View original at www.therobotreport.com

By Matt Wicks, Chief Robotics Solution Architect The labor shortage doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon, prompting more distribution center (DC) operators to consider implementing a variety of automated warehouse solutions to help ease their burdens. If your facility’s management is considering warehouse automation as a potential means to increase your DC’s productivity in a tight labor market, you’re not alone. In fact, 65 percent of respondents to MHI’s 2019 Annual Industry Report and Survey rated hiring workers as their single biggest challenge, followed closely by the perpetually shifting range of customer demands (e.g., lower pricing, faster responsiveness and more customization). MHI’s report also examines the barriers many operations must overcome on their journey to automating order fulfillment and other handling processes. Decision makers, the report notes, often become overwhelmed as they struggle to stay on top of the latest automated and digital innovations, determine which technologies are the optimal fit for their needs, and decide how to sequence the optimal implementation of warehouse automation solutions and software. At Honeywell Intelligrated, we partner with our customers to help them select, plan, and implement their best-fit solution . These installations combine advanced software, material handling equipment (MHE) and automation technologies to drive continuous warehouse productivity gains — regardless of workforce availability. No two operations are the same, meaning no two solutions are the same. Yet all of our installations leverage a common technical foundation that is both flexible and scalable enough to match a facility’s evolving needs. In the first of this two-part series, we will explore our software and material handling solutions that can improve your warehouse automation needs. Check back soon for the second edition, where we will further explore automated storage and retrieval solutions, order picking and robotic technologies to improve warehouse automation. Software solutions Warehouse […]