eBook - Warehouse Solutions (EM21060) - Book - Page 21
Using Automation to
Increase Space Utilization
TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH
TO DEPLOYMENT
Taking a holistic approach to warehouse
design is very important when it comes to
the complex decisions around introducing or
expanding automation in your warehouse. In
our e-book, “The Time to Automate Is Now:
Overcoming the Hurdle of Getting Started,” we
offer a comprehensive look into how warehouse
automation has evolved and how companies
can adopt an automation mindset to improve
productivity and grow their business. It is
designed to help you consider how and why you
should automate and how embracing automation
can affect your operation and workforce.
While much of the e-book focuses on deploying
automated forklifts, it helps illustrate the
importance of holistically understanding how
automation fits into your overall operation. A
fragmented or siloed approach to deploying or
expanding warehouse automation technologies
could, at best, decrease the ROI realized and, at
worst, doom your deployment to failure.
When planning for deployment of automation
technologies, it is important to determine how
automation technologies can be integrated
into your environment as well as how they can
affect, and can be affected by other systems,
characteristics and components of your
warehouse. This includes product
flow, existing processes, employee
perception and training.
You may encounter opportunities
to integrate automation with
other technologies to enhance
productivity and ROI. As with
the many other components of
warehouse design, exploring
automation with a single-source
supplier can help ensure that these
considerations are addressed and
streamline the process.
19
