With energy prices — particularly electricity — forecast for continuous price hikes across Australia in the coming years, this can easily put the squeeze on warehouse operators with large premises.
Regardless of industry, the price per square metre is also destined to increase accordingly, forcing some warehouse operators to look for downsized options.
The smarter operators will be the ones that reduce floor space, preferring to take advantage of all that cubic space between the floor and ceiling.
Materials handling solutions provider, Industrial Conveying (Aust) Pty Ltd, believes most companies that operate large warehouses experience floor space problems - typically those with varied stock keeping units (SKUs). Managing director, Don Erskine, says companies in this situation require accuracy of selection during the materials handling process but find it hard to reduce damage to product while maintaining multiple choice of picking (a ‘first-in first-out’ system or by selection).
“We saw this as the way operators would need to increase efficiency in space utilisation, so we developed a High Bay Stacker system to achieve these aims,” Erskine said.
“Our High Bay Stacker solution is essentially a sortation system that efficiently can put as little as a single product into store, but for distribution can choose multiple products and dispatch.
“It allows fast and accurate use of very high spaces within a warehouse — as efficiently as if it was down at floor level.
“With operating costs expected to rise considerably in the coming years, the only way to go is ‘up’ to reduce the operating footprint and save running costs.”
The solution fits into a distribution chain and logistics set up much better than a forklift system.
It combines with automatic truck loading systems for a pre-assembly of loads waiting for the next truck to arrive, which makes a positive difference to operating costs.
Loading becomes much quicker, especially in the current economic environment where fuel is going up in price. With this system an operator can ‘cube’ the load to get optimum usage in the truck space.
It provides the ability to be able to load B-Double trucks automatically.
Using a system of aisle-specific stacker cranes run by radio frequency (RF) technology to place or retrieve pallets at almost any height — its optimum work environment is in the handling of consistent pallets and multiple loads ASRS (automated stacking retrieval system), in conjunction with High Bay Warehousing, eliminates the cost of running a forklift fleet for such applications and increases the occupational health and safety levels in warehouses by almost eliminating human interaction with this moving equipment.
Stacker crane technology can reach much higher than the tynes of forklifts and will operate across a wide temperature and environment band to facilitate all types of industries, conditions and atmospheric variations.
"Warehouses running on stacker cranes aren’t signalling the death knell for forklifts, but they do have a much better suitability in premises handling constant types of pallets and loads,” Erskine said.
"Stacker crane technology is configured to be extremely cost-effective regardless of how high or how low an altitude it is handling - the technology is scalable and cost efficient regardless.
“ASRS suits general transport logistics services, the food and beverage processing industry, snack foods warehousing, general industrial warehouses and retail warehousing operations.”
In high-rise warehouses, RF guided ASRS stacker crane systems are the most effective way to store pallets because they can achieve far more efficient aisle movement, lift- and lower-times, and placement and retrieval than the human operated forklift.
Stacker units achieve their high efficiency and rates of accuracy through automated control systems that accurately and rapidly position them on their X and Y axes.
The technology can be used in atmospheric conditions where heat and/or humidity are required in the warehousing environment all the way down the other end of the temperature scale where frozen products are being stored at -30°C.
The ASRS integrates easily with Industrial Conveying's ever expanding suite of pallet dock loading and dispatch technologies which can be entirely automated or made to work in synchronicity with dock loading forklifts.
“For users, ASRS gains excellent efficiency of space, order picking accuracy and speed, and a very high level of OH&S around its use because it eliminates forklifts in the warehouse and related labour issues and potential driver error,” Erskine said.
Industrial Conveying (Aust) Pty Ltd
03 5440 5100
www.icaust.com.au