The Satellite Review Magazine The Satellite Review Magazine Vol 2 | Page 7

W

hat makes an automated
storage and retrieval system
(AS/RS) one of the best in
the world? My experience as a buyer,
operator, designer and someone who has
analyzed countless systems would say
the best way to measure this is “how well
a system fulfills its intended purpose.”
What it is not, is how sophisticated or
complex a system is. If the intent of a
system is to get financial results, then
it should meet or exceed those results.
Costs and ongoing savings will determine
world-class, in that case. In most cases,
automated warehouses are intended for
numerous purposes, and to be classified
as a world class system, it must fulfill
them all.

Design, Quality and Reliability.

world-class
adjective
(of a person, thing or
activity) of or among
the best in the world;
ranking among the
world’s best;
outstanding

A world-class Design is all about finding the right fit of operational needs/
opportunities and developing solutions
that enable those opportunities. We
refer to this type of design as “elegant.”
Designing an “elegant” system can only
be achieved after exploring the details
of the day-to-day operations and understanding each and every unique aspect of
a business. We also desire to implement
just the right amount of equipment/
process change to enable the maximum
amount of benefit for the customer. It is
easy to throw money and equipment at
problems, but that is not a characteristic
of a world-class system. In order to truly
be considered “world-class,” you must be
able to maximize the benefits by spending just the right amount of money on
equipment.
When we refer to Quality, we are referring to all aspects of an AS/RS. It’s not
just the equipment or machine quality
that defines a high quality AS/RS, but
rather it has just as much to do with the
quality of the process and the people that
are involved. Quality is an important part
of every aspect of a system and a vital
part of how we do business at Westfalia.

From the very beginning, we ensure that
we have a world-class process, implemented by world-class people driving the
systems in order to achieve world-class
results. Based on our customer results
and knowledge of our industry, we
believe that this process is of the highest
quality anywhere in the world, thus making it world-class.
In addition, world-class quality needs to
be a never ending pursuit. At Westfalia,
we take this very serious and are continuously looking for new opportunities to
improve the quality of our product. With
ever-changing pallet quality issues, we
are continually finding ways to make our
systems more tolerant of poor quality
pallets. Using Satellite® system technology, a Westfalia AS/RS can store and
retrieve pallets in a high-density, multiple
deep system quickly and safely at a rate of
30-120 pallets/hour per storage/retrieval
machine (S/RM).
Today, Reliability must encompass
many things. First and foremost, the
system must run properly and meet
exceptional performance requirements.
While the design and quality of a system
are two contributing factors, reliability
focuses on a systems longevity. After the
initial kinks and bugs are worked out, a
typical AS/RS system will run reliably for
several years. However, it is after three
to five years of continuous use when you
truly see just how reliable an AS/RS really
is. A world class system will keep delivering value year after year and will enable
the owner to grow their business while
reducing costs. These world-class results
are only possible if the system continues to perform exactly how the original
design enables it to. From software to
machine design, through implementation
and ongoing support, the AS/RS must
continue to achieve world-class results in
order to truly be considered one of the
best in the world.

www. WestfaliaUSA.com

The Satellite Review

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