New Robotics Solution Supports Flexible Automation in Warehouses

Overview

Logistics professionals have traditionally considered their warehouses to be either manual or highly automated. Highly automated solutions have high throughput, but are expensive and inflexible – they adjust poorly to change. Manual warehouses are much more flexible, but have lower throughput. But we need to relook at this automation spectrum. Automation solutions with high throughput and greater flexibility have arrived. This ARC Advisory Group report discusses one such solution and provides a case study on a company that implemented it.

Flexible Automation

Historically, logistics professionals talked about warehouses as being either manual or highly automated, with not much in between. Manual ware-houses are more flexible and adapt much more easily to change. Highly automated warehouses have much higher throughput, but their cost and lack of flexibility can make them a risky investment.

However, there are automation solutions that are highly flexible as well. Here, autonomous mobile robots have been getting a lot of press. But ARC is also starting to hear more about AutoStore, a flexible robotic solution for warehouses. One knowledgeable source tells us Walmart has been piloting this solution and, at the recent HighJump Elevate conference, Parts Town, the world’s largest distributor of food service equipment, presented on its AutoStore implementation.

Flexible automation solutions can better handle changes in order volume, but also have much higher throughput than manual warehouses. AutoStore, one example, is essentially an automatic storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), but with more intelligence and scalability.

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Keywords: Automation, Logistics, Material Handling, Warehouse Management, ARC Advisory Group.