How Robotic Friendly Shelves Can Improve Product Picking in the Warehouse
Now more than ever during the COVID-19 crisis and its inevitable aftermath, it is critical to rethink and integrate new work methods in warehouses and distribution centers. One of the things that can increase the efficiency of a warehouse is to equip it with robotic friendly heavy duty industrial shelving.
Even as businesses are starting to reopen, they still lean strongly towards online sales rather than traditional storefronts. This is dictated by the reluctance of buyers to visit stores as much, with a strong preference towards safer shopping and less virus exposure risk.
But it is powered even more strongly by the inevitable realization that the business thrives when working in this, more innovative manner. The money saved by serving buyers from a centralized warehouse cannot possibly be underestimated, as more and more companies are coming to realize.
In such a warehouse or distribution center, half the operating budget is often accounted for by a single process such as warehouse picking. And with efficiency being one of the key factors influencing profitability, the next logical step is to use robotic friendly heavy duty storage shelves.
It cannot be overestimated and has been established that product picking is, in terms of time and man hours, the most costly activity in a warehouse. Optimizing it means cutting costs, reducing room for error which eventually leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and increased profits for the entire supply chain.
Advanced robotic friendly heavy duty industrial shelving is undoubtedly the single most significant step towards achieving those results.
The time saved by using automation in a warehouse is beyond significant. It’s game changing. A picker’s daily activity consists of 60% travel between the shelves collecting products for orders. More if on foot, somewhat less if using a forklift or other internal transportation.
Naturally, the bigger the square footage of the warehouse in question, the more prominent a factor this becomes.
Using heavy-duty commercial shelving that accommodates robotic systems allows for the introduction of conveyor systems to give one example, and increase productivity dramatically.
Reslotting items with more ease. When a busy season for a certain item is upcoming or a high demand product is below 60%, it is far easier to replenish inventory using automated systems integrated with heavy duty industrial shelving.
With automation becoming increasingly affordable and prolific, so do the benefits it brings become more and more significant. The first step towards moving towards automation however, if robotic friendly shelving to accommodate it.
