When awkward becomes easy, you know that you are using the best equipment for the job! This was part of the remit from one of our favourite customers up in the Midlands. They have a very efficient logistics operation handling tens of thousands of packages, parcels and products a week. They also handle very awkward shaped products that don't fit into the standard picking containers due to their shape, size and weight, so here arose a problem that needed a solution.

This is an area where Action Handling can be very useful to their customers by helping to produce and supply bespoke equipment to suit an unusual application. Packing stations were needed to handle these bulky items and they needed to be ergonomically suited for packers to carry out the job more efficiently and with the least stress and strain possible. The customer has already put in place sensor pads that would monitor their staff for a week to assess the problem and it was found that the levels of twisting and turning required to handle items through the fulfilment process were completely unsuitable and posed a health and safety risk.

We were asked to come up with a design for a packing station that would integrate with the normal packing lanes but could satisfy six basic benefits:

1. Adjustable heights for operators using keyboards and screens.
2. Two tier packing structure to help with bulky items.
3. Stations needed to be designed to reduce cluttering up and give more space for actual packing.
4. A lockable storage cupboard for spare materials such as document wallets and tapes.  
5. Modern look to enhance the picking area and create a better working environment with plenty of under bench storage for flatpack cardboard boxes.
6. Room to house hand sanitiser and wipes.

A site visit from our representative meant that discussions with packers and management could take place whilst viewing the issue at hand. That culminated in a simple sketch being produced as a basic idea to start the project off.

This initial sketch took in the views and comments from all the packers who carried out the fulfilment processes on site:

The next stage for us was to produce a sample packing station that could be fully integrated within the normal packing lanes and prove that the awkward and bulky items could be handled safety and in a timely manner. The new sample equipment was supplied within two weeks and then tested with the sensor pads for a further week on site.

The results showed a 0% extra stress and strain reading over and above the normal readings for standard items. We have since supplied a quantity of these packing stations and the feedback has proved to be highly encouraging for their continued use.

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