MOVING & LIFTING


palletised loads of glass bottles are often handled, the risk to forklift operators and pedestrian personnel of serious injury from, for example, a dropped pallet of wine cases, is significant. Obviously any possibility of driver error is


removed by the introduction of automation, such as driverless forklift technology.


Automated driverless forklift trucks follow


the route around the warehouse that they have been programmed to follow, so the likelihood of an automated truck damaging either the warehouse building, the storage system within it or the load being carried is virtually zero. This built-in safety functionality also means that the risk of the equipment causing injury to warehouse personnel working in the same area as an automated forklift is minimal.Cost saving A recent study by Logistics UK showed


that in 2019, 79,000 EU nationals left the UK logistics industry – around 7,000 of whom were lift truck drivers. The exodus is thought to have gathered pace


over the past 18 months and, with the Covid crisis adding high rates of staff absenteeism to the mix, the number of qualified lift truck operators in the UK is estimated to be down by some 25 per cent on the figure needed to run the nation’s forklift fleet. The widening gap between supply and


demand, means that warehouse workers’ wages are rising. In November 2020 the average warehouse worker’s salary advertised on online job-search engine Adzuna was £19,995 per annum. By November 2021 the remuneration


for order pickers was up 8 per cent year-on-year. Over the same period, vacancies for warehouse jobs were up 143%. Given that human labour is already one of the


most significant costs associated with running a warehouse the handsome financial packages that are now required to tempt warehouse staff are prompting more and more logistics companies to seek new ways of providing the same service levels with less staff. For many, this means switching to automation.


AGV’s – such as Toyota’s Autopilot series – offer several benefits in addition to delivering lower labour costs, including reductions in product and building infrastructure damage and increased productivity. These notable advantages bring a rapid return on investment. Toyota’s automated forklifts (AGV’s), for example, deliver a typical ROI period of between 12 and 36 months.


PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY With manual handling technology that relies, to a large extent, on the ability of people to perform their tasks safely, efficiently and without mishap, problems with inventory tracking, picking, receiving and put-away can interrupt the flow of goods through a warehouse with alarming – and costly - regularity. But with automated handling systems goods reach their destination within the store on time every time. Of course, manual – and often repetitive - tasks use up staff resources and effort and ensuring they are completed properly can waste a lot of valuable management time. As a result, focus


can be lost and key tasks may fail to receive the attention that they should. This is when mistakes happen. And, when mistakes creep in at any stage of the intralogistics process there is a real likelihood that the entire process will suffer, to the obvious detriment of the business. Automating repetitive manual warehouse


functions gives management the comfort of knowing that the flow of materials through the store will continue uninterrupted, leaving them free to focus on other matters that require their expertise. In addition to reliable production flows,


automation also reduces the kind of damage to goods that is unavoidable with any process involving human labour; delivers greater order picking accuracy; makes more efficient use of the available storage space; and, cuts the (rising) cost of employing increasingly hard to find workers. Toyota Material Handling has successfully


delivered more than 270 automated projects featuring over 1,000 automated guided vehicles across Europe. We work with our customers to determine the specific challenges they face and tackle them one step at a time. Breaking the process down into small modules gives clients essential scalability and means that, if they wish to, customers can partially automate their processes while retaining the option to introduce more automated technology as future demands change. For more information about automating your drinks operation, visit: www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk/ automation/beverage


Toyota Material Handling www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk


FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS | JULY/AUGUST 2022 39


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