Mach FTD - the gears that give speed to Emag

When eMAG, the largest online retailer in Romania and Eastern Europe, decided it was time to take its operations at its central warehouse in Bucharest to the next level and implement a conveyor system that could cater to the need for flexibility and optimization in its logistics activities, the chosen supplier was Mach FTD.

The central depot serves as the central nervous system of eMAG's operations, covering an area of 26,000 square meters and located near the capital. Here, 10 teams comprising a total of 270 people oversee the entire logistics activity, ensuring that all orders are prepared for delivery to the end customer as quickly as possible.

eMAG offers an extremely diverse range of products, ranging from ingredients for dinner, laptops, books, perfumes, clothing, garden furniture, hand tools, appliances, to drones and motorcycles. The eMAG warehouse houses around 70,000 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units), meaning 70,000 different products and approximately 8,000 pallets of goods are stored. Around 14,000 orders are processed daily, requiring picking for about 31,000 products.

However, from the moment the products enter the central eMAG warehouse, through reception to the delivery of packages to the customer's door, using either external courier companies or internal couriers, the process is complex, requiring not only highly organized workflow but also technology.

Each successfully completed order on the eMAG website sets the wheels of the central depot in motion. The Warehouse Management System (WMS) issues a task that is transmitted to a picking operator via a handheld device (PDA). The operator retrieves the product from its location, and the products then move to the scanning/collection area. There, barcode scanning takes place, and delivery documents like AWB (Air Waybills) are generated. Finally, the products are handed over to the loading team.

The secret of smart warehouses lies in technology

The fast pace of work in the warehouse is supported by technology, whether it's material handling equipment like Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) trucks for picking or transferring pallets from the reception area to the storage area or from the storage area to the picking area, manual pallet jacks, specialized equipment for handling "white goods," barcode scanners, PDAs facilitating daily tasks for operators in picking, replenishing or loading, laptops, printers, video cameras, or electronic scales.

As Romanian consumer habits have evolved in recent years, with a growing appetite for online purchases, eMAG's activities have significantly expanded from year to year. Consequently, to enhance operational flow in the warehouse, the installation of a conveyor system that enables swift product transfer between different warehouse areas became a necessity. The minimum required productivity was set at 1,500 containers per hour, with future hardware configuration allowing for productivity rates exceeding 3,000 containers per hour.

Mach FTD, one of the most prominent suppliers of equipment and comprehensive automation solutions, and a leading industrial systems integrator in the local market, proposed the hardware solution, comprising a set of chain conveyors, motorized and gravity roller conveyors, vertical spiral conveyors for container transportation, and diversion systems.

Thus, the conveyor system contributes to the transfer of products from the reception area to the picking area on the platform and then to the scanning/collection area located in the ground area beneath the platform.

Transferred products are placed in blue plastic boxes, each with a barcode label for unique identification.

"From an operational perspective, the system implemented by Mach FTD has brought significant benefits, such as simplifying and facilitating the parcel sorting process, defining the sorting area, and improving the visibility of operational flow. Moreover, the processing error rate is extremely low.

We are very pleased with our collaboration with Mach FTD. The order completion deadlines were met (transport, assembly, and implementation of the conveyor assembly)." - Marian Tudor, Warehouse Manager, eMAG.

The Technical Solution

Containers are fed from the ground floor and ascend to the 3rd floor of the platform via a plastic chain conveyor. On levels 3, 2, and 1, multiple picking cells with varying numbers and configurations are available, providing great flexibility to order processing operations. When containers are diverted into a picking cell, the unique identification code read by a scanner automatically informs the operator of the processing mode for the order. After completing actions in a given picking cell, the container is automatically reintroduced into the main flow on the main line.

The conveyor system incorporates flow control and diversion solutions, offering maximum flexibility in handling products without causing damage.

For a visual representation of the Warehouse Management System implementation at eMAG by Mach, watch the video!

Mach FTD - Specialist in Intralogistics

Through the Intralogistics division, Mach provides customers with horizontal and vertical transport systems for the entire range of products, including conveyors (belt conveyors, chain conveyors, roller and wheel conveyors, pallet conveyors, special conveyors, suspended conveyors), vertical transport (side-grip conveyors, spirals, elevators), diverters, rejectors, etc.

Furthermore, the company's portfolio includes handling and sorting systems, packaging systems (stretch film, shrink film, palletizing stations, box formers and sealers, handle applicators, etc.)

Mach offers diverse solutions for logistics applications: labelling systems, in-flow weighing, metal detection systems, depalletization and palletising systems, identification and traceability, automated warehouse technology for automated guided vehicles, Warehouse Management Systems, semi-automatic and automatic picking solutions. All of these enable our customers to continuously improve their processes and services.