The benefits of warehouse automation are obvious: automation speeds up processing, increases accuracy, reduces power costs, increases reliability, and enables more efficient use of warehouse space and space. However, these advantages are not free. Automation requires very expensive cost inputs, and only through the reduction in operating costs can the investment be recovered. This is not a one-off effort, and needs to be considered in the medium and long term. How do companies choose warehouse automation? What factors need to be considered? What is the return on investment? This dialogue will undoubtedly bring some inspiration to the reader. Advantages and disadvantages of AS/RS Mr. Zhang Xianji: The automated warehouse system includes both hardware and software. The hardware can be divided into storage system, sorting system and handling system. The software mainly refers to the storage with monitoring and scheduling, identification tracking, operation control, management analysis and other functions. Management software, the combination of the two systems can more effectively use the economic benefits of the automation system. At present, domestic automated warehousing systems are widely used in the automotive, electronics, and tobacco industries. From decades of research and development and application in the world, the automated warehousing system has undoubtedly brought many benefits to the enterprise. Compared with traditional warehousing, its advantages can be summarized as: improving space utilization, reducing floor space, and reducing labor demand. Dependence, reduce labor costs; reduce damage rate, increase cargo storage safety; improve warehouse operation efficiency; improve warehouse management level, is a sign of modern logistics. Mr. Bai Lian: The main advantage of the automated warehousing system is the control of the entire warehouse operation and the accuracy of the operation, especially in the case of integrated warehouse management systems (WMS) and location control systems. Knowing the stock situation in real time and knowing the exact location of each inventory makes management simple. The accuracy of material flow management depends on understanding whether inventory can meet customer needs, such as full container shipments, picking requirements, or batch control in the staging area. At the same time, throughput is an important factor to consider: for the storage and handling of large quantities of goods, hiring more labor and using manual handling equipment does not effectively meet service level requirements. If the system uses software that focuses on the gold area or automatically adjusts the inventory structure at night to meet the needs of the next day, it can bring more benefits to warehouse management. In general, the higher the value of goods stored and shipped, the greater the value of automated warehousing systems. For high-value items such as medicines, storage operations are more convenient and safer. Mr. Zhang Xianji: Inevitably, the automated warehousing system also has its disadvantages or constraints, including: high investment costs: compared to traditional warehousing systems, this is the most obvious disadvantage. The automated warehouse system consists of advanced hardware and software systems and therefore has a high purchase cost. At the same time, the cost of purchasing resources, after-sales service, such as spare parts replacement, is also high. Long construction period: including the evaluation and analysis of the current status of the warehouse before use, the ordering period of the procurement, the system installation and debugging cycle, etc., it takes a long time. High requirements on the storage characteristics of goods, lack of flexibility: the design and construction of automated warehouses, need to consider the logistics characteristics of its storage goods, storage environment, throughput. Once put into use, the storage characteristics are basically fixed. If a certain factor changes, its adaptation and change flexibility are relatively small. High requirements for warehouse management and technical personnel: The technical content of the automated storage system is relatively high, and the quality requirements for the operators are correspondingly high. The operators need special training before they can be employed. The combination of multiple systems is required to maximize economic benefits: such as the combination of storage systems and handling systems, the combination of hardware and software systems, due to technical requirements, the combination of the same level of technology can maximize the benefits, increasing investment to some extent. cost. Factors to consider when choosing an AS/RS Mr. Feng Honglin: A good solution will directly determine the success of an automated storage system. The choice of the plan can be considered by the enterprise itself, or it can be specially designed by the company. Generally, the automated warehouse supplier is continuously perfected according to the current situation of the enterprise and combined with years of practical experience. This is a long-term process. Unless the company has special requirements, such as corporate image and other factors, generally semi-automated warehouses account for the vast majority of practical applications. Equipment selection: Equipment selection has always been the focus of many companies, and more companies are often keen to spend a small amount of money to buy good performance equipment. However, many companies lack awareness of equipment. In many cases, cheaply