FEATURE Automated warehousing
guarantee constant product availability. In addition to providing compact storage on a small footprint, live systems work on the FIFO (First In First Out) principle, which allows easy control of production batches and sell-by dates. Separate loading and picking aisles increase operator performance and can improve safety as separating replenishment stock carried by lift trucks and pedestrian order picking in diff erent aisles.
How
to achieve high
density storage
By Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems C
ompanies are often challenged to hold greater volumes of stock on diminishing footprints. This is exacerbated by low availability
of good quality warehouse space, and what is available is becoming more costly. This also means SKU lines must be stored closer together to reduce order picking times to provide faster fulfi lment. In factories and assembly plants, space is generally prioritised for manufacturing processes, but suffi cient stock will be needed in close proximity to production lines to ensure they keep fl owing. All of these reasons lead to the requirement of high-density storage; but, how to achieve it? Storage density depends on many factors, including stock profi les, costs of the racking installation, handling/transport costs – including that of internal transportation and labour, available headroom and footprint of a warehouse or storage area, and more. If you don’t need to retrieve goods in a
specifi c sequence then drive-in racking is an option for effi ciently and safely storing and retrieving huge volumes of stock. This is particularly relevant for large volumes of the same line item, pressure-sensitive goods and unstable pallet loads, where the last-in, fi rst-out approach will do.
26 February 2024 | Automation
An alternative option for optimising space is to install mobile pallet racking or mobile cantilever racking, where the rack moves to open up a single aisle at the required location. It can improve storage capacity up to 200% on the same footprint, or reduce fl oor space occupation by 50%; however, pickers must wait for the racks to move and the aisle to open up, which is more suitable for items that are not picked frequently. In warehouses where picking is more
regular, then pallet and carton live systems create concentrated storage and pick faces within a given footprint, allowing easier installation into an existing building. Live systems will provide ample storage and pick face density without requiring exact fl oor tolerances, which may be the case for an automated storage-and-retrieval system. Adding pick-to-light and pick-to- voice technology to live storage can further improve accuracy and pick rates. With live storage, each product line can be presented in a separate fl ow lane and is directly accessible at the pick face. Cartons or pallets are fed into the fl ow lane from an aisle at the rear. Each item gently moves on rollers to its pick position at the front. Suffi cient replenishment quantities
For many applications, this kind of ‘mechanical’ solution strikes the right balance between investment, density and speed for fast moving goods picked on FIFO basis. Adding simple automation technologies such as pick-to-light and voice picking will further improve accuracy and throughput speed. A high-rise narrow aisle structure will make good use of vertical capacity and effi cient use of fl oor space. As a rule, narrow aisle facilities are serviced with man- operated stacker cranes or order-picking trucks, allowing picking of smaller unit loads from all racking levels. Guide rails and inductive steering ensure that service vehicles always keep the ideal distance to the installation. Using VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) trucks, will allow aisle widths typically between 1.6 and 2 metres, and the trucks generally operate up to approximately 15 metres high. Going higher means broader trucks and, therefore, wider aisles. High bay automated warehouses served by stacker cranes can theoretically attain heights of over 40 metres, though just over 30 metres is more common. These generally create the highest density solutions. A combination of factors has made it
harder for the logistics sector to rely on manual labour, which it has traditionally leaned on heavily. This has changed the cost balance for automated storage. Constantly improving in terms of modularity, sophisticated control systems and performance developments, automation is increasingly becoming a more practical and fl exible solution for a greater variety of ‘goods-to-picker’ installations. Regardless of the application, to gain the
greatest advantage from automated storage and retrieval systems requires attention to the design of the racking. This includes a suitable racking supplier, such as BITO, which can provide uprights in a range of widths, to allow optimum adaptation to diff erent load requirements and building constraints to achieve the required density of storage. Such a supplier can also advise and design the appropriate density storage for any challenge.
automationmagazine.co.uk
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