However, the range of available options can make it challenging for businesses to match the optimal technologies to specific needs, particularly if they are just starting out on their automation journey. Many operations are struggling to determine where an automated solution will make the greatest impact.
According to Interact Analysis, more than 80% of warehouses currently have no automation at all. Nevertheless, momentum is building with market research forecasting that 26% of facilities will possess some degree of automation in 2027 – a significant jump from 18% in 2021.
“One way to approach the task of matching the ideal automation technology to a unique workflow is to start from a higher level perspective,” suggests Jake Heldenberg, Vanderlande’s Head of Solution Design. “Firstly, I recommend considering the different workflows throughout the end-to-end operation, before assessing the manual tasks that are associated with each step.
“Examine the processes required for handling inventory, including receiving and storage, replenishment of forward pick zones, picking orders and consolidating them, as well as
packing and shipping,” he adds. “Each of these workflows has specific manual tasks associated with them that offer the potential for automation.”
Segmenting handling processes – as well as the types of products being handled – can help a company to identify areas where the most bottlenecks occur. That, in turn, can make it easier to understand which technology is best suited to automate a given workflow.
Here are 3 examples suggested by Jake.
Manually picking inventory to fill orders is one of the most labour intensive and costly warehouse workflows. “Generally, 50 to 60% of an operator’s time is spent walking between picks, while 35% is spent searching for and picking those items,” explains Jake. “Automating storage and retrieval of inventory – and goods-to-person delivery for picking – is an ideal way to save time and money.”
High density automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) have been around for nearly five decades. That’s because they are a proven way to enable automated picking, optimise available storage space and improve inventory control.
“There is also a broad range of automated solutions under the AS/RS umbrella, which means there’s bound to be one that will work for a facility’s unique needs,” adds Jake, who points to four different types.
• Crane-based AS/RS for pallets.
• Mini-load AS/RS for totes and cartons.
• Shuttle-based AS/RS for totes, trays, or cartons.
• Autonomous mobile robot (AMR)-based AS/RS for totes or cartons.
Adding conveyors to transport received inventory from the dock to storage locations is another way to automate what is frequently a manual process.
“For many operations, received inventory is often moved by forklift or pallet jack,” says Jake. “By replacing those lift trucks with conveyors, inventory becomes available for order fulfilment much more quickly, because it no longer has to wait at the dock for transport.”
Conveyors can be engineered with diverts that send inventory to specific zones within a facility. Once there, the personnel and forklifts stationed in the same zone move the products to their storage locations. This reduces labour costs associated with long-distance movement of inventory.
On the outbound side of an operation, automated sortation solutions can significantly improve productivity.
“Depending on what’s being handled, sorters – such as sliding shoe, cross-belt, or bombay, help an operation automate a workflow that is extremely labour intensive,” says Jake.
That’s because manually sorting outbound parcels is inefficient, prone to mistakes, tedious and costly. This is particularly true with e-commerce applications, through which there could be hundreds of thousands of individual shipments that need to be sent to different shipping trailers for a number of carriers.
“Depending on the current manual sortation processes, there are many options to help automate the workflows and achieve much higher throughput rates – and with better accuracy,” Jake concludes.
Learn more about how Vanderlande can help automate your fulfilment operations.