purchased equipment often causes problems such as cumbersome equipment maintenance, expensive operating costs, and cargo detention caused by warehouse failures. When considering the cost of an automated warehouse, you should not only consider the construction cost, but also the operating costs, such as electricity, gas, labor, bar code, etc., as well as maintenance costs, other cost of loss, etc. A good automated warehouse supplier will help companies consider the cost of equipment and make recommendations on the selection of equipment. System maintenance: no matter how advanced the automated warehouse, after running for a period of time, there will always be various problems: there are equipment problems, such as the chain will be loose for a long time, the drum tension ring will be disconnected, the power off position Some inevitable natural phenomena such as offset. There are also more irregular operations, causing damage to equipment, etc., which will directly affect the production of the company. Therefore, after the warehouse is completed, a good after-sales maintenance system is crucial. Whether it can quickly deal with the problems that arise will greatly affect the efficiency of an automated warehouse. Mr. Bai Lian: There are many factors to consider when designing AS/RS. We design the following factors: the product specification, that is, the number of products and product types to be transported; the processing volume, that is, the number of units processed per day or per The number of units processed in the hour. This is not the average, based on the highest and lowest values ​​of the treatment volume; observing the volume of each product series, the efficiency of the material and the flow of the item to obtain momentum data; assessing the delivery requirements should take into account the shipping location of the goods and Shipping methods, such as full-box shipments or zero-detail shipments; future growth rates, growth rates are also a consideration in this fast-growing market; constraints such as land restrictions or existing building constraints. Mr. Zhang Xianji: The same automation system may not be able to meet the requirements under different storage conditions. This is closely related to the characteristics of the goods, the characteristics of the storage, the investment budget of the company, and so on. We can consider separately from the three aspects of system design, selection and application. In terms of system design, detailed research and analysis of the logistics needs of enterprises are needed. First of all, the company should have a comprehensive understanding of the macro factors such as the logistics strategy, investment budget, government policies and regulations, as well as the building constraints such as the characteristics and quantity of warehouse plots. When it comes to detailed design of system specifications and parameters, it should deal with the specifications and characteristics of stored goods, the size and structure of the minimum inventory unit, the access requirements of goods, the logistics operation characteristics in recent years, the environment in which the system operates, and the unit time of equipment. In terms of efficacy, etc., detailed analysis and evaluation are performed to determine the specific specifications or parameters of the required system. In terms of system selection, in addition to the system specifications determined by the above analysis, integration and connection between systems should also be considered. Only by organically combining the various subsystems can the benefits of the entire automation system be maximized. Attention should be paid to the connection between the subsystem's own operating system and control system, the integration of different subsystems such as storage and handling, storage and sorting, sorting and handling systems, and the integration of various equipment systems with warehouse management systems. In the application phase of the system, attention should be paid to maintenance and maintenance, which is closely related to the personnel training before use, the establishment of strict management system, emergency measures, and system after-sales maintenance. How to ensure the success of the project Mr. Wang Zhongjun: The verification of whether a complex project has achieved the expected goal is sometimes not fully verified in the short term, because the objectives of the project generally have multiple aspects, such as cost control, implementation time, return on investment, etc. Some of the targets are sometimes due to the market. The accuracy of changes in the environment and other factors or the accuracy of prior predictions cannot be fully met. There are many factors that determine the success of the project. From a procedural point of view, in the logistics system, the success of the project depends first on whether it is sufficient to understand the current situation and real needs of the customer. Whether the function of the system can solve the customer's problem is very important. Principles and directions are fatal if there is a deviation; the success of the second project also requires a good implementation team to ensure the quality, schedule and cost of the project, the impact of the project's ability on the success of the project, especially for large projects and complex projects. Due to management and other reasons, the project plan cannot be fully guaranteed. Enterprises need to pay attention to this when selecting suppliers. The technical support and after-sales service after