WIXOM, MI - ISD - Integrated Systems Design today announced the Robotic 3D Sorter Mini Putwall System, an advanced sortation solution that transforms warehouse operations through its innovative three-dimensional design. The system delivers impressive metrics including 70% labor savings and return on investment in under a year.The 3D Sorter Mini utilizes both vertical and horizontal space to minimize footprint while maximizing sortation capabilities. With a throughput of up to 1,500 pieces per hour and 3 to 5 times greater sorting efficiency compared to manual methods, the system addresses critical challenges facing modern warehouses."What makes the 3D Sorter Mini truly exceptional is its ability to deliver enterprise-level sortation performance in a compact footprint," said Ed Romaine, VP Marketing and Business Development at ISD. "We're seeing clients achieve dramatic improvements in efficiency while significantly reducing labor costs. This system represents a fundamental shift in how warehouses approach the entire sortation process."The system's intelligent design accommodates up to 100 customizable sort positions and integrates seamlessly with existing warehouse technologies, including Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), conveyor systems, and shelving solutions.By automating the sortation process, operations can significantly reduce reliance on manual labor while processing items at previously unattainable rates in comparable spaces. The combination of labor savings, improved throughput, and reduced error rates contributes to the system's notably fast return on investment.In today's competitive real estate market, the 3D Sorter Mini addresses space constraints through vertical design, requiring significantly less floor area than traditional sorting systems. Its modular, customizable configuration makes it ideal for operations experiencing seasonal fluctuations in demand.The system features advanced intelligence with seamless integration capabilities for major Warehouse Management Systems, Warehouse Execution Systems, and Enterprise Resource Planning platforms. Despite its sophisticated technology, the 3D Sorter Mini is designed for rapid deployment with minimal training requirements.Its versatility makes it suitable for diverse applications across numerous sectors including e-commerce, apparel and footwear, third-party logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing. The underlying technology includes high-speed sorting robots operating at 1.0 m/s with vertical lifting ranges from 500mm to 2100mm, intelligent routing, and gentle handling through high-friction conveyor belts.As warehouses face increasing pressure to process more orders faster while controlling costs, solutions like the Robotic 3D Sorter Mini Putwall System represent essential technology for competitive operations. The system's combination of space efficiency, labor savings, and cross-industry adaptability positions it as a key advancement in warehouse automation.About Integrated Systems Design - ISD Integrated Systems Design is a comprehensive systems integrator of automated solutions for warehouses, manufacturing, distribution centers, retail, assembly, and wholesale applications improving processes and productivity while reducing operational costs. Whether providing consulting services to meet current issues or developing future scalable plans to address industry challenges, ISD creates value by designing systems to our clients' specific requirements. ISD expertise ranges from handling, storing, and picking pieces (eaches), cases, pallets, build lines, and special or custom handling solutions. Products and services include: automatic storage and retrieval (ASRS), conveyor, AMRs, robotics, batch stations, shuttles, pick-to-light, carousels, vertical lift modules (VLMs), sortation systems, truck loading/unloading systems, controls, software (including inventory management, WCS, WMS, MES, and ERP).ContactEd RomaineVP Marketing & Bus. Dev.215-512-2613eromaine@isddd.com

WIXOM, MI, August 2025 — ISD has launched OneTouchDistribution, a cutting-edge automation system designed to optimize order fulfillment for case, split-case, and pallet operations. By integrating state-of-the-art storage, retrieval, transportation and processing technologies, the system minimizes labor requirements, enhances accuracy, and maximizes facility space utilization.OneTouchDistribution provides a comprehensive approach to warehouse automation, offering a seamless process from inbound receipt to outbound fulfillment. The system significantly reduces labor requirements by automating receiving, storage and order processing.By leveraging advanced tracking and sequencing, OneTouchDistribution ensures 99.9% percent pick and inventory accuracy while maintaining high throughput, even during peak demand periods. The system’s high-density design allows for the storage of hundreds of thousands of cases or split-case products in a compact footprint, making it an ideal solution for facilities looking to maximize operational efficiency without expanding their physical space."OneTouchDistribution was designed with flexibility and agility at its core," said Ed Romaine, VP of Marketing at ISD. "Every operation has unique challenges, and our system adapts to those needs… whether