opinion amhsa
l
Maximum gain
In this month’s article in the series from members of the Automated Material Handling Systems Association (AMHSA),
Nigel Brookes, sales director
of Autotech Controls Ltd, explores the case for upgrading the control system of a handling solution.
here is an interesting story in the automated materials handling business that actually happened just a few years ago. The customer, an established company supplying the retail trade, wished to migrate to a single, but very large, fully automated storage and picking facility. Based for generations in a small market town, they wanted to stay local for a whole host of reasons. Plans for the new facility – which included 25 miniload cranes, 2000m of conveyor and associated sorters, unloading dock extending conveyors and lifts – were fairly advanced and power companies were approached to gain quotes for the supply of electricity. A utility company calculated that the projected power requirement was above the physical capacity available in the area due to existing loads and the way the national grid was configured for the town.
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It was at this point that the technicians supplying the control systems for the new distribution centre began to earn their corn. They devised control solutions that ensured that no two miniload cranes could start at the same instant. These delays were only measured in seconds and they – and other similar adjustments – made no perceivable difference to the throughput capacity of the system. By avoiding peak loadings on the selected handling equipment, the total cumulative power requirement for the whole facility was minimised and the power supply contract could be satisfactorily concluded.
24 ShD April 2010 www.PressOnShD.com
More reliable
This story clearly illustrates just one element of what a competent control systems supplier can bring to the table. However, it is not only in the design of new handling systems that control systems suppliers can secure financial or efficiency savings. Existing automated handling equipment can also benefit from a control system ‘makeover’. New controls with the latest technologies tend to be more reliable, have lower installation costs and are simpler – and therefore cheaper – to maintain, so there is a strong case for considering upgrading just the controls on a legacy handling system.
Obsolete controls
In a worst-case scenario, the old control system might be so obsolete that components for it are becoming virtually impossible to source. In addition, the technical support personnel for such older equipment is either reaching retirement age or leaving the industry. Even in more favourable scenarios, upgrading of the control systems can still bring benefits. These can include the ability to interface with new, additional equipment or new software that the current installation was not designed to communicate with or support.
Sweating your assets
Of course, it may be the case that the existing control system is reliable but, due to increases in sales, the throughputs it can manage are no longer sufficient. In these circumstances, a new control system can bring increases in efficiency through greater mechanical
performance. New control systems that can make the system work faster and harder will allow you to ‘sweat’ your legacy assets. There are many other cases for changing control systems, including global change – an international group may simply dictate that control systems and their intrinsic methods of reporting to a central host must be standardised. Of course, this can be a two-edged sword, as the global bosses will want logistics managers to comply posthaste with change but woe betide them if production or profitability slips.
Minimising risk
There are many reasons to upgrade your control systems but – and it’s a big but – you run the risk of getting it wrong. Once you are committed to changing your controls, there is normally no way to revert back to your old control system. I have no doubt that, once you are committed to change, a thorough risk assessment would keep you awake at night! Replacing a control system on a legacy system is probably an event that any logistics manager will only accomplish once in his career, if at all. If you are faced with such a decision, then working with a specialist control systems supplier who replaces old control systems with new ones on a regular basis can bring you the comfort of their extensive experience. Companies such as Autotech can offer a seamless and pain- free migration. In addition, we offer full after sales support including training for your staff and 24/7 service contracts. In a nutshell, that’s minimum pain and maximum gain.●
www.amhsa.co.uk
opinion
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