Logismarket, the Industrial Directory.

In large-scale distribution markets where a significant amount of the overall volume is distributed by the piece, different types of sortation technology are required. Catalogue, apparel and shoe distribution are just a few markets that utilize high speed piece sortation equipment.

Carousel Put Systems
Carousel put systems work well when a fairly large number of SKUs need to be sorted to a large number of locations. Often used on retail distribution, carousel put systems can create an environment of one-touch sortation directly to the shipper, while also accommodating a very large number of shippers.

Carousel Sorter
Used for manual piece sortation directly to a shipping container, the carousel sorter works well on high volume skus. Accommodating up to 500 locations on a single sorter, the carousel sorter can sort up to 4000 pieces per hour per operator. The carousel sorter allows a flexible number of operators to man sort zones, allowing for total system rates to exceed 20,000 lines per hour for a single sorter. The equipment is inexpensive and simple, costing far less than other technologies.

A Frame Sorters
Utilized to facilitate the picking of small individual items, the A-frame is extremely popular with drug and pharmaceutical distribution facilities. As the name implies, individual items are loaded or stacked in two rows of dispensing magazines (one or more magazines per item) that are arranged side-by-side, forming an "A-frame". A belt conveyor passes through the long tunnel created by the A-frame. As orders are filled, one at a time, items automatically dispensed from the bottom of selected magazines are kicked onto the belt conveyor, and then they are carried to the end of the tunnel where they fall into a tote.

Tilt Tray Sorters
Tilt tray sorters are utilized to sort a wide variety of loads, including parcels and envelopes, totes, cartons, individual articles, poly bags, luggage and other items. Sorting rates over 10,000 units per hour are possible. Tilt-tray sorters are applied in many industries including general merchandise distribution, shoe and apparel distribution, specialty retail, catalog and direct sales operations, as well as parcel & freight operations and postal processing centers. Care must be taken with fragile products as tilt-tray sorters generally sort into chutes.

Cross Belt Sorters
Cross-belt sorters achieve higher rates than tilt-trays due to having powered conveyor belts on every carrier in the system. Achieving sort rates of over 20,000 pieces per hour, cross-belt sorters are used in many of the same markets as tilt-tray sorters.