The fulfilment process harbours many productivity reserves. This is particularly true for companies with frequently changing customers, products and small order volumes. Typical examples of this are mail order companies and e-commerce. Automated Packaging Systems (APS) can now offer innovative solutions for this.
In medium-sized companies, individual or all fulfilment activities are often still organised and implemented independently of each other. A lack of coordination and intelligent linking of processes wastes valuable labour and time. The proportion of manual activities predominates. Particularly in companies with frequently changing customers, small order volumes and constantly changing products, there is therefore a need for Flexible automated or semi-automated fulfilment solutions.
[infotext icon]Fulfilment refers to all actions required to supply a B2C or B2B customer after the contract has been concluded. This includes tasks such as order acceptance, warehousing, picking, packaging, labelling/franking, shipping and invoicing[/infotext].Efficient fulfilment
A typical example of such applications is the mail order business with its intelligent form of E-Commerce. Many customers need to be supplied with a wide variety of items in a timely and cost-efficient manner and without errors. The customer's order data is the basis and direction for all actions. They can be found throughout the entire fulfilment chain. Intelligently networked data and machine systems must therefore process all important order and dispatch data and ensure a continuous overview of the current status of the overall process.
The market leader for Small parts packaging technology APS now offers intelligent fulfilment solutions for the picking, packing and labelling/franking segments. At the heart of the range are the modified and extended versions of its industry-proven AB 255 maxi pouch packaging machine and the SPrint high-speed packaging system. The systems, which were developed especially for mail order and e-commerce, can be easily loaded by hand but can also be easily integrated into existing fully automated fulfilment systems.
Bag dispatch XXL
The under the Label Autobag 850S aThe machine on offer processes ten to 15 mailing bags per minute with a colour that is not available from the competition. Width of up to 550 millimetres and a length of up to 910 millimetres. With the XXL bags from APS, even large and bulky items can be packed, printed and dispatched at the same time. The roll-fed Autobag bags, which are customised for the machine, are supplied securely sealed on three sides. The upper bag opening is closed with an innovative, integrated sealing device of the packaging system.
The thermal transfer printer integrated into the system enables customised and dispatch-ready labelling, Direct printing on each bag with high-resolution graphics, text or barcodes. It always prints the next bag to be filled. This ensures that the contents and label always match. The separate production and application of labels can be completely eliminated.
A comprehensive sensor system enables simple and effortless operation, while at the same time fulfilling the safety requirements of the EU Machinery Directive. The newly developed bag guiding system allows bag format changes in less than five minutes. The touchscreen enables system control, quick access to job parameters and performance monitoring, as well as the use of help and diagnostic functions.
The Autobag 850S shipping solution can be easily integrated into warehouse management systems (WMS), ERP or despatch software. Dispatch and customer databases can be combined for an efficient printing, packing and dispatch process.
Chain bags for high packaging volumes
The modular and configurable auto-fulfilment system SPrint is used for the flexible packaging of large quantities of mail order packaging. Here, the Autobag chain bags are fed into the system, pre-opened with air and filled in the loading area. Single or multi-item orders can be recorded via a three-point scanner and checked on screen. A thermal transfer printer produces the specific label with the corresponding information. An optional inline printer can be used to produce invoices for the order and feed them into the dispatch bag.
The contents of the bag can be added to the Collator supplementary information sheets, catalogues or similar are enclosed. The filled bags are securely sealed using a sealing device and then transported away. The Sprint fulfilment system is also mobile and can be combined with a variety of other feeding and operating units.
