Elk Grove Village, Ill.—Dec. 7, 2012—Wynright Corp., an independent, U.S.-based provider of intelligent material handling systems, introduced its Visual Sort system to enable more efficient tracking and restocking of returned inventory in distribution centers.
In a pilot program, the use of the Visual Sort system increased the volume of returns being processed by 30 to 40 percent due to the speed of the system and the ease of processing returns. In addition, the speed with which outbound inventory was picked and shipped increased by 20 percent following the introduction of the Visual Sort system in the pilot program.
“While Visual Sort was originally designed with picking in the distribution center in mind, it quickly became obvious that it had significant applications for inventory returns as well,” said Bob LeGault, General Manager at Wynright Corp. “With the cost savings it provides, the Visual Sort system can pay for itself within the first year. The ease of use greatly reduces the amount of training required for workers in the distribution center. It also provides significant savings related to artificial out of stock conditions, since returned inventory is now more accurately accounted for within the WMS and available for redistribution more quickly.”
Visual Sort is operated in the distribution center through an easy-to-use touch screen, scanner and network connection which requires minimal training of distribution center workers. Once inventory is scanned into the system, Visual Sort illuminates on the screen which bin the returned products should be put into, which accelerates the current labor-intensive return inventory and restocking process used in many distribution centers. The enhanced ability to track and trace product through Visual Sort can also be automatically fed back into any warehouse management system (WMS).
Wynright also designed the Visual Sort system to be customizable—so it can be used for returned inventory in both the retail and manufacturing markets. For example, a manufacturer could use Visual Sort to help it sort distressed returns, and also to combine the putting or sorting of products to discrete orders in a two-bay system based on a Bill of Materials (BOM).
“Visual Sort is the latest example of Wynright’s innovative solutions-based approach to the needs of today’s distribution center,” said Kevin Ambrose, Chief Executive Officer of Wynright Corp. “By more intelligently thinking about the design process, Wynright’s engineering team was able to design Visual Sort to not only provide significant cost savings, but to also accelerate the ability of companies to redistribute inventory more quickly through their supply chains.”
