional organisation which is both customer focused and business oriented.”
Bespoke version of Axiom’s PUR Sorter
The innovative machinery consists of a bespoke version of Axiom’s PUR sorter together with an ‘intelligent’ high speed, variable height label applicator. This means that a mix of products of assorted heights and dimensions can be randomly consigned to the conveyor, from a 10mm thick DVD to a 130mm thick pack of video games.
The modular PUR sorter is the latest product to emerge from Axiom’s ongoing research and development programme. It is capable of accommodating products ranging in size from a credit card to cartons or boxes weighing up to 20kgs and, because of its modular design it can be configured to suit an almost limitless range of different applications.
At Cinram three automatic induction points load the media products onto the PUR sorter at 180 products per minute. Initially the high speed conveyor lines are merged and then the barcode on each item is omni-directionally scanned.
There are three label applicators, each applying one label per second. A single dynamically printed label can be applied to any position on the back face of the product and a pre-printed label can be applied to any position on the front face.
Unique Height-Seeking Device
All of the units are fitted with a unique height-seeking device which detects the height and positioning requirement for each label in a fraction of a second. This data is passed instantly to the applicators which fix each label precisely where required onto a random mix of single and multipack videos and DVDs.
The products then exit the system at high speed. They emerge correctly labelled, sorted into one of the 40 destination bins and, more importantly, are entirely undamaged.
“Using the Axiom sortation and labelling system we can now work more profitably,” continues Fernandez-Pita, “doing this type of work manually would be entirely unprofitable. We started using the system for just 20% of our orders and this has increased to 60%. In addition, it is now used for our reverse logistics service.”
He concludes, “The level of support we receive from Axiom is also superb. Whether it is for general maintenance, a specific problem or a substantial enhancement to the equipment, they always give us first class service.”
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