the project is completed are also the guarantee for the project to be well operated. Many projects are implemented before implementation. In this regard, there are generally clear requirements; the last thing to note is that the training of the project is also very important, and it will also play a significant role in ensuring the commissioning and normal operation of the project. Mr. Feng Honglin: The most direct way to determine whether a project is successful is to see whether the original design requirements are met after the project is completed. The design requirements include: project implementation time, system layout, system operation capability, and stand-alone operation capability. After going online, is it as smooth as expected, whether it really achieves the performance of an automated warehouse, and whether it really brings production power to the enterprise. Many times, we tend to focus only on the capabilities and operation of local devices to meet the requirements of a single device, while ignoring overall coordination. In fact, it is unsuccessful to debug a single device, communicate with the entire system, and connect badly. Mr. Xu Ke: For the logistics system, I personally think that judging whether the project is successful is nothing more than the following: whether the operational efficiency of the logistics system is significantly improved, simply to see whether the order processing capacity is improved; whether the logistics cost is reduced: raising the land Utilization rate; reduce distribution error rate, reduce reverse logistics cost; improve vehicle utilization rate, reduce transportation cost; increase operator productivity; smooth logistics system operation, equipment utilization is high. Mr. Bai Lian: Years of experience tell us that the initial phase of the launch of the new system is critical, and it affects the customer's assessment of the value of the new system. From this point of view, spending more time and energy on the planning and implementation of the system is not an exaggeration. Project winners are often responsible for selecting the right employees for their clients and carefully training them until they are fully aware of how to use the new system. For example, the driver was well trained before he officially went on the road, and the driver of the untrained driver could not do it in terms of speed control, control and fuel consumption control. For cars, the importance of training before going online can be imagined. AS/RS return on investment Mr. Xu Ke: Dafu has planned and built a super-large distribution center for a furniture manufacturing enterprise in Zhejiang, covering an area of ​​nearly 100,000 m2. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase of the project is 400m long, 90m wide and 24m high, with more than 30,000 storage places. The second phase is 330m long, 90m wide, 34m high and nearly 40,000 storage places. After the completion of the project, the work efficiency was greatly improved, and the other two difficult problems were solved: First, the handling problem, because the furniture produced was very large, the pallet designed by Dafu was 2.4m long, 2m wide, and the cargo height was 1.9m. It is inconvenient to carry pallets with long distances, especially on rainy days. Dafu's design system connects all of their production workshops through conveyors, which not only solves the problem, but also saves manpower and forklifts; it is more succinct in terms of process and more convenient in management. The second is the efficiency of the selection. The customers used to be kept in the flat warehouse. The area of ​​the warehouse is very large, and the order picking is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Dafu has added online picking equipment when designing the delivery system. This makes it very convenient to pick and order the order through the WMS system. The automatic library will take out the goods to be picked in time and then transport them to the picking station through the ring car. After the selection, Move it back to the automatic library storage station via the ring car. The customer gave a high evaluation after using the Dafu system, and soon decided to build the second and third distribution center projects. Now the second phase has been put into use. Mr. Feng Honglin: After the completion of the Shanghai Lianhua Convenience Distribution Center, it has been well received by the public for its high efficiency, low error rate and humanized design. All operations in the distribution center are managed by the WMS of the computer center, and the library information is connected with the company's ERP system, so that the procurement and delivery can be relied upon. The logistics center can store up to 100,000 boxes of goods, and the daily demolition of goods can reach 30,000 boxes. The commodity turnover period is 3.5 days, and the inventory backlog is greatly reduced. The electronic label (DPS) method is used to replace the manual picking, which reduces the error rate to 10,000 points. One of them can deliver more than 400 stores every day. The accuracy of delivery, the level of delivery service, and the satisfaction of stores have all been greatly improved. At the same time, the proportion of logistics costs in the total sales has been reduced, thus serving as the convenience store format of Lianhua. The good and stable development has laid a solid foundation. Vacuum Bag Sealer,Vacuum Seal Bags,Vacuum Seal Storage Bags,Vacuum Pack Machine Foshan Lifecode Tech. Co., Ltd , https://www.lifecodetech.com.cn