CASE STUDY: Book Return Sortation System

The Problem: Reduce labor costs in reverse logistics operation:

A major distributor of books wanted to reduce costs related to processing unsold books by automatically sorting them by publisher. An interface to the legacy host system was required to get the sortation data.

The Solution: Returns Sorting System

CASI proposed a solution that consisted of a manually fed returns sortation conveyor system using the all electric SortMaster 150. A low cost TransMaster metering belt is used to separate the product that is presented without spacing. Three Datalogic DS6300 fixed mount barcode scanners are used to identify the carton by the UPC barcode.

System Overview

The books are manually placed on the conveyor by multiple operators. No spacing is required.

The TransMaster metering belt conveyor creates the necessary gap required for sorting from the zero gap slug of product being transported into the sorter.

UPC Barcodes are read to identify the product. These barcodes have the 5 digit extension. An Omnidirectional scanner was not selected, as it might cause read rate issues.

Three Datalogic DS6300 barcode scanners are used to read tilted ladder and picket fence barcodes. These scanners provide 10X the range required but were selected because barcode quality can be as low as ANSI F.

Cartons are tracked down to the divert lane for the publisher and the book is diverted.

The SolidRoute software controls all aspects of the sortation process. SolidRoute provides maximum flexibility allowing the user to change lane assignments or sortation logic on the fly. SolidRoute offers industry leading performance and pricing.

Benefits from the new efficiencies

The benefits of the system include reduced labor costs and increased accuracy for the returns operation.