Automated warehouses are advanced systems that use robots and transport systems to coordinate work in the storage area and to pick and pack orders. Automated warehouses are a huge step towards greater efficiency, streamlining the order fulfillment process, and improving safety in high-bay warehouses. Until now, managing a goods storage point, coordinating warehouse work, and monitoring inventory levels required the work of many people, including night shifts, in order to meet shipping deadlines.
What are automated warehouses?
The modern goods storage system process involves transporting goods from the production line to the storage point, placing them in a designated location, and then updating the inventory status in the system. Order picking involves loading the list of items ordered by the customer, collecting them from their assigned locations, packing them, labeling them, and transferring them for shipment. Due to the fact that this is a linear process, the implementation of which is fully based on system guidelines and assigned locations, the entire procedure can be successfully entrusted to robots. Warehouse automation is an extremely effective and easy to implement process. The key is to update the inventory tracking process itself, standardize location assignment methods, and adapt the warehouse architecture to be compatible with the route of dedicated robots.
Where are automated warehouses used?
Automatic warehouses are excellent at order picking, which is why they are successfully used in the e-commerce industry and in distribution centers. It is also worth noting that warehouse robots often supplement production lines, offering the fulfillment of internal orders for components required, for example, for car body assembly. A warehouse robot completes a set of parts necessary for a given stage of production and then leaves them in a location from which they are transported to the assembly site by a robot dedicated to moving along magnetic lines. It sounds like a scene from the future, but such warehouse solutions have already been in operation in many Polish cities for several years. Robots in inudstry and logistics are a common sight in many industries.
How do automated warehouses work?
What does automation in a warehouse look like in practice? Usually, such a modern warehouse is distinguished by very high racks, reaching up to several dozen meters. Retrieving products from such heights would be extremely dangerous for employees, but it is completely normal for robots, which can easily and precisely remove very heavy products from the highest warehouse racks. In addition, the robot can work non-stop 24 hours a day, and the throughput of the process is constant, making it easier to plan the time required to complete each order. Using the locations assigned to each product by the system, the robot collects the appropriate products and then transfers them for packaging. This stage can also be successfully handled by a dedicated machine at a robotic workstation. Finally, the boxes are carefully arranged on the pallet, taking into account its permissible dimensions and total weight. It sounds like a challenge, but palletizing robots are designed for just such tasks.
Advantages of warehouse automation
Automated warehouses are a modern solution that more and more companies are choosing. Robots work without interruption at a predictable pace. The risk of human error, such as picking up the wrong product, confusing shelves, or assigning the wrong location, is eliminated from the process. In addition, when robots are responsible for warehouse work, it is possible to use high storage, which significantly increases the available storage capacity. It is also worth noting that some products, such as frozen goods, require storage at extremely low temperatures. Working in such conditions is arduous and harmful to health. Warehouse automation is therefore an opportunity to use developing technology for potentially dangerous work, thereby protecting the health and lives of employees.