Return-on-investment is critical to automation projects, but justification isn’t straightforward. If you’re trying to convince management to make capital improvements to your operation, a smart, accurate and succinct ROI summary can work wonders. Let’s dive into some methods you can use to understand what to do — and what you can’t quantify.
Read the rest of this entry »
How to Calculate Automation ROI
October 10, 2019
by Scott Stone
Tags: Automation, labor, ROI, Robotics
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Vertical Considerations For Automated Programs
October 3, 2019
With e-commerce operations moving at an ever-increasing pace, you must take every advantage to meet consumer expectations. You not only want to save the customer time on their order, but also gain manufacturing and processing time by doing so. With careful consideration and a robust process, each aspect at play in a distribution center or warehouse could be an opportunity to save seconds.
To maximize every advantage, more facilities are turning towards automation to meet those strong demands. By utilizing automation, a distribution center can provide a more flexible and efficient environment in addition to more accurate orders delivered on time. The ability to scale and grow with automation is also an attractive one. But to jump headfirst into the automation process is a daunting task, and can cause an operations manager cause for concern. Two overlooked areas that can become a “tipping point” for this process are mezzanines and VRCs.
Tags: Mezzanines, vrc, mezzanine, vertical reciprocating
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Storage Wars: Buying Pallet Rack In The Age Of Tariffs
September 26, 2019
The only constant is change in today’s global economy. Many companies and operations are waiting with bated breath to see which way the prevailing tariff winds will blow. Warehouses are especially on edge about all of this, considering how international supply chains and manufacturing has become. One area of concern coming up is that of pallet racks. In the past, a facility could take the chance on a lower-cost imported with the understanding that although the quality isn’t the same, costs may be lower. Now, with tariffs looming, what should you look for in thinking of replacing foreign rack?
Tags: Pallet Rack, ROI
Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|
HVLS Fans, Air Flow and High-Bay Warehouse Racks
September 17, 2019
by Scott Stone
HVLS fans are an ideal way to make warehouses and other industrial facilities more comfortable and reduce the cost of air conditioning, but they usually can’t be installed above pallet racks, which dominate the floor spaces of most warehouses.
Tags: temperature comfort, labor shortage
Posted in Safety & Ergonomics|
Navigating Your Way to Warehouse Savings
September 10, 2019
Today’s warehouse managers are fighting growing inventory levels, dealing with increased SKUS, and managing higher frequency of tiny orders. Dealing with this daily grind many often have no time to find or fix operational issues. If your company is not fortunate enough to have a team of industrial engineers, you could be missing many opportunities.
Tags: warehousing, ROI, inventory
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
How to Increase Conveyor Longevity
September 3, 2019
by Scott Stone
Conveyors–as we’ve discussed–have two major costs:
- The cost of conveyor hardware, which should include installation.
- The cost of operations, which should include maintenance, repair and energy consumption.
When you invest in capital equipment, you should be as focused on operational costs as purchase price. Part of that is extending the life of your conveyor system. How can you make sure you get the most out of your conveyors?
Posted in Conveyor Optimization|
Small Order – Big Problem
August 20, 2019
E-commerce sales continue to account for the majority of the retail sales, but it is not getting any easier on the distribution/fulfillment center operations managers. There continues to be an increase in the number of SKUs and orders with one to three lines. In addition, with growing supply chain lead-time concerns, impacted by Tariff changes, inventory levels are rising! This makes the job even harder for operations managers.
The 2019 Holidays are fast approaching and this only means more on-line order volumes and marketing pushes with even more new SKUs. Not to mention ‘Cyber Monday’ and other key seasonal dates spiking volumes considerably. Add to this the continuing retail trend for multi-channel fulfillment, such as allowing customers to order an item online or inside a store, and having it delivered from the distribution center to the store for the customer to pick-up.
Tags: e-commerce
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|
How Well do Your Forklift Drivers See?
August 13, 2019
by Scott Stone
When forklifts transport large loads across a busy warehouse full of people, visibility is perhaps the most critical safety concern.
Tags: forklift safety
Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|
E-Commerce Propels 2019 Distribution Center Metrics Study
August 6, 2019
The annual DC Velocity/WERC (Warehousing Education and Research Council) DC Metrics Survey is out for 2019. This research is conducted every year and offers us insight into what measurements are most critical according to DC managers. As we know, the only constant is change, and this year showcases how e-commerce pushed accuracy and capacity to the forefront of DC managers’ minds.
Tags: e-commerce, ecommerce, distribution center, warehouse
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
Hytrol Relationship Focus: EDC’s Order Fulfillment System
August 1, 2019
by Scott Stone
Cisco-Eagle designed and implemented a modern order fulfillment system for Educational Development Corporation that dramatically increased order picking speed, reduced errors and allowed the company to expand. In this video, EDC’s Randall White, Jimmy Cleveland and Craig White explain why partnership with Cisco-Eagle and Hytrol was so critical to the project’s success.
Posted in Conveyor Optimization|