Saving money in the warehouse is a by product of saving time. By embracing automation, you make better use of your space and reduce the labour involved in routine tasks.
This is the essence of how automation saves businesses money; not through direct financial savings, but by reducing your unit cost, enabling the same or greater output for less input.
What Time-Saving Automated Warehouse Systems Are Available?
There are numerous equipment, automated systems and software technologies available to help warehouse businesses boost operational efficiency, safety, and accuracy – saving time at every level of their processes.
Equipment and Automated solutions: key hardware technologies include automated picking systems, automated storage and retrieval systems (which maximise vertical storage space), autonomous mobile robots and guided vehicles, and conveyor systems to streamline product movement. At a lower price point but no less effective are barcode and RFID scanning systems that reduce the time required to identify and retrieve goods during picking, as well as robotic arms and drones for packing, sorting, and carrying out high altitude inventory checks.
Software: this automation hardware is supported by a sophisticated software infrastructure, with a Warehouse Control System (WCS) at the core. Combined with a Warehouse Management System (WMS). Modern WCS/WMS applications come with comprehensive tools for inventory management, automated order processing, and logistics planning, with advanced planning and scheduling tools to streamline resource allocation and production scheduling.
Strategic Investment In Automation
When planning an investment in automation, therefore, the question isn’t so, how much money a technology can save you, but rather how technology can cut back the time required to complete a process. Well optimised warehouse layouts, technology-assisted picking processes, and strategic investments in software and robotics – you don’t need to invest in everything – can improve the efficiency of your weak points, reducing labour expenditure, bottlenecks, and errors.
The Role Of Your Workforce In An Automated Warehouse System
When investing in automation, buy in from your employees is essential. Some warehouse operatives are cautious or even hostile towards automation, due to the misconception that automation will put everyone out of a job. This isn’t helped by wildly futuristic images in the media of robotics and AI driven warehouses completely devoid of human workers.
The reality is different. Yes, automated warehouse systems can largely automate some or all of the jobs of lower paid employees. But the roles eliminated are often the physically demanding and repetitive ones that are often filled by contract or temps. Removing such roles and improving the working conditions leads to improved long-term staff retention, less recruitment costs and the potential for further increases in productivity.
What Next?
To find out more about how an automated warehouse system can save your operation time and money, please contact LPC today by clicking here.
Image Source: Chuttersnap
