Forklifts are an important tool in many warehouses, but how they are used can differ greatly. For some warehouses, space is at such a premium that Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) forklifts are required. Being able to navigate aisles as narrow as 1.6m provides warehouses with the benefit of safely maximising every inch of their storage space. For other warehouses, the key benefit of using forklifts is their automation capabilities which improve efficiency and reduce labour costs.
However, a warehouse can only claim the advantages of automation if its warehouse management system (WMS) is able to talk to the forklift. Many mistakenly assume that this is a complex, time consuming and potentially risky process. This fear has led many warehouses to either avoid purchasing automated forklifts, or to underutilise the automation features of the semi-automated forklifts they already own, resulting in missed opportunities for efficiency and productivity.
StayLinked recently worked with a wine retailer that faced this challenge. Initially, the customer had only linked their WMS with the vehicle-mounted devices and not the forklifts. When workers received instructions on the vehicle mount, they manually drove the forklift to the required location in the warehouse. New workers were significantly slower than experienced workers as they weren’t familiar with the warehouse layout.
By integrating the forklift so that it could talk directly with the WMS, the same basic instructions would enable the forklift to automatically guide the driver to the correct location via the quickest route, regardless of the driver’s experience or knowledge of the warehouse layout.
The approach was simple: the forklifts were linked to the WMS by connecting the vehicle mount display to the forklift’s serial port, and then applying simple configuration settings.
For the wine retailer, implementing forklift automation has allowed new drivers to operate as efficiently and productively as the more experienced drivers. Additionally, it has increased the overall accuracy of the warehouse inventory.
All warehouses can achieve these benefits if they take the plunge with forklift automation, which is much simpler to deploy than most people realise.
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