Dotcom Distribution opens new conveyor system

E-commerce fulfillment company Dotcom Distribution has unveiled an automated material handling system that accommodates increased capacity, accuracy, and speed, while creating a significant reduction in labor, the company said Monday.

Based in Edison, N.J., Dotcom is a strategic e-commerce logistics firm focused on serving business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) multichannel operations through statement packaging, fast fulfillment, and freight management services.

To keep up with recent growth, Dotcom partnered with material handling companies Hytrol Conveyor Co. Inc. of Jonesboro, Ark., and its integration partner, Conveyor Handling Co. of Elkridge, Md., Hytrol said. The result was a system that allows Dotcom to engage a boutique-style fulfillment strategy that meets its customers' complex packing requirements, Dotcom said.

"Dotcom sells customization. We sell unique. We sell the ability for our clients to create exactly the customization that they want their end customers to receive," Nicholas Pendrous, COO and former CIO of Dotcom Distribution, said in a video describing the project.

The new system eliminated a lot of human touch from the process by automatically capturing dimensions, recording weight, and applying shipping labels to each parcel, then using that dimensional information for freight rating.

"Decisions can be made in real time—in the seconds between when a box is scanned and dimensionalized and when the shipping label is applied—to route that package the most cost effective way," Pendrous said in the video.