Retail edge marker accumulation and collation system

A system for collating and stacking long cut retail edge marker strips exiting a roll fed high speed slitter/perforator/cutter apparatus includes a series of angled and stepped baffles configured to receive the cut retail edge marking strips and allow them to fall into and accumulate in bins formed by each angled baffle and then be removed from each bin consecutively by a pusher acting orthogonally to the bins to move and collate the retail edge markers into a final stack collated to meet a specific store planogram requirement.

BACKGROUND

The presently disclosed embodiment is directed to providing a collation system, and more particularly, to a collation system that employs unique angled collation baffles for loading and unloading retail edge marker strips destined for in-store shelves.

Retail stores often utilize edge markers to convey information regarding products offered for sale, e.g., product costs, unit cost, sale pricing, etc. Such markers must be updated and/or replaced on a periodic basis. For example, regular product pricing may change, or during a sale, a discounted price may be necessary. Changes to edge markers may be required for hundreds or even thousands of products and these changes may be required daily weekly or another periodic term. In addition, product placement may change which would require updating of the edge markers. In some states, it is critical that the edge markers be updated in a timely fashion as the retail store may be obligated to honor the price displayed adjacent the product. In other words, if the store fails to remove the edge marker that displays a discounted cost, the store must charge that cost if a customer relies upon that price when making a purchase selection. In view of the foregoing, it should be apparent that proper timing and placement of edge markers is a critical responsibility of a retail store.

Although some retail chain stores share common store layouts, also known as a store planogram, most retail locations, even within a chain store have unique store planograms. The changeover of store signage can incur significant time which in turn incurs significant cost. A common practice is to print sheets of edge marker strips and an employee or group of employees are tasked with edge marker changeover. These methods include various deficiencies, e.g. edge marker strips compiled out of order or not matched to the store planogram, sheets that require further separation of individual store departments, etc. These method are quite costly and presently, in at least one instance, requires for example, 20 people employed to individually catch and collate each sheet of edge markers. Other media collating systems including U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,463,945 B2, 9,463,946 B2 and 9,527,693 B2, are known, but the heretofore-mentioned problems persist.

Obviously, there is a need for a more efficient shelf edge marker collation system that presents shelf edge markers to store employees in a per store planogram order for in-store deployment.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, in answer to this need, disclosed herein is a system for accepting edge marker strips from a slitting apparatus into angled baffles where they are accumulated as they exit the slitting apparatus. The angled baffles allow the edge marker strips to fall into place in bins during the accumulation stage and then be collated from the bins into a final stage after all of the edge marker strips have been fed from the slitting apparatus. At the end of the accumulation stage, a pusher device is moved orthogonally to the edge marker strips to remove the edge marker strips from the bins and thereby collate the edge marker strips for shipment. The edge marker strip piles are ordered and separated per store by the system to allow efficient deployment in-store.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

For a general understanding of the features of the disclosure, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals have been used throughout to identify identical elements.

Referring now toFIG. 1, there is shown a system10for outputting printed shelf edge markers from a conventional unwinder20that roll feeds edge markers in continuous sheet form into a conventional perforator/slitter/cutter30that slits and cuts the continuous roll fed sheet of shelf retail edge markers into extended predetermined lengths of, e.g., 4 feet to 5 feet. Each predetermined sheet length is slit into four separate and individual strips and each individual strip is perforated into four different parallel sections to accommodate different in-store requirements. While this system feeds roll stock and cuts and perforates the stock, it does not include a system for accumulating and collating in-store shelf edge strips exiting the system.

In accordance with the present disclosure, an accumulation and collation system50is disclosed inFIG. 1that fits directly after the perforator/slitter/cutter30of the continuous roll feed system10that converts the edge markers roll into perforated and cut strips52shown inFIG. 4and includes a series of angled baffles60that are identical and include bins62,64,66and68more clearly shown inFIG. 2that accept and register the retail edge marker strips52from the perforator/slitter/cutter30and accumulates them as they exit perforator/slitter/cutter30. Each angled baffle60is configured to allow retail edge marker strips exiting perforator/slitter/cutter30to cascade from the upstream angled baffle eliminating stub points and provides a downward slope to help the retail edge marker strips to be conveyed down the baffles. Bins62,64,66and68of angled baffles60are configured to allow the retail edge marker strips52to fall into place during the accumulation stage and then allow the retail edger marker strips52to be collated onto a final stack platform79after all of the retail edge marker strips52have been fed from perforator/slitter/cutter30. At the end of the accumulation stage, a pusher70is moved orthogonally to the retail edge marker strips52to remove the retail edge marker strips from each bin onto the top of retail edge marker strips in bins of baffles60in succession to collate the retail edge marker strips onto final stack platform79.

