Tag: automation|materials handling|warehouse automation

Intelligent automation specialist Dematic is inviting customers and journalists to a live broadcast on 10th March featuring Dematic Customer Service and the benefits of analytic solutions.

Dematic Customer Service offers a wide variety of innovative service solutions such as advanced predictive maintenance capabilities for keeping your equipment, software, and systems operating at peak performance. At the event, experts from the Dematic Customer Service and Global Software Analytics teams will showcase their analytic solutions and provide information about Dematic InSights, a cloud-based analytics platform for optimising warehouse operations and condition monitoring.

Alberto Rostagno, VP Customer Service EMEA, adds: “Dematic Customer Service plays a vital role in maintaining and optimizing warehouse efficiency, ensuring facilities are operating with minimum unplanned downtime and managing risks across one or multiple sites. Traditional customer maintenance services are enhanced by Dematic InSights and its remote support capabilities.”

Customers benefit from the increased control of their warehouse operation systems – and from a greater ability to master growth, handle peak season demands, and accommodate new technology. “With our analytics tool, customers have better access to their data and better visibility into their systems so they can enact action plans to improve their operations. This way, Dematic InSights allows customers to be more proactive in addressing potential issues before they become truly disruptive,” explains Andy Bruinsma, Director Digital Solutions at Dematic, who will be one of the speakers.

During the live broadcast, experts will present the current Dematic InSights dashboard modules. These range from drill-down views of system and subsystem availability tracking to elaborate visualisations of operator performance, subsystem throughput, and equipment fault analysis. The presentation will also include a demonstration of specific case stories of customers who have significantly optimised their operational or maintenance processes with Dematic InSights.

The live sessions starting at 10:00 GMT will be held in English and translated into French, Italian, and Spanish. Participants will receive live support from Dematic experts during the presentations and will be able to address specific questions at dedicated Q&A sessions. To see the full agenda and to register free of charge, visit https://www.dematic.com/peak-performance/.

Element Logic recently attained global distribution rights for sales and implementation of AutoStore, which it says is an important and logical step towards supporting international customers and keeping its role as the world’s largest AutoStore distributor.

“We are excited to expand our operations globally,” Håvard Hallås says, Chief Commercial Officer at Element Logic.

Element Logic is the world’s first and largest AutoStore distributor and has been a valued AutoStore-partner for decades.

“We have believed in AutoStore as the best warehouse automation system since our first installation in 2005. Having achieved a successful expansion to several European countries, we now set our ambition to support customers wherever they are and to be the preferred automation partner globally,” Dag-Adler Blakseth says, CEO at Element Logic.

“Element Logic has been an important local and regional partner of AutoStore since our start in 2003. We are delighted to now introduce them as one of our global partners and we know they will live up to our expectations as a global partner for distribution and system integration,” Karl Johan Lier says, CEO of AutoStore.

“We look forward to working with Element Logic as it will undoubtedly continue to play a key role in increasing AutoStore’s presence all over the world,” he adds.

Markets with international growth potential

Some markets stand out as potential next steps for Element Logic when expanding beyond Europe.

“We see great potential in the US and Asian markets. We already have a few projects in the US that we are excited to deliver in 2022,” Hallås explains.

Another natural place to start when going global is our global customers. Today, Element Logic handles and delivers solutions to several global customers, and it makes sense to open offices in these markets.

“This should be good news to our customers with operations and potential outside Europe,” Hallås says.

The Element way – globally

“We continuously work to find out where it makes sense for Element Logic to expand,” Hallås says.

“Our future growth will come from both our existing and new markets. We plan to increase the growth from new markets at a sustainable pace. We could have expanded beyond Europe at an earlier stage, but it was essential to draw upon experiences from the European market and bring with us a profitable business model,” he continues.

The growth rate Element Logic has experienced in the last years is amongst the highest in the industry.

Quality and growth

“We have a solid market position in the Scandinavian market. We will keep growing this, and our European position, in the coming years,” Blakseth says.

