St. Onge Company’s Norm Saenz published an article in Modern Materials Handling about the challenges businesses face when implementing new automation systems. He discusses the importance of carefully selecting applications that align with needs and the importance of thorough planning. Use the link below to read the article!
The journey toward a new system begins by identifying the right application for your operation. While an abundance of technologies is available for handling various loads, pinpointing the right fit within your network of facilities is crucial.
Typically, this exists where you face the most operational labor. From autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) through fully automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), selecting the application providing the most labor savings is a good place to start.
Next comes the planning phase, where data collection is crucial. This involves gathering item master data, customer order history and inventory profiles. A common misstep in this phase is failing to apply the appropriate growth factors. It’s a challenging yet essential step that must be meticulously completed and documented. With future requirements calculated and documented, candidate systems can be identified.
Click here to read the article!
