7.5 kilometres of conveyor equipment on five levels ensure the shipping of 7,500 packages per hour during peak times. This is the new logistics installation of the Chinese e-commerce expert CNSS in Danyang, China. TGW helped the 3PL giant to provide the ideal environment for goods of all kinds and the motto: rent a distribution centre!
3PL provider CNSS implemented a new warehouse and follows a very special business model: “CNSS is not a classic 3PL. They have an entirely new concept for e-commerce,” explains Albert Fischlmayr, Project Manager at TGW. “There is not only one permanent customer storing its goods in the warehouse; it might be a different customer every few weeks. This is why the installation was designed to offer highest performance during peak times!”
TGW’s solution for this challenging industry was a five floor building 300 kilometres west of Shanghai with 7.5 kilometres of conveying equipment. All available processes work independent of each other and thus ensure shortest throughput times through the complete installation. The growth of the Chinese e-commerce business demands new ideas and concepts for the distributions of fast movers. By using TGW’s technology, CNSS is now able to fulfil the market’s demands and increases the efficiency of e-commerce processes. “As the first highly automated warehouse and distribution centre in China, we are excited to cooperate with TGW, who support us with their international technologies. Together with TGW, we are aiming to guide Chinese e-commerce companies into a new logistics era,” says Jay Wang, CEO at CNSS.
Due to productive reasons, Chinese e-commerce experts need to automate their logistics infrastructure in order to be competitive on the market. “CNSS wanted to offer its customers something very special, something very fast and very efficient. Our solution helped them to fulfil those requirements,” Quentin Wu, Senior Software Engineer from TGW China knows.
The goods arrive in trucks and are immediately forwarded to TGW’s conveyors to automatically reach their shelves, which are controlled by radio. “We connected all levels by our conveyor equipment and transport the goods on 7.5 kilometres of conveyors, three channelizers and two TGW Natrix sorters,” Fischlmayr says. “The customer is using his own radio controls, so we cared for the individual interface to make it work. You can describe the TGW-Gateway software as a translation software that knows about all processes in the installation. This specifically designed feature really is on top of things!”
As soon as an order has been transmitted online, the goods are manually placed on the conveyor lines and transported downwards to the ground floor. Scanners control the transported goods and prove the identity and the content of the totes. “The totes arrive on the ground floor and are conveyed to a pick-to-wall picking system. There are shelves that are accessible from both sides. One picking employee puts the goods into a designated shelf by using a put-to-light system. On the other side of the shelf, a light shows the packing employee when an order is ready to be packed,” explains the Project Manager. The goods are packed into cartons and immediately sent onward on their journey towards the sorter.
The longest TGW Natrix sorter has a length of 100 metres with 30 chutes. It makes sure that every package is sent to the correct shipping line. The other one, with four chutes distributes the picked totes to the right pick-to-wall lines. “With this system, CNSS is able to send up to 7.500 packages per hour depending on the size of the cartons!”
Due to the great number of conveyors and various conveyor areas, an intelligent energy management was inevitable. TGW solved this issue with an automated stand-by mode. During off-peak times CNSS assures a lower energy use, saves money and operates its installation in a sustainable way.
The new installation for CNSS in China means high performance for the growing Chinese e-commerce industry and high performance for the Chinese e-commerce giant powered by TGW. “Aiming to become the leading third party warehousing and distribution service provider worldwide, we want to establish a new standard in the industry via technology and innovation. For this reason, we equip our distribution centre with high-performance sorter and conveyor equipment from TGW. Combining excellent equipment, professional experts and tailor-made software, we have super capacity of processing an average of 1.5 million cargos in pieces daily. At peak seasons, we will be able to handle 2 million cargos daily,” Jay Wang, CEO at CNSS, is happy.
