Automated Picking

The requirement for increased speed, accuracy and productivity has pointed managers towards automation as a realistic option in today’s competitive automated equipment market. A high-volume item pick operation is an area where automation can have a high impact. An operation where the dispatch of upwards of 3,000 cartons per day is worth a consideration in terms of automation. Vanderlande Industries introduced a new, revolutionary automated case-picking (ACP) system in 2009, which they claim lowers the costs per case handled by 40 per cent compared with a manual case-picking operation. The system is especially aimed at food retailers, who require very high system capacity to handle a large product range.

In this system, pallets arriving at the warehouse or coming from bulk storage are automatically de-palletized layer by layer. Each pallet layer is stored on a tray in a mini-load AS/RS system. Storing pallet layers instead of individual cartons significantly reduces the number of crane movements and therefore the number of AS/RS systems required to handle the workload. Hence, the ACP system requires a significantly lower initial investment and reduces order picking costs per case handled by 40 per cent compared with a manual operation. The ACP system has a very short payback time, less than four years. The new ACP system also secures stock availability in the pick face and ensures short order processing time, improving service level to,

• elimination of manual handling
• reduction in accidents
• ability to cope with hazardous/harsh environments such as refrigerated storage
• integration
• coordination of product flows, avoiding bottlenecks
• constant performance levels
• continuous review

Never automate a bad or broken process. Always ensure that the warehouse operation is working efficiently without the use of technology.

Automation requires a great deal of preparation and time spent on design, evaluation and implementation. Automation can provide significant improvements in productivity and accuracy – but it can also prove to be the wrong solution.

The disadvantages of automation are,

• High opportunity cost
• High investment costs such as building, equipment, information technology
• System failure
• Standardized unit loads are required
• Anomalies are not accepted and need to be handled separately
• More quality control is required on intake
• High cost of disposal of equipment
• Lack of flexibility