What is a pouch sorter?
Definition: A pouch sorter is an automated conveyor system for suspended storage, sorting, and sequencing of individual items. The items are transported in special carrier pouches, individually identified, and automatically directed to the appropriate picking station. Especially in areas with a high variety of items and single-piece picking – such as in e-commerce or textile products – the pouch sorter ensures flexible, space-saving, and high-performance processing.
What are the main benefits of a pouch sorter?
- High performance with minimal space: Pouch sorters make use of vertical storage capacity and enable high throughput while requiring only a small footprint – ideal for warehouses with limited space.
- Combination of buffering and sequencing: Items can be buffered within the system and delivered to the packing station in the required sequence. This supports precise handling of complex orders, such as multi-item shipments or store-specific picking.
- End-to-end process control: Modern pouch sorters can be fully integrated into warehouse management and control systems. This allows processes such as storage, sorting, and shipping to be efficiently managed and seamlessly monitored.
What are the key processes associated with pouch sorters?
A pouch sorter can automate and optimize various process steps within warehouse logistics:
- Item feeding and identification: Individual items are automatically placed into pouches and uniquely identified via barcode or RFID. The system assigns them to the corresponding order.
- Buffering and order allocation: Items not yet needed are temporarily stored and dynamically assigned to a customer order as soon as it is released for processing.
- Sorting and sequencing: The items are system-controlled into the required order – for example, to optimize packaging, prepare store-specific orders, or follow particular delivery logics.
- Item retrieval and shipping process: At the retrieval station, items are unloaded, recorded, and prepared for shipping. This also includes printing shipping documents or labels as well as triggering the shipping notification.
Conclusion
Pouch sorters are high-performance systems for automated storage and shipping logistics, offering significant advantages especially with high order volumes and diverse product ranges. They enable space-saving, flexible, and scalable process design – from storage to sorted dispatch.
