Buffer & sorting
When sequence is the constraint.
Buffer & Sort
When the order they arrive in is the job
Plenty of operations can pick everything on the list. Fewer can hand it over in the order the next process needs it, and that is usually where the labour goes: someone re-sorting on a bench, or a lane full of totes waiting for the one that completes the order. The SLS900 Buffer & Sort holds work and releases it in sequence. First-in-first-out is enforced by the system rather than by someone reading a date label, and the tote that arrives at the station is the one the station is expecting.
How it is built
The whole system
Storage rack
Multi-SKU goods are centrally stored in the multi-shuttle warehouse.
buffer shuttle
Delivers each tote to its assigned flow lane for buffering and allocation.
Tote lift
Moves retrieved goods from storage to the sorting line.
flow rack
Gravity lanes hold totes by order and release them first-in-first-out.
How it works
From inventory to order
A shuttle, a bank of gravity flow lanes, the logic that decides what goes where, and a station that tells the operator which one to take. Sequence is not something the system reports afterward. It is built in.
01
Centralized storage
Multi-SKU goods are centrally stored in the multi-shuttle warehouse.
02
Order driven retrieval
The system generates outbound tasks from order demand; shuttles retrieve target goods in batches.
03
Automatic transfer
Lifts move goods to the sorting line; a buffer-sort shuttle delivers them to the flow rack for buffering and allocation.
04
Fast sorting
Picking, consolidation and downstream packaging complete based on order.
case studies
Buffer & sort case studies
Client cases where the bottleneck was consolidation rather than picking, how we took the re-sorting out of the process, and the numbers that made it worth doing.
- Automotive, Manufacturing
+100%
Picking efficiency
+70%
Logistics efficiency
1,336
boxes/h per aisle