An exemplary angled baffle60is shown inFIG. 2that includes bin shelves equal in width with the exception of bin shelf61which is shorter or narrower. The shelves of bins62,64,66and68are critically positioned at an angle of approximately 20° in order to facilitate having the retail edge marker strips52separate and accumulate in the bins automatically by letting the retail edge markers strips drop and slide to the bottom of the bins. The bins edges also register longer retail edge marker strips. The narrower shelf61is critical in that it is necessary to accommodate different retail edge marker strip widths with the same angled shelve. When starting from the center line of the sheet of retail edge markers this keeps the different width retail edge marker strips in the last bin from overlapping the third bin which would then allow the edge of the last set of retail edge marker strips to get hung up on the tip of the angled shelf when they are being fed in from the upstream perforator/slitter/cutter30.

As shown inFIG. 3, each bin64,66and68is stepped downward an increment, as well as staggered backward after bin62in order to prevent stubbing of retail edge marker strips on edges of a succeeding bin. In addition, the stepping and staggering of each bin with respect to the preceding one enhances registering long retail edge marker strips exiting perforator/slitter/cutter30. Pusher70is arranged for pulling through openings between bins60towards platform79to unload retail edge marker strips from each bin and simultaneously convey the retail edge marker strips onto platform79into a collated stack. By doing the final collation in the cross process direction, it allows the operator, or system if automated, to collect the bin stacks of retail edge marker strips at the edge in the short move direction allowing for a fast collation process and reduces delay in the high speed continuous feed system which can stop and buffer for five seconds. Collating in the orthogonal direction from the feed direction, facilitates collation in that five second interval. Alternatively, while a five second buffer stop is preferred, the buffer could be more or less than five seconds and could stop until an operator action is performed rather than for a set time. Preferably, an optical mark is included on the edge trim of the last retail edge marker strip that is that is sensed to signal the system to stop and wait for the orthogonal pusher operation. The depth of the bins allow retail edge markers for an entire store to be accumulated prior to collating into a stack. The retail edge strip markers can also be accumulated and then pushed at predetermined break points if a store volume is too large of if the process can be improved by using set breakpoints.

Bundles of retail edge marker strips52inFIG. 4are shown in baffles60after exiting perforator/slitter/cutter30and settling into bins62,64,66and68ready for a single collation push onto compiling platform79. Each bundle of retail edge marker strips52is made up of four retail edge marker strips separated by a perforation for ease in separating the retail edge marker strips for placement onto store shelf edges. InFIG. 5, a final collated bundle is formed by moving pusher70in a cross process direction across the angled baffles to stack the separate bundles into a single bundle and in in-store planogram order.

A sensing arrangement is shown inFIG. 6that shuts the system down if there is a jam or pileup of retail edge markers in baffles60and includes a dual use retro-reflective sensor40(Banner QS18) that directs a beam into mirror41mounted on a wall portion connected to compiling platform79. The beam reflects off mirror41and against a reflector42that is mounted on upstanding support member72shown inFIG. 1which assists in supporting pusher70. The beam is then reflected back from reflector42to retro-reflective sensor40. If for any reason the beam is broken, e.g., a jam or misaligned retail edge marker strips, the system10will be stopped. Dual use retro-reflective sensor40is also used to ensure that pusher70is back in the home position before giving a stacker ready signal.

Another embodiment of the collator in accordance with the present disclosure is shown inFIGS. 7 and 8and includes a baffle80that is positioned furthest from perforator/slitter30and accepts incoming retail edge marker strips conveyed in the direction of arrow88. Baffle80includes a kicker bin2that that is the narrowest of the bins1through4and has an upstanding back portion that is tilted at an angle of 1° with respect to an upstanding portion of bin3of about 1° to bump the lead edge of incoming retail edge marker strips. This bump is critical in that it assists in separating the trail edge of a bumped retail edge marker strip from a retail edge marker strip entering bin1.

InFIG. 9, a stopper90is shown that is inserted using handle92into a portion of the baffle60farthest downstream from perforator/slitter30to change the length of retail edge marker strips52. This facilitates system10outputting both 4 and 5 feet lengths of retail edge strip markers.

It should be understood that an accumulation and collation system has been disclosed that collates retail edge markers which have been cut from a high speed continuous feed roll and fall directly into bins of a plurality of one or single piece stepped and angled baffles that drop downward and back from each other consecutively to provide both separation and registration of long media strips. The stepped and angled baffles are configured to allow the cut media to slide successively from the first of the plurality of stepped and angled baffles to the last angled baffle to eliminate stubbing points and provide a downward slope to ease the conveying of the media strips down the angled baffles. After all of the retail edge markers have settled into respective baffle bins a cross process collation system is actuated that includes a pusher that is used to orthogonally contact the retail edge markers and empty the first bin contents on top of the contents of the next bin and continue consecutively until all of the retail edge markers are pushed as one bundle onto a compiling or final collation platform for pick-up and distribution to a specific store identified on the edge markers. Cross process collation of the retail edge markers is performed after each store or job requirement is completed and the cross process collation is critical in that it facilitates compiling of the retail edge markers on the final collation platform in the shortest distance for reduced delay in feeding the retail edge markers to the accumulation and collation system.