By developing new technology and continuously putting efforts into the European market, Element Logic gains significant advantages when expanding to new markets. The goal always has been, and always will be, to create solutions of the highest quality for customers with growth potential.

Element Logic and AutoStore have an established brand and a good reputation beyond the European borders.

“The key reason for expanding now is that we have learned how to grow sustainably, we have the scale to grow, and most importantly, the foundation is in place for us to bring relevant partners on board,” Hallås says.

This month marks a historic event for logistics automation, as TBWB (Technical Bureau West-Brabant BV) will be celebrating its 45th anniversary on 14th February 2022, a rare achievement in this industry.

TBWB is a family business founded in 1977 by Henk Friederichs, and focuses mainly on industrial automation, specialising in internal logistics. Since 2009 the company has been taken over by the next generation, son Bart Friederichs who is general manager, and his sister Jikke Friederichs is head of HR.

On 14th February, TBWB also says goodbye to Willem Huijben, an employee from the very beginning, who will enjoy his well-deserved retirement after 45 years of loyal service.

TBWB is a specialist for the automation of internal logistics processes. Whether it concerns the digitisation of order picking processes and the integration of automated installations, palletising concepts, or the complete automation of processing, storage and transport systems, TBWB  describes itself as the specialist for every logistical challenge.

TBWB delivers complete custom projects for the automation of internal logistics, from engineering to delivery and service (24/7). Whether it concerns transport and sorting systems, material handling and order picking, to automatic storage of pallets and goods, TBWB says it can offer the right solution for every company active in logistics. TBWB’s core business is warehouses, distribution centres and production companies.

It puts together a specialised project team for each project, and claims that the optimal bundling of knowledge and know-how, in collaboration with its reliable partners, ensures the desired result.

With TBWB Flowcontrol, it controls the entire automated installation plus PLC. With TBWB Stockcontrol, it manages the stock and warehouse processes (location, stock and storage) for automated solutions such as automated warehouses, pick-to-light systems, and barcode scanners. With TBWB Sortercontrol, TBWB says it has a unique solution for controlling sorting installations. Its software team seamlessly links all these software packages to your ERP or WMS (Warehouse Management System).

Its customers include Ahrend, Trans-O-Flex, Hitachi Transport Systems, Destil, Montapacking, Intertoys, Fabory, Bego, Sumitomo, CB, PostNL and Merba.

 

As part of its “Logistics 2030” optimisation campaign, Edeka Nord is again relying on the storage and picking systems of the general contractor Witron from Parkstein, Germany, for the design and implementation of the new regional warehouse in Neumünster.

With 26 latest-generation COM machines, the current largest German food distribution centre that is run by Witron’s OPM technology is being built in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. From mid-2025, Edeka’s DC will supply almost 700 stores of the Edeka Regionalgesellschaft Nord with more than 10,000 dry goods. Edeka Nord and Witron implemented a highly automated central warehouse in Zarrentin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) already in 2015, which was expanded in 2019.

“Our decision to invest in the OPM solution was based not only on economic aspects and workstation ergonomics but also on environmental factors such as CO2 savings in transportation thanks to efficiently packed load carriers for optimal trailer utilisation,” explained Uwe Schmidt, Project Contractor for “Logistics 2030” at Edeka Nord.

The facility with a size of 46,300 sq m includes a total of 70,050 pallet locations, 583,600 tray locations, and 67 highly dynamic stacker cranes. It is designed for a daily picking capacity of 365,750 cases. Most of the cases are stacked fully automatically onto pallets and roll containers by 26 COM machines – without errors and in a way that makes unloading and replenishing in stores easier and faster.

Bulky goods are picked by the logistics staff supported by the semi-automated Witron Car Picking system (CPS). Parallel picking of several orders onto one industrial truck is possible. The Witron Display Pallet Picking System (DPP) places half and quarter pallets fully automatically onto pallets and roll containers. An intelligent Witron IT platform ensures a holistic connection between all processes within the internal and external supply chain and thus guarantees high flexibility as well as process optimisation in real-time.