handling cases, split-cases, or pallets. It allows businesses to scale seamlessly, adjust to shifting demand, and optimize order fulfillment without disruptions. This level of adaptability ensures our clients maintain efficiency, accuracy, and speed, even in the most dynamic distribution environments."The system automates inbound processing by receiving products through lift trucks, autonomous mobile robots, humanoids or Cobots. Once received, items are scanned, recorded, and directed into an automated storage and retrieval system that organizes and tracks each product in real time.Orders are processed based on specific sequencing and fulfillment requirements, ensuring that inventory is retrieved in the optimal sequence for downstream operations. Retrieved products are sent to fully automated or semi-automated picking stations, where they are either picked and sent to a cartonizing area for split-case processing, directly routed to a sorter for case picking or delivered to palletizing and/or an outbound staging area for final shipping.OneTouchDistribution is designed to support a wide range of industries, including food service, ecommerce, pharmaceuticals, industrial distribution, reverse logistics and third-party logistics. Its scalable architecture allows for phased implementation, enabling businesses to integrate automation at their own pace while maintaining ongoing operations.The system’s ability to handle full-case, split-case and pallet orders within a single platform adds to its versatility, making it a viable solution for distribution centers with diverse fulfillment requirements.The system also offers flexibility in order sequencing, allowing products to be picked and processed in a precise order based on weight, fragility, delivery requirements, order cut-off times, and customer preferences. Automated scanning and labeling ensure complete validation before orders leave the facility, reducing errors and increasing efficiency. Likewise, document printers and inserters can be easily integrated into the OneTouchDistribution system for increased revenue generation and reduced labor.With a focus on space optimization, the system minimizes wasted storage areas and maximizes available cubic space, creating a more efficient and cost-effective distribution process.About Integrated Systems Design - ISDIntegrated Systems Design is a comprehensive systems integrator of automated solutions for warehouses, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and wholesale applications, improving processes and productivity while reducing operational costs. Whether providing consulting services to meet current issues or developing future scalable plans to address industry challenges, ISD creates value for a broad range of industries by tailoring systems to clients' specific requirements.ISD expertise ranges from handling, storing, and picking pieces (eaches), cases, pallets, build lines, and special or custom handling solutions. Products and services include automatic storage and retrieval (ASRS), AMR, conveyor, robotics, batch stations, shuttles, pick-to-light, carousels, vertical lift modules (VLMs), controls, and software (including inventory management, WCS, WMS, and MES).ContactEd RomaineVP Marketing & Business Development215-512-2613

To support continued growth and innovation in the supply chain industry, MHI has released its 2025 Membership Directory and Reference Guide, now available in a digital format. This annual publication highlights MHI’s 1,000+ member companies, who are the leading suppliers of material handling and supply chain equipment and system and technology solutions. It serves as a comprehensive resource for professionals seeking trusted partners, technologies, and services.The Directory includes detailed listings for each MHI member company, including contact information and product and service categories. Readers can easily identify solution providers in categories such as automation, robotics, storage systems, software, third party logistics, and more.Beyond member listings, the guide also features the range of resources that MHI offers to the supply chain community. These include the award-winning MODEX and ProMat exhibitions, the MHI Industry Groups, the Workforce Expansion Program, and educational opportunities from the Warehousing and Education Research Council (WERC).Whether you're looking for new suppliers or educational resources, download the 2025 Membership Directory and Reference Guide.About MHIMHI is an international trade association that has represented the material handling, logistics and supply chain industry since 1945. MHI’s over 1,000 members include material handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, workforce solution providers, publishers and third-party logistics providers. MHI offers education, networking and solution sourcing for their members, the members’ customers, and the industry as a whole through programming and events. The association produces the ProMat and MODEX expositions that showcase the products and services of its member companies and to educate manufacturing and supply chain professionals. The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) is a division of MHI and provides education and research to the warehousing, distribution, and logistics community.

