What is warehouse automation?
30-03-2022 484
The benefits of automation are well known. Accuracy is in the range of 99.99%. Improve efficiency and reduce labor costs, increase safety and reduce injury.
Mục lục
Warehouse automation is a broad term that covers most modern upgrades in a warehouse environment. Robots, automated vehicles, automated storage and retrieval systems are of course 'automation'. The benefits of automation are well known. Accuracy is in the range of 99.99%. Improve efficiency and reduce labor costs, increase safety and reduce injury.

When we talk about automating storage and picking, we're really talking about two broad categories: person-to-person systems and person-to-person merchandise systems. In essence, delivery systems with people are fully automated. In these operations, goods are automatically delivered to an operator at a picking station.
Vertical or Horizontal Conveyors, Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems and Vertical Lift Modules all incorporate storage facilities as part of a picking solution. Installing these systems also means installing racks – or upgrading existing racks – that are capable of supporting new automation.
Human delivery systems can operate within the facility's existing storage and include solutions such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs).
In a person-to-person delivery operation, the operator moves around the warehouse and picks goods from the warehouse. Operators move through a warehouse, find items, and bring them to a packing station.
However, systems that automate person-to-person deliveries may include upgrades such as bulk or batch picking. These require a data management system to control order flow, allowing operators to collect multiple items for multiple orders, which reduces travel time and increases throughput.
At the same time, warehouses can use picking technologies such as picking by light, picking by voice. These technologies are easy to integrate and can reduce selection error rates, while improving throughput. Depending on the system, these may look like equipment installed in a warehouse or like equipment worn or carried by an operator.
Barcode scanners and labels can be introduced at a very low cost and are easily scalable for large operations. Furthermore, because of their versatility, barcode labels and scanners are often undervalued even in facilities that already use them.
Studies have shown that inaccurate transaction data increases labor costs by up to 25%. Eliminating the need for people to write, read, and rewrite information that can be attached to a label is a simple and effective upgrade for many businesses.
Because barcodes and scanners can be attached to individual items or to boxes, totes, and trays, they are also an invaluable tool in processes such as bulk, in-person picking. They also allow weighing and measuring in motion. Among other benefits, these can cut shipping costs, which can result in significant savings.
Advances in computing over the past two decades have brought perfection from case and pallet handling, from single to same-day shipping and from same-day shipping to delivery. during the day .
Warehouses today are primarily controlled by data management systems - software that can keep track of all the different components of a warehouse.
- Warehouse management system (WMS) focuses on inventory tracking. They involve everything that can happen to an item, including ordering, receiving, handling, and shipping.
The Warehouse Execution System (WES) provides some of the inventory control of a WMS, but is really focused on performing the tasks performed by both automation and operators.
- Warehouse Control System (WCS) integrated into a WMS. They directly drive equipment and automate conveyors and sorters.
Conveyor Control System (CCS), as the name implies, is used to control conveyors. They allow for extremely high accuracy and throughput in complex conveyor lines, such as being able to vary their speeds to facilitate workflow and prevent bottlenecks, grading. thousands of items or allow zero pressure build-up.
An Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is, at its most basic, an unmanned vehicle used to move materials. Within the next 5 years, AGVs and automated mobile robots (AMRs) are expected to dominate this industry with control of 15% of the warehouse automation market. This is because of their affordability, flexibility and the ease with which they can be integrated into virtually any facility.
The AGV can operate within the existing layout of the facility. Once the controllers are installed into the data management system, little additional training is required for the operators to work with these systems safely. Their ease of scaling makes them flexible solutions to the problem of throttling a facility's throughput as it sees growth accelerate.
For facilities or even areas within a facility that need the highest throughput and accuracy, and the densest storage, nothing can compete with Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS). /RS).
In the past, AS/RS was very expensive and was only seen in the highest demand facilities. With advances in computing and machining, AS/RS has become both modular and affordable.
They consist of narrow-spaced racks through which the storage and retrieval machine (SRM) moves in two directions, guided by a mast and a crane. This is certainly not every establishment that realizes ROI on these systems. However, for facilities that need them, nothing can compete with their efficiency and accuracy.
Robots are an essential component of many production and storage lines. They automate the repetitive, injury-prone, low-value tasks of loading and unloading products from pallets.
