As E-commerce continues to thrive, the warehouse and logistics sectors must evolve to keep up to speed with the ever-growing consumer appetite for speed and convenience. Inevitably, soaring demand and fierce competition have fuelled many technological advancements over the last decade, while estimates show that 90% of warehouses are still heavily reliant on traditional manual systems, businesses are now seeking their advantage in automated warehouse technology.
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) are the vanguard of modern warehouse solutions. They are offering superior operation efficiency, productivity, and market resilience, while vastly reducing maintenance costs and the risks associated with human error. While some may still be apprehensive about entrusting their warehouse operations to AI and Robotics, the benefits are difficult to ignore!
Benefits of Warehouse Automation
Maximised Potential
Implementing automation for picking and packing improves efficiencies and optimises warehouse space. Automated systems allows for a narrower aisle width and denser capacity than manual operations. Additionally, they can maximise your floor-to-ceiling storage with solutions that can load and retrieve products from high pallet locations without the risks involved in manual loading.
Increased Accuracy
Processing errors are an inevitable part of manual operations, and even more so in busy or unorganised warehouses. Automations inventory eliminates inaccuracies with increased precision and the capacity to digitally store, manage, and memorise thousand of item locations simultaneously. Of course, error free operations reduce stock loss and will boost the return on your investment.
Improved Safety
Manual warehouse operations are laden with high-risk procedures and activities mitigating these risks and improving the safety standards for your team can be a reason enough to sway you toward warehouse automation. Automated solutions do not have off day, get tired, or misjudge pallet locations at height. Additionally, they can reduce traffic within the working environment, lowering the risk of MHE accidents for your staff.
Sustainability
Sustainability is high on the agenda for all businesses, and energy-efficient warehouse technology is helping them take giant steps toward achieving their environmental goals. Automated solutions will equip you with comprehensive, predictive analytics and condition monitoring – giving you greater control over energy and resource usage within your facility.
Warehouse Automation Products
Stow Atlas 2D
The Stow Atlas 2D pallet shuttle system is a self-powered, highly efficient storage and retrieval solution suited to semi and fully-automated warehouses. At the heart of the Atlas 2D system is a lightweight, energy-efficient carrier capable of transporting pallets within a specifically designed racking structure.
Highly flexible and scalable, the Atlas 2D is perfect for high-density storage, with a modular design adaptable to most building types and business models. The option to increase the number of automated shuttles within the system presents the opportunity to expand your operation without increasing resources or floor space.
Stow E.Scala
The Stow E.Scala is a fully automated, goods-to-person order fulfilment system. The unique selling point of Stow E.Scala lies in its simplicity: it replaces all the classic components of an automated warehouse system with automated robots capable 0f 3-dimensional transport. The robots move from level to level via ramps connecting storage levels, circumventing the requirement for failure-prone and maintenance-intensive technology such as lifts and conveyor technology.
Stow E.Scala’s simplicity makes it the ideal introduction to warehouse automation. Its user-friendly software gives you control over diverse mapping scenarios, allowing you to integrate the system with your existing operations. The robots incorporate state-of-the-art technology, equipping them with the ability to charge on the fly, eliminating time-consuming charge cycles.
Speak To The Experts
Nene Warehouse Solutions have been at the forefront of innovations in the storage industry for decades; we recognise the importance of evolving as a business. To be effective in this industry a warehouse requires simple, streamlined processes and a consistently high-functioning logistics system to be at its operational best.
While humans are by no means obsolete (at least not for the foreseeable future!), the fate of warehousing and logistics undeniably rests upon the innovations of the automation and robotics sectors. If technology continues to display such unmatched efficacy there is no doubt that it will soon become common place in the industry. The only question remaining is, how soon?
If you want to discover more about automated storage solutions and how they could benefit your warehouse, get in touch with our expert team today.
