Materials handling automation, especially in the UK warehouse environment, has cooled over the last few years but that looks set to change as many companies have reached the point where they can no longer put off investment in their systems and processes, believes Steve Richmond, a director at Jungheinrich. There are, however, other reasons driving the case for more automation which are market driven. The lack of investment in recent years means that in many cases productivity and efficiency are not being maximised and so for many firms operational costs remain higher than they should be.
Yet there has always been some trepidation about adopting full warehouse automation owing to fears about inflexibility and complexity and how the investment might be impacted by changes in the business environment which could alter future products demand so much as to seriously extend the investment’s payback period. This is a serious consideration as a fully automated warehouse running at near maximum capacity 24/7 could typically take a minimum of five years for payback. If that were extended to 10 years or more there would be egg on faces. To get around that, many companies adopted hybrid investments which were only partly automated, and the good news now is that this approach has been made easier through recent technical developments.
If designed correctly, semi and fully automated solutions can be flexible and scaleable to allow for future growth and investment strategies. Operators, for example, can take standard design VNA trucks and subsequently upgrade them to semi automated vehicles and ultimately fully automated systems as the users’ requirements change. There is much less risk involved in this approach.
Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are another example of how improving technology is stoking a revival in their interest, helped by new, challenging market conditions that will change the face of retailing irreversibly. These trucks were developed in 1950s America and became widely available in Europe during the 1980s but they were often criticised for being complex and inflexible and so European demand cooled. Now, however, it is no longer necessary to dig up energised guidance wires in the floor when planning reroutes. Laser-guided AGVs can take their bearings from markers on racking, walls, etc and so can be very cheaply rerouted. The increasing size of many distribution centres has also brought this technology back on the agenda. In 1984, for example, a 38,000 mt2 centre was considered big but in 2008 a 100,000 mt2 site was unremarkable.
If there is one market trend that will have more influence on the changing face of warehouse automation it must be the remorseless rise of online shipping, by far the fastest growing segment in retailing that is decimating bricks and mortar shop outlets in favour of large, slick order picking warehouses for supplying shoppers directly to their homes. The key to any order picking warehouse success serving online shoppers must be highly accurate, fast picking for meeting promised delivery times. In such scenarios failed delivery promises are the kiss of death. This will undoubtedly boost demand for goods-to-picker systems like mini stackers, pick-to-light, voice picking and fast sortation conveyors. Apart from helping to meet hectic demand schedules, such investment could reduce personnel needs and raise their productivity through ergonomic improvements.
While some new warehouses will be geared exclusively to serve online shoppers, like some of the specialist food retail fulfilment centres now being set up, others must be able to support both case picking and item picking, along with a transition between the two. “It is, therefore, imperative that automated solutions are designed to cater for this trend,” says Brian Whale, senior logistics consultant at Swisslog.
It should not be forgotten that automated storage is not just about highly efficient order picking to meet demanding delivery schedules. It can also impact the overall construction and running costs of new/altered premises. Swisslog’s AutoStore, for example, a highly dense storage goods-to-man system using robots on the top of the storage grid, will give Asda the ability to store 60% more goods in the same space as a conventional warehouse. That would have huge cost-saving implications for anyone thinking of planning a new warehouse primarily geared for item picking.
Warehouse & Logistics News
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