As already established at the six other automated Edeka and two NETTO sites throughout Germany, a Witron OnSite team will also be responsible for service and maintenance of all processes and system components in Neumünster.

 

Warehouse automation is enabling Phoenix Healthcare Distribution to fulfil patients’ repeat prescription orders efficiently and securely from its facility in Runcorn, Cheshire. The company is using the Pack2Patient automated logistics solution developed and delivered by KNAPP, which enables single items to be processed rapidly, cost-effectively and with end-to-end traceability.

KNAPP has supplied automated logistics systems for over 80 Phoenix locations worldwide. The solution featuring five Pack2Patient lines, which was supplied to the Runcorn distribution centre in 2019, has been so successful that Phoenix recently installed an additional line at the site.

The Runcorn facility is one of the UK’s largest automated pharmacies and provides Phoenix with a ‘hub and spoke’ solution for the assembly of repeat prescriptions, with an average of 1.7 million items a month being processed for pharmacies in England, Scotland and Wales.

“We were delighted to partner with KNAPP to develop our bespoke offsite order assembly facility,” says Paul Wilkinson, Head of Supply Chain Development and Centralised Dispensing at Phoenix. “The medicines supply chain relies on automation and IT solutions to ensure patients get the medicines they need, when they need them and at the lowest cost. Centralised automated order fulfilment is vastly more efficient than pharmacy-level assembly, and through centralising repeat prescription assembly we are able to free up time for pharmacy colleagues to provide the support, advice and healthcare services that patients need from their local community pharmacies.”

The Pack2Patient solution is designed to meet all regulatory requirements, including the Falsified Medicines Directive. “Our KiSoft Vision image-recognition technology enables items to be scanned with comprehensive data capture for lot and serial number tracking,” says Phil Houghton, Business Development Director for KNAPP UK. “This forms part of our philosophy of the zero-defect warehouse to ensure quality, security and efficiency along the entire supply chain.”

At the Runcorn DC, products picked fully automatically by KNAPP’s Central Belt System (A-frame automatic picking machine) are conveyed to a workstation where an operator removes them from the tote, placing them on a conveyor belt. This feeds the items automatically into the Pack2Patient system, where smart cameras scan each item to capture information from 1D and 2D matrix codes, shape/dimensions and several other attributes. The Pack2Patient solution automatically prints and applies labels to the articles on the fly as they pass through the system.

Next is the article verification step – where the system checks that the label, information and article are correct – with any items not verified being diverted to a manual quality-checking station. The medicines are then automatically sorted into patient orders by the system via diversion into one of a series of conveyor lanes.

After an order quality check – to ensure that the correct articles are assigned to the order – the articles for a particular patient are automatically bagged and labelled for dispatch.

KNAPP also supplied ‘pick-to-light’ walls in a semi-automated Sort & Pack area, where orders for items not suitable for handling by the Pack2Patient automation are consolidated. These goods are scanned on one side of the wall and placed in the illuminated location before being picked by the worker on the other side of the wall, as indicated by light displays.

In addition to applications in the healthcare sector, KNAPP’s Pack2Patient technology is also suitable for use with veterinary products.

 

With the launch of its LiDAR-LOC 2 solution, SICK has made it easy to teach mobile machines virtual paths in order to enhance, expand, or replace physical floor-based guidance systems that use taped lines or 2D-codes.

The SICK LiDAR-LOC 2 is the first step in a major upgrade programme for SICK’s LiDAR Localisation-on-Contour software, which uses data from SICK 2D LiDAR sensors or safety scanners to create a reference map based on the contours of shop floors and warehouses and guide automated transport, stacking and loading systems. The upgrade lays the foundations for users, machine builders and developers to progress from localisation, using LiDAR position and orientation data, to being able to integrate full navigation to control the movement of all kinds of automated guided vehicles, carts, forklifts, or service robots.

