The Satellite Review Magazine The Satellite Review Magazine Vol 1 | Page 5

Automation increases
productivity & Lowers risk
By Gary St. Pierre, Jr.

Director of Project Management, Westfalia Technologies, Inc.

Manual labor is always an issue, from wages to worker
safety to concerns over productivity. An automated
warehouse allows companies to rely less on human labor,
reducing errors. An Automated Storage and Retrieval
System (AS/RS) improves the reliability of getting tasks
completed in the right time-frame. Worker safety is also
improved, as fork-truck traffic is practically eliminated, and
order selection processes streamlined using “goods-to-man”
technologies.
“Manual forklifts can be very un-safe, specifically in tight
warehouses where space is a constraint. For a hi-volume
distribution center, there are many forklifts working within
an entire warehouse and within a single dock area along
with personnel walking in and around these areas. By
utilizing an AS/RS, you focus the forklift traffic to only one
central location, the shipping dock,” says Gary St. Pierre Jr.,
director of project management.
AS/RS adopts the idea of ‘bringing the product to the
worker’ as opposed to the worker retrieving the product.
For order picking activities, this greatly decreases the
amount of physical labor involved, including walking,

lifting and carrying heavy loads. Some manual order
picking systems are set up so that workers are walking
upwards of 10 miles a day resulting in injury or fatigue,
and ultimately decreased efficiency. In addition to easing
the burden placed on workers, automating this process
saves time and increases productivity. Human error can
mean lost shipments, breakage and injury. AS/RS decrease
the risk of these issues and also provide 100 percent
inventory accuracy, lot tracking for recall purposes, and
powerful data mining tools. Tracking of shipments back to
production lot information is critical to promote product
safety and protect companies from product recall exposures
that could cost millions of dollars.
“AS/RS lightens the load for workers as the automation
handles all the transportation of product. Rather than a
worker having to manually move product from one location
to another within a warehouse, this is all now completed
automatically. This enables workers to now focus more of
their efforts on other areas of the business for increased
overall efficiency,” says St. Pierre, Jr.

www. WestfaliaUSA.com

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