During a press conference on the opening day of MODEX 2024, automation and software company Fortna launched OptiSweep, a robotic solution to automate the consolidation and transportation of small orders away from sortation systems in high-volume e-commerce and sortation distribution centers.
This solution automates what is typically a labor-intensive process by using Geek+ robots to collect orders from sorter divert locations and bring them to specially designed goods-to-person locations to deposit orders for bulk consolidation and outbound processes. Fortna’s warehouse control system (WCS) software and its algorithms seamlessly orchestrate the workflow, managing the mobile robots and communicating with the sorter and consolidation stations to maximize efficiency and balance product flow.
Traditionally, high-volume distribution centers use large linear and loop sorters to organize packages into categories, diverting them down appropriate chutes into destination-specific bags. These processes often have workers assigned to monitor specific destinations, physically remove items, and walk them to a consolidation station for downstream processes. The OptiSweep solution was designed to reduce these labor requirements and provide ergonomic improvements, eliminating the need for employees to bend and reach into bags to move items.
The solution easily integrates with sorter systems, the company says, and can match a range of throughput requirements, offering processing flexibility from 4,000 to more than 34,000 pieces per hour.