Virtual Line Guidance

The SICK LiDAR-LOC 2 is a virtual line guidance system designed to enhance the physical line or code-reading systems of all kinds of automated mobile robots. It creates a virtual path to bridge a gap in a broken tape on the floor, or to add a deviation from the current line-guided path without having to go to the time and expense of laying down new lines or bar codes.

Simply teach the vehicle the route by moving it along the desired path, then refine the uploaded map data using the SICK visualisation software tool via an easy-to-follow graphic user interface. The system automatically patches the existing reference map or can merge the data with the existing map.

Neil Sandhu, SICK’s UK Product Manager for Imaging, Measurement, Ranging and Systems, explained: “While the original LiDAR-LOC provided an option for expert developers and integrators to use the raw data for navigation, in addition to the localisation information, the LiDAR-LOC 2 upgrade is based on a desire to make it much quicker and easier to use data from sensors to tell a mobile vehicle how to get from ‘A to B’.

“As a result, it promises to save the development time and cost, machine space and wiring complexity involved in integrating navigation, because separate software and controls are not needed. In the case of our first LiDAR-LOC 2 release, managers of mobile vehicle fleets using line or code guidance can much more easily alter vehicle paths or optimise their routes. Stoppages because of breaks in a line can be avoided, especially in high-traffic areas.”

Increased Fleet Availability

The SICK LiDAR-LOC 2 reduces fleet downtime from vehicle stoppages due to missing lines or codes. New routes can be commissioned without stopping the vehicle. Additionally, users can use analytical functions in the system to optimise vehicle routes, for example, by detecting where tape is no longer needed and can be removed. The system also offers a progression for users to dispense eventually with floor-based guidance and adopt a completely contour-based navigation system.

Enabled by LiDAR-LOC software running on a SICK Sensor Integration Machine, the SICK LiDAR-LOC 2 can be retrofitted to already-installed scanners. It can be integrated with SICK line sensors or 2D-code readers, as well as with encoders for motion control and odometry.

Major Platform Upgrade

The upgraded SICK LiDAR-LOC 2 solution achieves improved accuracy up to ≤ 10mm. In addition to the SICK Sensor Integration Machines, it can now be installed on third party controllers with common operating systems including Windows, Linux, Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS Lite. New APIs for streaming and configuration have been introduced for UDP, REST and COLA2.

A UK specialist is bringing a new business model to the automation and integration sector, which could be good news for SMEs.

Until now, automation projects have largely been for the mega players only. Only the Amazons, Tescos and Wal-Marts of this world have had the heft in terms of investment, capacity, footprint and staff resource to take expensive projects on with a clear ROI goal in mind and without disrupting their massive day-to-day operations.

But now the world is changing. Customer service requirements in terms of delivery speed, accuracy and personalisation are requiring SMEs to think like the big players – and that means automation and digital transformation. The problem for smaller concerns and ecommerce start-ups embarking on such projects often lies in not having the staff bandwidth and expertise to make the jump with any confidence and without incurring damaging disruption to the core business.

This is where Big Box Group comes in. Initially a strong business as a storage and racking specialist, some five or so years ago its founder Iain Gillard began to embrace a new vision of where warehousing was going, in which scanning efficiencies, AGVs and robots and a greater automation emphasis were front and centre. He forecast that SMEs would need someone to help them through the process, to be a reliable expert partner guaranteed to get the job done – and, crucially, to be a single point of contact.

Jason Dyche, the company’s Head of Automation, is himself a veteran of the German warehousing logistics optimisation field. He bought fully into Gillard’s concept, joining Big Box Group in summer 2020, at the height of the pandemic and in the full knowledge that the need for such skills as Big Box could offer would be accelerated by the world emergency.

“What I liked about the Big Box concept was that, with our wide expertise, we could walk into almost any business and we could help them with anything, within reason,” he reveals. “It could be racking, it could be a mezzanine floor, it could be a temporary building, it could be a scanning solution.”

