Five best ways to use warehouse automation

Innovative Warehouse automation trends steadily being implemented in warehouses and distribution centers around the world. This new industry phenomenon is optimizing efficiencies and workflows across all areas of operations, and many managers are reporting a return on their investments in as little as six to eight months as per data published in Material handling journals.

But not all tasks and duties are well suited for robots – some are simply better left to the human workforce. Finding the right Operation mix of robotics and people in your warehouse is the key to success and better ROI. To help you strike that perfect balance of automation and good old-fashioned laborers mainly in Indian Contest.

We have highlighted the five best ways to use robotics and automation in the warehouse set-up:

Inventory management

To err is human. But small errors can cumulate problems when it happens in a warehouse. Work area where people are susceptible to simple mistakes is doing repetitive tasks and manual entry. If consistent errors are resulting in lost time from barcode scanning or human-made data entry, consider automating these processes to improve accuracy and efficiency.

Warehouses typically rely on one of two types of automated scanning:

Type 1: Camera-based laser scanners. Camera-based scanners are more cost-effective and can provide an image of the entire barcode even if the code itself is damaged or partially covered.

Type 2: Laser-based scanning technology is best suited to scan barcodes on flexible bags or any other odd-shaped packaging & are usually easier and less time consuming than camera-based scanners.

Beyond the accuracy factor, automated and robotic scanning can drastically improve the efficiency of your operations. AGVs (automated guided vehicles) and mobile cranes equipped with camera scanners can scan multiple barcodes simultaneously. This removes the chance of human error and will greatly improve the speed of your inventory management.

Majority of warehouses Put away & picking operations are partially automated as always considered non-value added investment. Hence correct Inventory management & stock reconciliation is a major challenge. Optimally & scientifically designed budget allocation can bring about better quality of inventory management system.

High-speed visual inspections

Pre-shipment inspections are a necessary part of warehouse operations, but the operations take up a lot of time and are sometimes derailed by human error. By automating part or parts of your inspection process, it can improve your shipment quality and reduce errors.

One-way warehouse automation can improve the visual inspection process by means of ATS conveyor scanning technologies. Capable of scanning, weighing and sorting packages and shipments before they leave the facility, automated visual inspections free human workers from this time-consuming and repetitive task.

Beyond weighing and sorting, automated warehouse solutions for visual inspections have the potential for reading texts, barcodes, measuring dimensions and alignment and other operational patterns. This technology can improve nearly all facet of material accounting control in Warehouse operations as well as Shipment quality and reduce error.

Stacking and palletizing

There are two types of robotics that are traditionally used for stacking and palletizing in the warehouse set-up: articulated arm robots and linear robots. Both options are excellent choices for any warehouse operation but work especially well with large, heavy or unique inventory handling.

If you have a temperature regulated warehouse, stacking and palletizing robots will be able to withstand extreme temperatures longer without suffering from fatigue—better than their human counterparts. Adding these solutions will increase safety and worker comfort by automating this component of warehouse workflows.

Transportation

Human workers across distribution centers and manufacturing plants have historically handled orders once material equipment transport the order to its appropriate location. AGV, high speed TU and AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) now release workers to complete more value-added tasks and improve overall safety by traveling at safe speeds, minimizing risks.

Zone picking

Research reports have proven that human laborers in warehouse activities were sometimes walking up to 20 km in a day. With zone picking, workers are now tasked with monitoring a small workspace, letting the robots do the monotonous duty of transporting material back and forth. Once workers can solely focus on processing orders, efficiency gains of double to triple are seen across the warehouse.

There are several other ways automated vehicles can work with and alongside the human workforce, improving many areas of warehouse operations.

Transport units are equipped with sensors to ID information on packages for sorting and inventory purposes.

Using RFID sensors, with transport unit can provide accurate and daily updates on inventory data, preventing issues and slowdowns.

Transport unit handling inventory counting can discourage inventory misinterpretations.

TU/AGV/AMRs can work with humans, transporting goods from workstation to workstation, saving time and energy output.

Close views on the potential benefits of automation in the warehouse will give a glimpse of the gamut of issues to your thought process and provide a way forward and reduce concerned potential logistical issues for warehouse storage, layout, quality control and the last but most important achieving high service level. Warehouses of all shapes and sizes successfully automate many different areas of their operations daily, and we hope these guidelines will help design and automate your warehouse.