To complement a new educational video, thought leaders representing the Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA), an MHI product group, discuss the importance of protecting personnel, equipment, and inventory in industrial facilities.ProGMA has recently launched the second in a series of videos about the importance of protective guarding products in the material handling industry. The video titled “Proper Safeguarding for Elevated Work Platforms” followed the inaugural, educational video titled, “Essential Safety Barriers for Automated / Robotic Workcells”. (http://www.mhi.org/progma/videos)Here, representatives of member companies expand on the themes explored within the latest video in the group’s first blog.Before we start, says Arlin Keck, corporate research and development engineer at Steel King (a manufacturer of pallet racks, mezzanines and guardrails), it’s important to clarify what we mean by “mezzanine” in this context. “The technical term for what my company and other members make is work platforms. Mezzanine was an old term for these systems; however, the word mezzanine had to be dropped because mezzanine, as defined in the building codes, refers to a specified type of floor within a building structure and carries with it added requirements for fire safety, egress, parking, and so on,” Keck explains.A typical work platform is design to support the site-specific load that will be placed on the floor, be it palletized loads, pallet jacks, foot traffic, work equipment, filing cabinets, racking or shelving units, to name just a few possibilities.Keck says that the main purpose of an elevated work platform is to add additional floor space into a building or room by taking advantage of surplus ceiling clearance that may exist in a warehouse or manufacturing facility. Aaron Conway, president at Mezzanine Safeti-Gates Inc. (a manufacturer of safety gates to secure the ledges of pallet drop areas on mezzanines and rack picking systems), says, “A company that has utilized all of its ground space can build upward. An elevated platform allows one to use the space for workflow or to store product.”As Hue Schlegel, director of marketing at Wildeck Inc. (a manufacturer of mezzanines and work platforms), puts it, “Move up, not out.” He adds, “Depending on the available height in a building, platforms can be one, two, or three levels high, with the most common height being 10 ft. top-of-deck and supporting a floor load of 125 lbs. per square foot. Their length and width are only limited by facility size.” Importantly, he explains, they cannot occupy more than two thirds of a fire-rated area within a building.Keck says work platforms are also used to create catwalks between separated platforms, and to serve as sortation and conveyance areas for mechanized systems. Conway agrees, adding, “Companies that supply elevated work platforms can fabricate them in virtually any configuration. They can be designed to accommodate specific workflow operations or to fit with existing structures in the building.”Industrial buildings are getting bigger and elevated work platforms are scaling up with them. Say, 50 years ago, facilities were much smaller and ceilings lower so there were fewer requirements for elevated platforms. Further, the equipment to load at such heights didn’t exist. Now, the capability of equipment is greater and taller structures are being utilized as a result. Within them, work and storage takes place on multiple levels.These multi-level work platforms present a danger of personnel and objects falling from height.As the latest video warns, the pallet drop area of elevated work platforms can lead to accidents if the ledge is open without adequate guarding. Falls to lower levels cost employers $5 billion annually in compensation claims in the U.S. alone. OSHA reports that it costs on average 16 lost working days per injured employee.Conway says, “Falling from an elevated level, whether it be people or products, is a serious danger and both should be addressed proactively, securing the situation before an incident occurs.” Schlegel adds, “The worst case, of course, is death; while the best scenario is that a worker survives a fall from the typical mezzanine height of 10 ft. sustaining only broken bones, fractures, and other injuries from hitting the concrete floor below. It is a serious matter not to be taken lightly.”Traditional railing or guarding systems are effective at preventing falls from height as long as they include a kick plate that is installed in conjunction with ANSI MH 28.3-2009. Adding netting or expanded metal and safety products to traditional railing systems provides added protection by capturing small objects that might otherwise fall into the work area below.OSHA Standard 1926.502, meanwhile, requires paneling or screening where tools, equipment, or materials are piled higher than the top edge of a toe-board or kick plate. ProGMA members also manufacture both netting and wire mesh panels that comply with that standard.However, David