Does that not make them just another consultancy service, though? “Absolutely not,” he shakes his head. “We are not consultants. We don’t charge a consultancy fee. The idea is that we work in partnership, that we are trusted to get the job over the line. And for the client, the beauty is that they have one phone call to make each time, because we will do the rest for them. If the project is a small one, we know we can go back in confidence a few months later and they will want us to do another, larger job.”

Big Box Group’s automation suite of solutions has led to partnerships with AGV supplier Balyo, narrow-aisle UK forklift specialist Flexi and goods-to-person AMR provider GreyOrange. A fruitful relationship has been established with fast-growing Munich-based wearables innovator ProGlove (pictured).

“The beauty of ProGlove is that it can provide a very quick fix in terms of ROI, perhaps 3-6 months compared to other automation solutions,” explains Jason Dyche. “There’s a fast turnaround, too – orders can be ready in a matter of weeks, whereas AMR and AGV implementation can be, say, 12-18 months.”

He says the company will look at any project within the warehouse, from Goods-In to Goods-Out. With that flexibility in mind, how does he go about assessing what is right for a new client?

“I’ll start by asking, ‘What are your objectives as a business?’ Let’s be honest, the answer is usually going to be: ‘We want to increase our turnover without adding to our overheads, in fact we would prefer to reduce those overheads’. My job is to establish how to do that for them most cost-effectively and appropriately,” he says.

It means no two projects are the same. Currently he is working on a large asset-tracking project for a successful manufacturer which has grown so fast that its inventory has become haphazard; on developing a way to move butter from a pallet to a conveying system more efficiently; and on a scanning project (with ProGlove) for a major British supermarket chain.

The ramp-up of the new automated frozen food warehouse of the Spanish food retailer Mercadona in Guadix (Granada, Spain), was carried out on time by WITRON. This is especially impressive as the construction and implementation of the project had to be executed in the midst of the most difficult phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, with all the well-known constraints and conditions.

All of this presented organisational and logistical challenges. Nevertheless, the productive ramp-up of the frozen food warehouse was successfully completed after only eight weeks and within the contractually agreed time frame.

Thanks to the efficient cooperation between the project teams of both companies, it was possible to carry out extensive operational and load tests before the productive start. As a result, the intended system performance was achieved just four weeks after the first store was supplied – and this in the middle of the summer season, with constantly growing throughput volumes of the system, which is designed for almost 50,000 cases per day.

The distribution centre in Guadix is already the sixth fully automated frozen food warehouse that WITRON has designed and implemented for Mercadona. Other sites are located in Madrid, Valencia, León, Barcelona, and Abrera. Seven COM machines are implemented over an area of approx. 18,000 sq m. Furthermore, an automated high bay warehouse with 7,000 pallet locations as well as a tray AS/RS with 62,000 locations are located in front of the COMs.

In addition, pallets from a bread factory in an adjacent building can be stored directly in the automatic pallet warehouse via conveyor network.

The new system currently supplies more than 170 Mercadona stores in Andalusia. In total, almost 950 Mercadona stores already receive their frozen goods through fully automated WITRON solutions. This represents more than 60% of the total stores of the leading Spanish food retailer. Since the first automated Mercadona logistics centre in Madrid was put into productive use more than 15 years ago, the OPM technology has significantly improved workstation ergonomics in the distribution centres – as well as efficiency and cost effectiveness in all logistics processes.

WITRON’s OPM technology is considered the most successful fully automated case order picking system worldwide in food retail logistics. WITRON solutions supply more than 100 million people daily with food and many important everyday necessities via 35,000+ stores or online.

Research from Interact Analysis shows that the global warehouse automation market will grow from $29.6bn in 2020 to $69bn in 2025. The information has been released in the latest edition of the company’s global warehouse automation report.

Fixed automation such as AS/RS, conveyors and conveyor-based sorters will remain the most common form of automation for the foreseeable future, but there is a rapidly growing trend for warehouses to adopt more flexible mobile automation solutions.

