Order picking and inventory replenishment today require complex operations, significant capital investment and reliable labour. Escalating order volumes, product diversity and fulfilment velocity are driving the agenda. Here, Warehouse & Logistics News speaks with Thomas Evans, chief technology officer of Honeywell Robotics, about the leading technologies easing the strain of order picking.
Chief technology officer, Honeywell Robotics
How are current industry challenges impacting order picking?
Distribution centres are hard pressed to efficiently balance the complexity, meet rising customer expectations, and maintain high degrees of accuracy and productivity. Faced with these demands, DC managers seek order fulfilment systems and processes that maximise workforce productivity and minimise errors, which is driving the adoption of more advanced hardware and software — namely, pick-to-light technology, voice picking and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
Tell us about Pick-to-light order picking technology
Pick-to-light (PTL) is a technology that uses light to automate the picking process in warehouses. Pick- and put-to-light systems provide paperless, light-directed fulfilment with easy-to-read lights and displays for improved productivity, speed and accuracy. They are a proven technology, but there is undoubtedly room for many PTL systems to improve to meet modern warehouse demands, such as fluctuations in order volume and increasing numbers of SKUs.
Increasing order volume and fluctuations in demand create a wide range of fulfilment scenarios that distribution centre managers must be prepared to address. Many modern PTL systems are unable to adapt order filler resources and workflows to meet changing order volumes, while also maintaining (or increasing) order accuracy, productivity and operational efficiencies.
Similarly, rising SKU counts and varieties combined with increasing order fulfilment volumes introduce complexity into slotting strategies. Ideally, PTL hardware should be flexible enough to accommodate new SKUs and changing SKU profiles without necessitating additional devices and racking.
More advanced PTL systems are able to overcome these modern challenges. Honeywell’s PTL hardware and software accommodate the full spectrum of order volume that occurs between these extremes, all while enabling real-time monitoring of worker progress. The hardware also economises available slotting space in a flow rack by dynamically sizing the slot width to match the SKU. This allows managers to continually configure the picking station in accordance with changing SKU profiles.
What’s new in voice picking?
Voice picking itself is not new technology. Warehouse managers can attest to the presence of voice assisted technology since the 1990s. However, voice technology is today augmenting other workflows such as packing and putting away. Using voice technology in this way enables hands-free, directed work to accelerate training and facilitate the efficient execution of a variety of tasks throughout the warehouse.
For example, voice automation technology can free up employees’ hands and eyes with voice-guided workflows that help them pick and pack safely, efficiently and accurately. The system increases productivity and can yield improvement in accuracy while reducing training time, turnover and safety incidents across a range of mobility tasks, including direct-to-consumer fulfilment, retail replenishment and omnichannel fulfilment.
How are AMR’s supporting order picking?
AMRs are proving increasingly valuable in automating the processes around order picking, such as pallet conveyance. Specifically, when a pallet needs to be moved, assigned AMRs plan their routes and navigate through the facility to drop off the load at its designated location. AMRs equipped with sensing and vision capabilities can dynamically avoid obstacles in a warehouse work environment and travel to its destination successfully. The continued innovation supporting the control software for AMR planning, routing, and managing the flow of a fleet of mobile robots has been critical to further enabling AMRs in DC and warehouse automation solutions.
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