house Automation
W
hen considering investing in optimizing your warehouse processes, you may con-
sider using an automated storage/ retrieval system (AS/RS). With an AS/RS’ abil-
ity to increase efficiency, optimize storage space and boost throughput, it is easy
to get caught up in the technology and dive headfirst into an implementation.
However, before investing time and money into a new project, take a step back to
determine your business’ current and future needs.
Begin by performing an analysis to
gain a holistic view of the past, pres-
ent and future needs of your business.
Then, conduct a review of current
processes, inventory and warehouse
design to determine if your current op-
erations will support this growth and if
it is suitable for automation technolo-
gy. Lastly, justify the basic cost for the
system by demonstrating its overall
benefits.
All three of these steps should be done
on a regular basis to assess operational
efficiency and determine necessary im-
provements. In addition, by introduc-
ing the right level of automation within
the right places of an operation, these
metrics help to determine operational
requirements and opportunities.
Planning for Growth
Since an AS/RS has an average lifes-
pan of 25 years, clearly defining your
long-term business plans upfront helps
avoid implementing a system that you
will quickly outgrow. First, it is import-
ant to observe your SKU growth - how
has the number of SKUs changed over
the past few years? With companies
across industries experiencing signif-
icant SKU growth, this step is vital to
identify your current growth trends.
Next, you must determine your pro-
jected growth over the lifetime of the
system. If you are currently holding
10,000 SKUs, and you want the system
to support growth over a 10-year pe-
riod, you must project both your SKU
www.WestfaliaUSA.com
and overall growth to make sure it will
accommodate your needs.
It is also beneficial to take a hard look
at your industry, supply chain and
business model to closely examine how
they are changing. Take these findings
into consideration to make sure you
end up with a system that is right for
you.
Examining Existing
Processes and Inventory
By diving deep and extracting valuable
information about operational effi-
ciency and opportunities that are not
easily seen on the surface, you will gain
a clear understanding of your require-
ments and how to get the most out of
The Satellite Review
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