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.
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Tags: Mezzanines, vrc, mezzanine, vertical reciprocating
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Once an afterthought in the warehouse, vertical carousels are being reborn in the omnichannel age as a fulfillment finish line product. Retailers are eyeing carousels to help them aid in customer retrieval of picked orders shipped to a retail location, which is giving the carousel a “moment” as a new last-mile darling. Whether located in the back of the store for employees to use, or at the front for customers to pick up themselves, vertical carousels are showing to be a good fit for this new age of sales. But don’t sleep on their value in industrial settings or distribution channels.
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Tags: industrial carousels, ecommerce, vertical carousel
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
The advantages of pick-to-light for order fulfillment are well-documented: you can pick faster and more accurately without the burden of tickets or voice-activated systems. Your workforce can be trained in a fraction of the time, in a “fast food” type experience. It’s a technology that has found broader applications in many distribution centers simply because it’s a fast, easy way to improve.
Light-directed systems may have a more positive impact on assembly than they do on order picking.
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Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
A research paper was released last month by two Harvard labor economists highlighted one of the coming decade’s most interesting talking points: the automated labor of the future. We are no strangers to the unique opportunities that adding robots can provide. What this paper sought to do was estimate the current effect of the introduction of robots on wages and employment, while also focus on the future they pose in industrial and manufacturing economies.
With this kind of research being conducted (with many more studies to be revealed for sure) and a spotlight put on the future robotic workforce, many with facilities that could use their services would be wise to discover how they can benefit. But what, exactly, should you be looking for?
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Tags: labor, Robotics
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
While warehouse robotics can be thought of as too futuristic, there are many e-commerce fulfillment applications being installed today that are set up to take full advantage of all they have to offer a facility. Some may be leery of this technology, but it would be a mistake to say that robotics would never apply to your warehouse.
Today’s robotic applications are all based on existing applications and technology, not uncharted research, and each generation of technology gets cheaper. Here are some important considerations when looking at applying warehouse robotics today.
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Tags: Manufacturing, e-commerce, Robotics, warehouse flow
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
When you consider the various storage media and order picking methods, it’s critical to understand why some items are better picked in a variety of storage media, and accessed by the right type of picking authentication. The following table is a visual comparison of these alternatives.
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Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
With the rapid increase of the pace of manufacturing and distribution, facilities that automate manual processes will increase their ROI and grow their bottom line. Customer demand is ever increasing, right along with the costs to service that demand. You want your warehouse to deliver faster and more efficient results without sacrificing production. You’re looking at automating components within your facility to produce this change. But how can you really get started?
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Tags: Warehouse Management, warehousing, Material Handling, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, distribution center, e-commerce, warehouse productivity
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
As your 3PL grows and attracts more clients, products, and infrastructure, your product movement and storage capacity won’t be able to keep up with the increased volume. Growth is a great problem to have, but it’s still a problem.
Intelligent warehouse automation is an effective way to create better flow, enhance efficiency, ramp up throughput, reduce errors and improve your processes. Â Introducing automated systems into your current warehouse environment can produce drastic reductions in time spent on certain day-to-day activities.
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Tags: Third Party Logistics, warehouse flow, warehouse technology, Conveyor, Automation, 3PL, logistics, storage, warehouse
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Light-directed picking is the heavyweight champion when it comes to productivity gains, order picking speed, increased accuracy, and ease of operator development.
Because it’s 100% hands-free and requires no headpiece, it’s also highly flexible for many challenging fulfillment operations. We’ve compiled ten ways to analyze your operation to determine if these systems would be a fit for you. Obviously, more specific information will be needed, but this should get you started.
We spoke with Lightning Pick’s Dave Broadfoot about the best ways to ensure you are making a good pick-to-light decision.
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Tags: ROI, Order Picking & Fulfillment, pick to light, 10 tips
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Above: SAS Automation standardized bag-gripper
Palletizing is a standard material handling application for industrial robots, and bag palletizing is one of the most typical applications. Why? Because bag palletizing is simpler and easier than case palletizing. If your operation requires bag stacking/pallet loading – and you want to improve speed, reduce mistakes, and create a more ergonomic system, here are the things you need to know.
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Tags: labor, ergonomics, Robotics
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
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