As discussed in the Times supplement on Supply Chain Management, published on 16th June 2016, the level of automation employed within the warehouse is set to increase among companies of all sizes and sectors in the coming 12-18 months. This will be an essential investment if manufacturers are to succeed in fulfilling changing consumer expectations for ultra fast delivery as offered by Amazon. However, the different approaches being taken to introduce automation will vary widely.

Eric-Carter[16]

Before investing in any level of automation it’s essential to consider the volume, size and diversity of order profiles being processed. Full warehouse automation can deliver significant returns for high volume repetitive tasks. However, due to high cost of such systems, decisions to automate need to be based on a careful analysis of the long term benefits.

If a business is sending smaller orders to hundreds of outlets or stores and a variety of ‘customer’ types, each with different delivery and value add requirements, it’s difficult to fully automate efficiently and retain flexibility. It may instead be better to introduce a level of automation, which addresses a particular problem area in the warehouse. This is often the case for mid-sized operations, due to ongoing pressure on budgets and a need to minimise costs.

In these situations, it can be highly beneficial to adopt a hybrid approach and simply introduce ‘partial automation’ in specific problem zone areas of the warehouse that offer the greatest returns and scope for rapid improvement.

A common partial automation strategy involves integrating new technology, for example, automated sortation systems, weighing scales, conveyors or cardex systems, with an existing WMS (warehouse management system). A conveyor could be installed in a key area, i.e. goods in, between picking zones or for operator workstations. This helps increase efficiency because standalone processes can be optimised to improve productivity and accuracy levels, without having to re-engineer the entire warehouse operation and manage a changeover to an entirely new WMS.

Opting for partial automation and the integration of new equipment with an existing WMS is also less costly and means the company can ensure they have maximum flexibility, should they need further changes to their warehouse in the future. For example, manufacturers with high seasonality of demand may need to switch production lines throughout the year and operate some periods where goods are shipped straight from production, by-passing the warehouse.

This would require the integration of automated dispatch areas in the production environment that are only required at set times of the year and which can be done cost efficiently with a partially automated solution. Examples of partial automation implementations

Order picking and dispatch are two examples of processes where quick wins can be seen with partial automation. Each is highly labour intensive and the outcomes directly impact end customer satisfaction levels. Looking at shipping and dispatch – many manufacturers have introduced a manual final checking stage after stock picking to validate accuracy levels because they need to achieve ‘on time in full’ KPIs and avoid possible customer penalties for mistakes. Retailers shipping ecommerce orders also find this extra stage of checks necessary to ensure they get things right first time. Enter partial automation as a possible solution.

Automating the release of sales orders into different streams can save order management time.

Various attributes can be set, so orders are automatically batched and directed to different streams, which subsequently determines the picking and dispatch style, thus eliminating need for human intervention.

Warehouses are often tasked with customising a delivery for the retailer as a value add, so the stock can be merchandised immediately. This is time consuming and presents a challenge to speed up the process, retaining the quality but without incurring extra costs. To counter the issue, a manufacturer could automate order picking into a uniquely numbered carton. As the carton is delivered to the workstation, the WMS system automatically prints a list of ‘value add’ requirements, customer specific product barcode labels and carton labels, which are then applied to the garments and cartons.

Automating parts of the returns process can show significant efficiency improvements, particularly for apparel companies. A manual inspection would generally be required, but by labelling returns correctly, stock can be updated automatically, updating the customer order and issuing a credit.

Storage, retrieval and picking systems tend to be the most commonly automated and partial automation is a cost effective solution. Identifying where time is wasted, reducing the frequency of labour intensive tasks and analysing processes to make small incremental improvements, can achieve significant ROI very effectively.

www.indigo.co.uk

Twitter: @indigo_WMS

Comments are closed.