rack | Warehousing Insights | Material Handling Systems - Part 23
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10 Tips: Pick-to-Light Systems for Order Fulfillment

March 16, 2017
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pick to light for order fulfillment

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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Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|

Customer Retention and Your 3PL

March 14, 2017
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picking warehouse 3PL

The biggest measure of success for a 3PL company – really, for any business – is the ability to retain existing customers while attracting new clients.  We all know it’s harder to attract new customers than it is to keep existing clients from being enticed to try another 3PL competitor, so it’s smart to strive for ways to provide more value. By targeting increased attention to providing on-time information, improving customer service, and utilizing user-friendly technology, your 3PL can help prevent existing customers from moving towards the competition.
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Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|

Cheap Forklift Warning Lights Could be Incredibly Expensive

March 7, 2017
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forklift safety light mounted on carriage

You see them all over the place in warehouses these days – the ubiquitous blue forklift light gliding over the floor ahead of or behind a lift truck as it winds its way between rack rows, down aisles, across docks, and out of trailers. A wide variety of choices are available, including many inexpensive imports with a bewildering number of dense specifications. How can you tell the difference?

Let’s break down the ways you can avoid the “bargain” light that could cost you plenty.

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Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|

Factors for Robotic Bag Palletizing Systems

March 2, 2017
by

Robotic palletizer bag effector

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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Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|

Key Ways to Maximize Space in Your 3PL

February 28, 2017
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Uncovering space in your 3PL can reap multiple rewards

In a recent report of current industrial and logistics trends released by the CBRE, the prevailing theme among U.S. Tenants and Landlords is that of shrinking available space. While this should come as no surprise to those within the logistics community, the rate at which warehouse vacancy is dwindling is far outpacing the increase in new construction (new supply trails leasing demand by 1.5 to 1). This puts 3PLs in a predicament, but also provides opportunities for those who can maximize their available footprint.

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Posted in Space Optimization & Planning|

Ways to Improve Forklift Driver Visibility and Awareness Factors

February 7, 2017
by

loading a forklift

Driver awareness—or lack of it—is responsible for many forklift accidents

Busy, frazzled, distracted, or plain inattentive drivers whose sightlines are impaired may have accidents. They’ll collide with pallet rack posts, building columns, walls, machinery and a variety of other things. Worse, they sometimes hit people. What can you do to increase driver awareness and the ability to see what’s around them?

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Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|

Lean 3PL Warehousing—How to Create a Perfect Flow

January 31, 2017
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Lean 3PL warehouse
Creating a lean warehouse or DC is not something a 3PL can accomplish overnight, but it’s something that can improve your efficiency, flexibility and ability to take on new business without expanding into new facilities or massively revamping existing ones.

It takes vision, planning, strategy, tools, foresight, patience and intelligent tactics. When your warehouse is lean, it will be easier to hold, inventory, and pull the most important goods. This helps you eliminate errors, increase throughput, and satisfy customers more comprehensively.

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Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|

Planning the Future of Your Warehousing Operation: Don’t be Left Behind

January 24, 2017
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a concept for mobile robotics

The landscape is constantly changing for warehousing, distribution and order fulfillment operations, but it’s rarely changed so quickly as the last half decade — and will likely change even more the next five years. The rapid growth of smart devices, database efficiency, and robotics guarantees that elite storage and order picking operations in 2025 will be different than those of today.

In fact, distribution centers and warehouse operations that want to thrive must change, adapt and think differently.

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Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|

For 3PLs, Flexibility is a Critical Business Goal

January 18, 2017
by

Automated distribution warehouse

3PL companies operate in an environment that demands rapid changes and requires continual evolution.

Client requirements can change in a week (or less). New business opportunities can spring up that were unanticipated a month before. From my days working for a 3PL, I know that the ability to swiftly change in order to satisfy both your customer’s increasing demands and those of an industry that never rests were a top priority. The problem? That’s easy to understand, but hard to do.

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Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|

How to Protect Warehouse Pedestrians from Forklift Rear Swings

December 27, 2016
by

fall protection harness system in a warehouse

Forklifts aren’t cars, and they don’t drive like them.

They don’t brake or accelerate like cars, and they certainly don’t steer like them, yet accidents occur far too often because drivers and pedestrians don’t understand the difference. Pedestrians misunderstand the way forklifts maneuver, and the danger of walking or working around them. Forklifts aren’t dangerous to pedestrians only from the front or rear — they can also hit someone on foot from the side, frequently due to rear-end swings, since forklifts swing wide when they corner.

How can your reduce the chances for this type of accident?

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Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|

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