10. Lack of appropriate materials handling equipment
Your choice of materials handling equipment (or lack thereof) will set the level of productivity available to you in the same way as your warehouse layout and racking. One of my key observations in any warehouse is how well equipment been deployed and how much it eases the physical task. This will be indicated by how much motion is required to complete a task. Following the Lean Methodology, motion is a non-value adding waste that should be eliminated where possible.
The classic mistake many warehouse managers make is to think that materials handling equipment is expensive and should be used sparingly. Regardless of the cost, appropriate materials handling equipment will:
The classic mistake many warehouse managers make is to think that materials handling equipment is expensive and should be used sparingly. Regardless of the cost, appropriate materials handling equipment will:
- increase safety (reducing the cost of safety related incidents),
- reduce labour (operating expense) and
- increase capacity,
1.
a container,
2.
a mechanical means of moving that container,
3.
a storage system for the container.
Containerisation of goods
is the foundation all materials handling.
Basic packaging is packed into or onto a container to standardise the
means of materials handling. For
example, a pallet makes a forklift possible.
Although pallet standards vary they are similar enough in concept to
allow a forklift to be built that is able to handle the wide variety of pallets
available. Pallet racking provides a
place to store pallets of goods with volumetric efficiency.
The containerisation
concept is widely applied in many types of materials handling system to
increase productivity. There are a huge
variety of materials handling systems available to suit most common
applications. Custom containers and
handling systems can also be built for non-standard products and materials.
The most efficient
warehouse will make the best use of appropriate equipment. Here is a quick round up of the different
types of materials handling systems:
1.
Trolleys and tote bins
a.
If you have a lot of small order picking and
processing then a trolley and tote/carton system is essential. Multi–order picking to a multi-level pick
trolley will allow you to pick several orders in one pass through the warehouse
and is very efficient.
2.
Motorised trolleys and stock-pickers
a.
A pedestrian picker is limited to the speed they
can walk and how high they can reach.
Using a motorised trolley such as a Crown WAVE or a with a built in
ladder or step to allow the picker to reach higher levels, will allow a
dramatic increase in the range of stock accessible to a pedestrian picker.
3.
Forklifts
a.
Pallet jack
i. The
most basic manual hydraulic lifting device for moving a pallet. They only move pallets at floor level. Motorised units are available to ease the
physical effort.
b. Pallet mover/low level stock-picker
i. These
are large ride on pallet movers that are designed to facilitate carton picking
from the first level of pallet racking and can also be used to load
semi-trailers. Some units can carry two
or more pallets on extended tines. Crown
now has a unit that is remote controlled so that the picker does not need to
get on and off to drive to the next pick bay.
c. Walkie stacker
i. A
walkie stacker is a most basic type of forklift for moving pallets into the
higher levels of pallet racking. There
are a wide variety available and really suit small warehouses with low a volume
of pallet movements. They can work in
aisles as narrow as 2.4m to get the best use out of small warehouse spaces.
d. Counter balanced forklift
i. These
are the traditional looking forklifts with a seat and fork tines out in front
of the wheels and a heavy weight (counterbalance) at the rear. They are now relegated to truck loading and
yard work rather than use within pallet racking where a reach truck is more
efficient.
e. Reach truck
i. The
reach truck is so named because it has a mechanism to move the pallet into or
out of the racking from the body of the forklift.
There are two types:
There are two types:
1.
The moving mast type moves the entire mast back
and forth.
2.
The cantilever type uses an X-type extending
cantilever to move the pallet back and forth.
These forklifts work in much narrower aisles than the counterbalanced forklift of around 3.0m or less. They can also now reach to very high levels of over 12m with the use of automatic level selection and video camera assisted positioning.
f. Stock-picker
i. The
stock picker is designed to carry a person to high levels in storage racking so
that they can pick cartons. This
eliminates the need to reach up and pull down and then replace a pallet just to
pick off a few cartons. They are a
productivity gold mine in the right circumstance.
g. Turret truck
i. A
turret truck is designed to work in very narrow aisles of 2.0m or less. The turret refers to the mechanism that
allows the fork tines to swivel from side to side as the turret trucks tines
are moveable from side to side. Most
turret trucks also carry the operator to high levels to ease operation and
allow for carton picking. Turret trucks
can reach up to 18m in height.
h. High level cranes
i. A
high level crane does the same thing as a turret truck, but it is built into
the structure of the building and located on rails top and bottom so that it
can reach even higher levels.
4.
Conveyors
a.
Conveyors are a substitute for moving stock by
forklift or other device. They are very
fast and efficient but also very specific and not easily (or cheaply) altered. Conveyors best suit mature businesses with
high order volumes. They are mostly used
in very large and high volume warehouses where the investment is warranted by
the high transaction and stock volume they handle.
b. Smaller scale applications of conveyors are used but can also introduce inefficiencies when the business needs change and the fixed conveyor no longer suits the new operation but is not updated. Also when your conveyor system is down it can simply stop you shipping orders. An efficient but more manual system is more scalable and has the flexibility to cope with changing business needs.
5.
Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems
(AS/RS)
a.
AS/RS is a very broad term that can apply to
anything from a carousel to a huge warehouse with conveyors and cranes moving
pallets in and out of a very high level automated warehouse. The technology removes human activity and
brings the goods to the man for order processing.
6.
Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
a.
Forklift AGVs are available and well suited to
high volume pallet movements often associated with manufacturing plants. They can be configured as a turret truck and
can even load semi-trailers. Like most
automation they are suited to high volume operations and will provide the
highest return when operated in a 24/7 environment.
b. Kiva Systems make a mini AGV that is so good at what it does that Amazon bought the company. The Kiva system uses many small AGVs to move storage shelves around the warehouse to picking stations allowing the picker to stay put and perform a multi-order pick to carton without having to walk around the warehouse.
7.
Robots
a.
The Baxter Robot may not yet
be a viable storeperson replacement yet, but watch this space. These devices will
only get better and in 20 years or less will likely start to make inroads into
all kinds of repetitive manual labour.
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