In the past, palletizing was usually done by hand because machines could not create stable layers from oddly shaped or mismatched boxes. However, mixed case configurations are now possible.

Types of automation
1 - Automate storage and select
When we talk about automating storage and picking, we're really talking about two broad categories: person-to-person systems and person-to-person merchandise systems. In essence, delivery systems with people are fully automated. In these operations, goods are automatically delivered to an operator at a picking station.
Vertical or Horizontal Conveyors, Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems and Vertical Lift Modules all incorporate storage facilities as part of a picking solution. Installing these systems also means installing racks – or upgrading existing racks – that are capable of supporting new automation.
Human delivery systems can operate within the facility's existing storage and include solutions such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs).
In a person-to-person delivery operation, the operator moves around the warehouse and picks goods from the warehouse. Operators move through a warehouse, find items, and bring them to a packing station.
However, systems that automate person-to-person deliveries may include upgrades such as bulk or batch picking. These require a data management system to control order flow, allowing operators to collect multiple items for multiple orders, which reduces travel time and increases throughput.
At the same time, warehouses can use picking technologies such as picking by light, picking by voice. These technologies are easy to integrate and can reduce selection error rates, while improving throughput. Depending on the system, these may look like equipment installed in a warehouse or like equipment worn or carried by an operator.
2 - Barcode labels and scanning automation
Barcode scanners and labels can be introduced at a very low cost and are easily scalable for large operations. Furthermore, because of their versatility, barcode labels and scanners are often undervalued even in facilities that already use them.
Studies have shown that inaccurate transaction data increases labor costs by up to 25%. Eliminating the need for people to write, read, and rewrite information that can be attached to a label is a simple and effective upgrade for many businesses.
Because barcodes and scanners can be attached to individual items or to boxes, totes, and trays, they are also an invaluable tool in processes such as bulk, in-person picking. They also allow weighing and measuring in motion. Among other benefits, these can cut shipping costs, which can result in significant savings.
3 - Data management system
Advances in computing over the past two decades have brought perfection from case and pallet handling, from single to same-day shipping and from same-day shipping to delivery. during the day .
Warehouses today are primarily controlled by data management systems - software that can keep track of all the different components of a warehouse.
- Warehouse management system (WMS) focuses on inventory tracking. They involve everything that can happen to an item, including ordering, receiving, handling, and shipping.
The Warehouse Execution System (WES) provides some of the inventory control of a WMS, but is really focused on performing the tasks performed by both automation and operators.
- Warehouse Control System (WCS) integrated into a WMS. They directly drive equipment and automate conveyors and sorters.
Conveyor Control System (CCS), as the name implies, is used to control conveyors. They allow for extremely high accuracy and throughput in complex conveyor lines, such as being able to vary their speeds to facilitate workflow and prevent bottlenecks, grading. thousands of items or allow zero pressure build-up.
4 - Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)
An Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is, at its most basic, an unmanned vehicle used to move materials. Within the next 5 years, AGVs and automated mobile robots (AMRs) are expected to dominate this industry with control of 15% of the warehouse automation market. This is because of their affordability, flexibility and the ease with which they can be integrated into virtually any facility.
The AGV can operate within the existing layout of the facility. Once the controllers are installed into the data management system, little additional training is required for the operators to work with these systems safely. Their ease of scaling makes them flexible solutions to the problem of throttling a facility's throughput as it sees growth accelerate.
5 - Automatic storage and retrieval system
For facilities or even areas within a facility that need the highest throughput and accuracy, and the densest storage, nothing can compete with Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS). /RS).
In the past, AS/RS was very expensive and was only seen in the highest demand facilities. With advances in computing and machining, AS/RS has become both modular and affordable.
They consist of narrow-spaced racks through which the storage and retrieval machine (SRM) moves in two directions, guided by a mast and a crane. This is certainly not every establishment that realizes ROI on these systems. However, for facilities that need them, nothing can compete with their efficiency and accuracy.
6 - Robotic control panel
Robots are an essential component of many production and storage lines. They automate the repetitive, injury-prone, low-value tasks of loading and unloading products from pallets.
In the past, palletizing was usually done by hand because machines could not create stable layers from oddly shaped or mismatched boxes. However, mixed case configurations are now possible.