An innovative picking system from the Illingen-based company Winkel now ensures high work efficiency, lean processes, high picking performance, top picking quality and sustainable ergonomic goods handling: the Winkel Fast Pick Station. In the previous order picking process, the order picker had to manually remove the goods from the rack storage according to specifications and assemble them for the goods consignments according to the order. The picking process is one of the most expensive and time-consuming process steps in the warehouse and shipping logistics. With the Fast Pick Station, Winkel creates the greatest possible ergonomics and efficiency in this process.
The Winkel station makes palletising, depalletising and picking goods much easier. Often, an employee in the warehouse lifts several tonnes per day by hand – the Fast Pick Station enables back-friendly work and thus prevents employee absences. Efficient, ergonomic and equipped with high performance, the Winkel application ensures lean processes, increases ergonomics at the workplace and enables up to 800 picks per hour without any problems. Due to the time savings and the associated shorter order throughput time, this investment pays for itself within a very short time.
Fast Pick Station for all common pallet formats
The Fast Pick Station consists of a picking table with integrated shaft on a platform. Positioned underneath is a fully automatic film stretcher with an innovative lifting system that does not require an excavation pit. Load carriers such as pallets, roll containers or wire mesh boxes can be loaded with different goods on the table. These are delivered individually or on trays via a conveyor system. The employee can adjust the height of the load carrier individually at any time so that he does not have to lift the goods and only move them horizontally. This makes his work considerably easier. The full load carrier is conveyed downwards via a shaft. There, a wrapping stretcher immediately wraps the load with a film to secure it for further transport. The goods are thus protected against slipping and contamination. The goods can be removed manually or automatically. A new load carrier is then provided. The entire changing process takes only a few seconds. The integrated pallet storage enables the order picker to work continuously. The goods are simply pushed onto the next load carrier later.
The Fast Pick Station is easy to integrate without any structural measures, because it does NOT require a pit. That, too, is efficiency. The station can handle different load carriers: Euro pallets, ½-Euro pallets, industrial pallets, roll containers, mesh pallets and pallets with mixed goods can be picked without any problems.
Up to 800 picks per hour, a load capacity of up to 1300 kg and, in addition, an error rate that is almost zero due to the tight process control. For even more efficiency, two employees can also work at one station. The work area is easily accessible from all sides. Furthermore, the application can alternatively be operated fully automatically with robot technology. To make the work even easier, the Fast Pick can also be combined with various lifting aids on request.
Higher performance and less errors: The Fast Pick Station significantly increases the efficiency of palletising, depalletising and picking. At the same time, the health of the employees is protected and the safety of the goods is ensured during further transport. This makes the Fast Pick Station an extremely economical and reliable solution that can also be easily integrated into existing production and logistics processes.
The station is used in a wide range of applications, including the automotive and supplier industry, the food trade, the textile industry or the drugstore sector. Several 100 stations are already successfully in use in projects worldwide.
Description of the process
- A pallet is loaded with different goods on the picking table of the Fast Pick station.Â
These are delivered individually or on trays, and the goods management system ensures the correct order sequence. The picker can always adjust the height of the pallet individually. - Once the pallet has been picked, it is automatically lowered over the shaft.
The shaft walls ensure that the load remains stable. This is especially important for pallets with mixed goods. A wrapping stretcher automatically wraps the load with a film as soon as the pallet leaves the shaft. This protects the goods from slipping and contamination during transport.
3. The conveyor system transports the stretched pallet away. 
The next pallet is made available. Optionally, the pallets can also be transported in and out manually. The changeover time between two load carriers is only a few seconds. In the meantime, picking can optionally continue on an intermediate tray. The goods are simply pushed onto the next pallet later.
Winkel thinks further
Winkel thinks further, higher, faster and outside the box without losing sight of the essentials – saving time and relieving people. This has been achieved with the Fast Pick Station. Like almost all applications of the linear and handling technology specialist, the Fast Pick Station also arose from a customer request for which Winkel GmbH developed the appropriate solution. The desire for an ergonomic solution to simplify logistics processes – to save time, increase efficiency and create healthier conditions for employees – was clearly the focus of this development. As the market leader, Winkel has already successfully implemented thousands of such customer projects internationally.
The successful company has been active in the field of linear and handling technology for over 40 years. There is no standard, Winkel stands for individual, flexible and sometimes highly complex logistic solutions that are always realised with an inventive spirit on the pulse of time. The diverse, application-specific linear and handling systems are designed and manufactured on site at the company’s headquarters – design expertise, application know-how and production – all under one roof.
