SDI sorts out BHS’s controls
June 1st 2005

SDI Greenstone has upgraded the automated sortation system at BHS’ national distribution centre (NDC) in Atherstone, operated by Excel, extending its working life and simplifying the system.

SDI supplied the automated hanging garment system several years ago, and while it has performed well since installation, the currency of the control system was an issue: “Computers become obsolete very quickly,” explains Excel site engineering and development manager, Bob Burrell. “While it was performing admirably, we couldn’t run the risk posed by one ‘global’ piece of equipment controlling the entire system.” SDI separated the system controlling the transport/ storage and sortation functions. Now the flow of garment sets from goods-in into the storage lanes and up to the pre-sort induction point is governed by a new PC-based PLC system. The sortation operation is now controlled by a separate computer, which batches goods into specific store orders and then sorts them into lanes for delivery to the despatch bay.

“The PLC is good for another 15-20 years,” says Burrell. “It’s the sortation control computer that will become outdated, but with the new system, we can simply upgrade it without affecting the running of the rest of the system.”

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