The requirement for increased speed, accuracy and productivity has pointed managers towards automation as a realistic option in today\u2019s competitive automated equipment market. A high-volume item pick operation is an area where automation can have a high impact. An operation where the dispatch of upwards of 3,000 cartons per day is worth a consideration in terms of automation. Vanderlande Industries introduced a new, revolutionary automated case-picking (ACP) system in 2009, which they claim lowers the costs per case handled by 40 per cent compared with a manual case-picking operation. The system is especially aimed at food retailers, who require very high system capacity to handle a large product range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this system, pallets arriving at the warehouse or coming from bulk storage are automatically de-palletized layer by layer. Each pallet layer is stored on a tray in a mini-load AS\/RS system. Storing pallet layers instead of individual cartons significantly reduces the number of crane movements and therefore the number of AS\/RS systems required to handle the workload. Hence, the ACP system requires a significantly lower initial investment and reduces order picking costs per case handled by 40 per cent compared with a manual operation. The ACP system has a very short payback time, less than four years. The new ACP system also secures stock availability in the pick face and ensures short order processing time, improving service level to,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never automate a bad or broken process. Always ensure that the warehouse operation is working efficiently without the use of technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Automation requires a great deal of preparation and time spent on design, evaluation and implementation. Automation can provide significant improvements in productivity and accuracy \u2013 but it can also prove to be the wrong solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disadvantages of automation are,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The requirement for increased speed, accuracy and productivity has pointed managers towards automation as a realistic option in today\u2019s competitive automated equipment market. A high-volume item pick operation is an area where automation can have a high impact. An operation where the dispatch of upwards of 3,000 cartons per day is worth a consideration in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100935","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n