Picking with pick-to-light system

"As a family business, Skylux has been bringing natural daylight into people's lives for three generations," says Veronique Mattheeuws, Chief Commercial Officer at Skylux . The company, based in Stasegem, Belgium, is known for its skylights and roof windows, but is now also focusing on a second pillar: Outdoor Living. “With our aluminum conservatory systems, we bring the magic of nature indoors," explains Mattheeuws, adding: "We believe in continuous improvement in all areas. That’s why we constantly strive for better solutions, services, and products – for our customers, but also for our employees."  

Pick- to -Light solution  

In a recent project in its order picking department for the Outdoor Living division, Skylux has put this ambition into practice. Skylux is a B2B supplier that delivers its products to installers who are responsible for flawless installation and processing at the end customer's site. Each order contains numerous small parts: screws and nuts, manuals, end caps, rubber seals, cables, and more. These are picked by employees and then subjected to comprehensive quality control before the order leaves the warehouse. "Order picking was very time-consuming and prone to errors, as checks showed. Therefore, Skylux wanted to invest in a Pick- to -Light solution," explains Tsjelle Stevens, founder and managing director of integration partner Code Care.  

Looked for lights, found the complete solution  

Code Care supports manufacturing companies in their digital transformation projects. The integration partner counts Skylux among its key customers and was also responsible for implementing this pick- to -light project. Tsjelle had already had positive experiences with Banner Engineering's robust and versatile signal lights and therefore included them in this solution. Turck Multiprox's system engineers assembled a complete solution for Code Care and Skylux. In addition to the TL50 signal lights, this solution consists of the cascadable PTL110 Pick- to -Light pushbuttons with display, touch button, and optical sensor, as well as the intelligent TURCK I/O modules TBEN-S2-2COM-4DXP with the standard integrated ARGEE logic control software. Code Care was able to easily integrate the solution with Skylux's ERP system.   

No more searching for articles  

„"It all starts with the operator using his tablet to scan a QR code on one of these blue containers," explains Tsjelle . "The corresponding picking order appears on his tablet. He then walks along the racks with the trolley on which the container is located. There are a total of 750 picking locations in the warehouse. The operators work in shifts. On his tablet, he sees an image of the article that he needs to remove. In addition, the PTL110 light on the container from which the item must be removed lights up green. The order picker is guided visually without having to search for a long time." With the new system, picking is now error-free. If an employee picks up an item from the wrong compartment, one of the fifteen TL50 warning lights will sound red. "An optical signal that provides additional safety," says Tsjelle .   

Picking in half the time – even for beginners  

After an item has been removed, the operator presses the PTL110 button to turn off the green light and advance to the next item. The PTL's capacitive probe is very robust, but does not require a great amount of pressure. This allows the operator to process the entire order item by item. "It used to take a little over an hour and a half, but now it's only half as long," he says. In the high season, when a lot of temporary staff are deployed, Skylux benefits from the time savings even more clearly. "Where in the past we had to train each temporary worker for four hours to get to know the entire warehouse and all the items, the new colleagues are now picking after half an hour." The PTL110 lights also display numerically exactly how many parts must be removed.   

Dynamic and flexible adjustment  

The signals from the lights are controlled by TURCK's TBEN-S2-2COM-4DXP I/O modules. "They are IP67-rated, so they work smoothly in any environment. Even more important is the intelligence inside. The TBEN-S block modules translate the data from the ERP system into commands for the lights and the associated display without the need for a PLC. The ARGEE software on the modules takes care of that," explains Tsjelle . The lights are connected in cascade. This means that only one port on the TBEN-S-2COM is needed to connect 64 or more PTLs in series. Communication between the I/O module and PTL lights runs via Modbus RTU. "This combination makes it a particularly dynamic and flexibly adaptable system. If picking stations are added or if error analysis shows that it is better to place certain items further apart, this can be implemented very easily and flexibly."  

Easy to work  

Tsjelle , who has now become a familiar face in the workshop of Skylux, determines that the employees are already very satisfied. "It really made their work a lot easier. In the past, they had to go through the labels to find the right item code, and now they can see where they need to go." His own task, the installation of the pick- to -light hardware and the adaptation of the ARGEE software, as well as writing the interface between the pick- to -light solution and Skylux's ERP system , also went smoothly. "Because ARGEE works with standard protocols, it was a breeze, Tsjelle concludes.

Customer| www.skylux.eu/de-de