Another TNT depot sorted
June 1st 2007 Astec Conveyors has
installed a hi-tech hub-style
sortation system at TNT's
Birmingham depot following
a similar installation at the
TNT Preston site.
A mezzanine floor was
installed to reduce ground
floor congestion. TNT Preston
operates three shifts and the
project objective was to
install a reversible straight
line conveyor system to
support both the 'Night' and
'Back' shifts plus the Regional
Sortation. The system
required a 'multi-mode'
option – not only a reversible
system but also the option of
both upper and ground level
material handling systems to
operate independently and in
opposite directions.
The new system allows up
to four inbound trailers at a
time to be efficiently
unloaded, therefore
speeding up the flow of
freight in the depot. It can
handle a 1,800 items per
hour minimum.
Outbound goods are offloaded
from collection
vehicles onto lineshaft
conveyors to be transferred
and indexed up to a
checkpoint, where they are
checked, weighed and then
labelled with a detailed
printed delivery/routing label.
Parcels are then transported
up to the upper level system.
The upper and lower level
systems have an inline bidirectional
barcode reader
station which communicates
with the master computer
and sortation PLC to ensure
traceability and do updates.
From the mezzanine, items
are discharged via conveyors
onto hub-bound trailers
Returning parcels take a
reverse route to the upper
level sort system. Barcode
routing labels are scanned
and consignments can sort to
spiral chutes prior to being
transported back to the floor
level and into waiting trailers.
Regional Sortation,
needing to unload inbound
trailers, sort and reload onto
outbound trailers, required
the mezzanine and ground
floor conveyers to operate independently
while the other
two shifts were operational. More articles from Astec Conveyors Limited: | 
