If you’ve worked in a warehouse long enough, you know the feeling: pallets everywhere, racks packed to the top beam, and your team playing Tetris just to make the incoming shipment fit. You’re sometimes storing pallets on the floor or holding them in the receiving area until a slot opens. It’s frustrating, destroys organization, slows everything down and ramps up safety risks. What are some things you can do to squeeze more capacity from your warehouse?
Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|
Machine load-unload automation is one of the most profitable and straightforward automation opportunities in both warehouses and factories. It improves productivity in two key ways:
The real payoff is in uptime. When unloading and reloading are automated, a machine rarely waits for an operator. Preparatory work and staging can happen offline, so the next part is always ready. In ideal cases, production rates can increase dramatically without additional equipment investments. Focusing on these key points, where automation can have outsized impact is the key to smarter, better operations. These tend to be low value, but critical processes that should be automated so that labor can be reallocated to more critical functions.
Tags: Automation, Manufacturing
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Whether you’re running a metal fabrication shop or laser cutting center, or stocking raw materials for manufacturing, sheet metal storage can make you faster. It makes the stock easier to reach, protects valuable materials and prevents injuries. However, the wrong solution means injuries, wasted time and damaged materials. In this article, I’m covering a range of solutions, from simple floor stacking to semi-automated carousels, analyzing for fit, safety, access and cost.
Posted in Manufacturing|
When pedestrian safety meets forklift traffic, there’s no room for error. That’s where AisleCop® comes in. And now, with the launch of Gen5, Cisco-Eagle has made it faster, easier, and more scalable to deploy than ever before.
We sat down with Markus Green, head of our Safety Automation department, to talk about what’s new, why Gen5 was developed, and how it’s helping safety managers and operations teams move faster.
Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|
Just how many pallets can you store in a 100′ x 100′ area? It can range from not that many–X with selective racks that let you pick or place any pallet at any time–or “Y” using incredibly dense, using pallet flow or drive-in systems that restrict how and when you can access pallets. The balance between storage density and selectivity is always critical, but there are other factors in play: cost, efficiency and safety.
Tags: Space Optimization
Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|
Above: Belt conveyors hang from the ceiling of a busy e-commerce distribution center, feeding shipping operations from a pick module while leaving the space below for traffic and shipping activities.
Conveyor systems transform picking, transport, assembly, and more, but occupy space in fixed positions. Tight layouts, low ceilings, facility structures and equipment compromise and compete for that square footage. Don’t worry, though—there are creative ways to work circumvent those limitations–and in some cases make them strengths.
Posted in Conveyor Optimization|
Ensuring workplace safety is an ongoing challenge, especially in fast-paced manufacturing, warehousing, and material handling operations. Every year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) publishes its list of the most frequently cited workplace safety violations, a snapshot of the most pressing hazards that can lead to injuries and serious fines.
While the list results don’t have many changes from year to year, it’s important to review annually. Comparing your safety processes and training to what’s included can help to create a more robust system that can save lives and protect what matters.
Posted in Safety & Ergonomics|
Most pallet rack systems are installed with a starter-adder design, which shares a common rack upright between consecutive storage bays. The alternative is a double-post rack system, where each bay has two independent uprights. Most of the time, starter-adder is used because it’s more economical and uses space more efficiently.
Given that it’s costlier and uses more space, why–and where–would you use a double-post design?
Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|
Cartons affect the full sequence of warehousing operations, but are frequently overlooked.
Besides carton sizes, you must also consider carton construction. One box out of square may not matter much; over a whole shipment, un-squared cartons can cause issues up and down the line. They don’t stack well, may not convey correctly and could result in product damage. In fact, you may pay higher shipping costs due to the size, composition and condition of the simplest thing: the carton.
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
Every facility has its heroes like the shiny conveyor systems, towering pallet racks and state-of-the-art automation that seem to draw all the safety focus. But just like in any good action movie, even the heroes have a few weaknesses. Warehouses and manufacturing facilities are no different! These “weak links” are the areas that, if overlooked, can cause big safety issues. You can create a stronger, more resilient facility by paying attention to these sneaky trouble spots.
Posted in Safety & Ergonomics|