Brentz, chairman of ProGMA and vice president of member company Industrial Netting (a manufacturer of plastic netting), says, “That’s only a minimum requirement; added protection is financially prudent. The cost to install netting or wire screens around the perimeter of an elevated work platform pales in comparison to the cost of a single lost time accident. ProGMA members offer several simple, cost effective solutions to protect employees below loose objects that may fall or be kicked off work platforms.”Conway says, “In the past, properly guarding a pallet drop area or installing netting or wire was something that would be retrofitted, either after an incident occurred or after someone pointed out the issue. Designing proper safety guarding for the structure at the time of purchase makes for a much better fit; when retrofitting, there is often insufficient room for proper guarding and concessions have to be made. But, it is important to note that even if proper guarding wasn’t designed with the structure, it still should be installed. There are companies in the ProGMA that can customize solutions to fit these areas.”He continues, “Don’t confuse luck with judgment. If I visit a facility that was built, say, 20 years ago, I’m sure to find open pallet drop areas or insufficient guardrails. Just because these areas have been around for a while isn’t a reason not to properly secure them. I’ve heard the line, ‘Well, we’ve been doing it this way for 20 years and nobody has gotten hurt’. To that I say, ‘You’ve been lucky!’”Schlegel says, “The biggest safety risk is when a forklift access gate on mezzanine is left open creating a fall hazard for someone off-loading a pallet at the upper level. There are many products, provided by ProGMA members, that prevent the gate from being left open or that keep the operator at a safe distance, which should always be installed.”ANSI says, “Any gate that provides an access opening through the guards for the purpose of loading and unloading material onto a work platform shall be designed such that the elevated surface is protected by guards at all times. Gates that swing open, slide open, or lift up, leaving an unprotected opening in the guarding are not acceptable.”Dual gate systems such as a rolling gate ensure that the operator is separated from the ledge as well as the load. A pivoting gate ensures the operator is never exposed to the ledge and does not require him or her to walk near an open ledge to operate the gate.Unfortunately, sometimes it can take an incident and a facility to be shut down during an investigation for companies to understand the serious financial consequences of a workplace injury. There are many other companies that understand the risks and proactively secure their work areas. These diligent companies end up ahead in the long run:1. They typically get better solutions because they had the time to design them correctly;2. They get a better price because they can take their time and research the solutions;3. Safety solutions are in place before they need them.Conway concludes, “The large majority of people don’t want to get hurt and are not acting recklessly on the job. Typically, they are performing a repetitive operation, and in their process miss a step or push something too far and someone gets hurt. Proper guarding should be in place to prevent injury if this happens.”About ProGMAThe Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA) members are the industry’s leading suppliers of fixed protective guarding products designed to protect personnel, equipment, and inventory in industrial facilities. Member companies meet regularly to review, discuss, and revise the standards for design and performance of protective guarding products used in the material handling industry. ProGMA member companies are committed to the development, maintenance, and publishing of industry standard specifications for these systems. Visit the website at http://www.mhi.org/ProGMAAbout MHIMHI is an international trade association that has represented the material handling, logistics and supply chain industry since 1945. MHI members include material handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers and third-party logistics providers. MHI offers education, networking and solution sourcing for their members, their customers and the industry as a whole through programming and events. The association sponsors the ProMat and MODEX expos to showcase the products and services of its member companies and to educate manufacturing and supply chain professionals. http://www.mhi.orgContactAnupam Berry Boseabose@mhi.org704-676-1190

Material Handling is the movement, storage, control and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. The focus is on the methods, mechanical equipment, systems and related controls used to achieve these functions. See also, Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Third Party Logistics. Note that all of referenced terms are highly interrelated and their definitions are frequently intermingled.