The Satellite Review Magazine The Satellite Review Magazine Vol 2 | Page 23

house space and keeps inventory moving. Now, if the truck shows up late, or
if the load gets dropped, the warehouse
is able to continue operating without
scheduling disputes and the likelihood
of detention fees decreases.
This issue with trucking shows how
the industry as a whole, including
industrial automation, is shifting. The
industry itself is moving toward order
fulfillment, dealing with the complexity of orders right now. In the past,
manufacturers and distributors were
primarily focused on storage but now
the focus is shifting sight to filling
complex orders.

“

No more back-breaking labor
and brand-damaging recalls
Moving heavy cases in the picking,
packing and put-away processes is,
without a doubt, manufacturers and
distributors most labor-intensive task.
AS/RS lightens the load for workers as
automation handles all the transportation of product. Rather than a worker
having to manually move product
from one location to another within
a warehouse, these tasks are now all
completed automatically, allowing
workers to focus their efforts on other
areas of the business for increased
overall efficiency.
Along the same lines of reducing manual labor, an AS/RS helps keep workers
safe. There is no longer a need for
arduous lifting, and forklifts are not
driving around in the same aisles
as people.

The industry itself is
moving toward order
fulfillment, dealing with the
complexity of orders right
now.
In the past, manufacturers
and distributors were
primarily focused on
storage but now the
focus is shifting sight to
filling complex orders.

One of the chief advantages
of an AS/RS in the picking
process is labor reduction,
especially when it comes
to travel time between
pick locations.
In order to mitigate recalls and their detrimental effects, manufacturers and distributors are
turning to automation.
Equipped with a warehouse execution system
(WES) and integrated
AS/RS, distributors and
manufactures can obtain
real-time insight into their inbound and outbound inventory,
including when a shipment arrives,
when it departs, and where it is going.
Therefore, if a product is recalled, it is
easy to look into the system and quickly identify the batch that contained the

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faulty goods, pinpoint when it departed and to where, and pull all items
from that batch from the shelves.
Automation technology significantly
reduces manual labor to improve productivity, and ensures the safe handling of products to minimize product
damage.

The perfect equation = AS/RS
+ WES
With the recession in the past, many
companies are now in growth mode.
Although this is a positive shift, it has
created new challenges – many facilities are maxed out and management is
pressuring companies to adapt to accommodate this growth while keeping
costs low.
In addition to physical growing pains,
many warehousing organizations are
challenged with keeping up with the
sheer speed of today’s supply chain.
Demand is higher, time-to-market is
shorter, and manufacturers are producing even larger quantities of product. Warehouse automation systems
enable organizations to streamline
their warehousing and distribution
center operations, while helping them
accommodate for growth.
A high-density AS/RS can increase the
warehouse’s storage capacity without
expanding the facility itself, so clients
can effectively manage their growth on
site. When integrated with a WES, AS/
RS technology easily directs, controls
and optimizes internal material flow
and order picking throughout the
warehouse. As a result, they are able
to better meet the growing demand,
while raising productivity, lowering
risks, boosting throughput, increasing
inventory accuracy and enhancing
customer satisfaction.

The Satellite Review

23