What happens when you failed to plan for an increase greater than expected in our company planning on the short, medium, or long term? When increasing scope and operations, you may probably lack the fluidity, processes, areas, ergonomics, and optimal productivity.
This issue analyzes why should you incorporate an automatic warehouse system for your company. Furthermore, it will provide an example of a company that suffered significant inventory control issues and found the necessary solutions through the use of these implementations.
We will analyze why vertical carousels, the Shuttle VLM, the miniload, and transelevators are the best choices to achieve significant and positive results. Keep in mind that selecting any of these solutions will depend completely on the type of industry and goals to be achieved.
What is an automatic warehouse?
An automatic storage system usually consists of cranes that cover long distances to store, assort, and maintain inventory control. They are a useful tool to solve various problems in distribution centers and processing or production plants. Thanks to the advantages of each type of automatic warehouse, different solutions can be achieved, such as saving from 30% up to 65% space.
Analyze the following classification, which looks into each advantage in general terms:
Saving space: thanks to a high-stowage warehouse, a civil expansion may be prevented. Maximize space saving efforts, allowing better ergonomics in all intralogistics processes.
Workforce cost reduction: Having an automatic storage system reduces man hours invested in assortment processes. This is achieved thanks to the retrieval of precise and automatic product storage and selection activities.
Security: Product handling is benefited when reducing operator manipulation. Employee safety is also increase by avoiding manual direct contact with products of significant size or weight, or with delicate products.
Inventory control: An automatic warehouse, coupled with the ideal software, allows maintaining an exact inventory in real time. This action provides a general visibility of the finished products or raw materials in stock.
Accuracy: Thanks to the operating systems that manages technological solutions, an absolute accuracy is guaranteed in products, handling, and inventory. No error rate exists.
Increase in productivity: All the advantages described of an automatic warehouse are aimed at a single purpose: to provide maximum productivity in operations and final results.
Success stories
We will focus on an automatic solution implemented for a petrochemical company dedicated to providing maintenance services.
This company, which supplies replacement devices, failed to consider its rapid industry growth, and thus faced continuous issued regarding material management and administration of work spaces. Its processes were chaotic, there was a frequent lack of control of key items, which resulted in damages both in costs and in noncompliance with their customers. The company clearly lacked sufficient space, stock visibility, and the ability to properly fulfill orders; the warehouse was also overstepped.
Through an analysis by GIEICOM consultants, a diagnosis and proposal was developed to resolve the different issues. This consisted in the implementation of a Shuttle VLM (automatic warehouse with robots that intelligently move trays with products). The company implemented the installation of 5 Shuttle VLM devices, of 12 meters each.
What was achieved? Saving significant space without the need to invest in civil infrastructure (new warehouses or additional floor space), an efficient inventory control, care of materials, and certainty when committing to new customers. The company currently knows that it has the necessary materials and a capable and reliable management system.
Sooner or later, possible losses in inventory and a lack of flexibility in operations will end up severely affecting your budget. By means of a deep analysis, GIEICOM can provide an optimal alternative that improves profitability, while remaining a reliable organization.