Owing to the pandemic, many companies saw a plateau in warehouse automation revenue, whilst order intake increased significantly. This was due to delays in project completion and supply chain limitations. As a result of this, Interact Analysis predicts that between 2021 and 2022 the warehouse automation market will endure a period of stabilization as the market re-equilibrates and catches up on the back log of orders. By 2022 the market will have returned to normal and will be facing a permanently accelerated rate of post-pandemic growth.

Dematic and Honeywell Intelligrated continue to retain the greatest market share. Dematic leads the way, with 10% of the market and impressive revenue growth of 31% in 2020 (compared to 14% in 2019). Meanwhile, Honeywell Intelligrated grew by 13% in 2020. Interestingly, Knapp’s order intake grew by 55% in 2020 while its revenues decreased by 1% due to project delays caused by the pandemic.

Driven by China and Japan, APAC retains its title of having the largest market share for warehouse automation with a market size of $11bn in 2020. A significant proportion of growth within the Americas and EMEA markets is predicted to come from the general merchandise and grocery sectors. Interestingly, these sectors are less prominent in APAC, where they together account for 29% of the warehouse automation market (compared to 42% and 45% of EMEA and the Americas respectively).

Rueben Scriven, Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis, said: “The general merchandise segment is the single largest segment in warehouse automation, and it is predicted to grow at a faster rate than the overall market, with revenues hitting $20bn by 2025. General merchandise is driven by companies such as JD.com, Amazon and Target, all of which have heavily benefited from the COVID-inspired e-commerce boost.

“By 2025, general merchandise will account for 28% of the market. However, the single fastest-growing vertical market is grocery, which is projected to grow from 12% of the market in 2020 to 16% in 2025.”

The founders of WEMO Automation – Sven, Olof and Bengt Ståhl – are handing over the management of the company to Johannes Kjellgren (CEO) and Håkan Larsson (COO). As part of this, WEMO will move to the Robotics Division within the HAHN Group in order to offer its customers an even broader portfolio of solutions and products with mobile and collaborative robotics. This complements the focus on the plastics market with technological competencies.

After more than 30 years of building, developing and managing WEMO Automation, the Ståhl brothers are handing over the management of the company to new hands. Already in 2015, the HAHN Group took over the majority of the company’s shares, and finally all of them. Now also the leadership will be handed over to Johannes Kjellgren, who took over management of the company in October 2021.

Johannes Kjellgren has many years of experience in customer-centric sales and general management. With his deep knowledge of international markets, he will continue to expand the sales network and customer service for WEMO in order to be even closer to the customers.

At his side, Håkan Larsson will be responsible for operational management as COO, starting in Spring 2022. As a proven expert in technical development and the plastics industry and with his many years of experience, he stands for the continuity with regard to the reliability and technological excellence of the WEMO products.

“It is not easy to successfully shape a succession situation in which the founders have built and managed their company with so much dedication and passion. Therefore we are very happy that in Johannes and Håkan we have found two very experienced entrepreneurs who can not only preserve what has been achieved, but also want to add new things at the same time,” says Philipp Unterhalt, CEO of the HAHN Group.

“Our thanks go to Sven, Olof and Bengt. For the trusting cooperation of the last few years, the friendly interaction and also for the fact that they continue to support us in an advisory capacity – also beyond WEMO within the HAHN Group.”

The previous CEO, Sven Ståhl, adds: “With the takeover by the HAHN Group, we were able to set the course for a stable and secure future for WEMO as early as 2015. With Johannes and Håkan, the HAHN Group remains true to its culture of continuing to run the business with highly professional and very value-based people.“

“I am looking forward to the new task of further positioning the team and the potential of WEMO in the plastics market and also inspiring existing and new customers with further automation and robotics solutions from the HAHN Group”, comments Johannes Kjellgren.

“I have spent most of my career in the plastics industry and got to know WEMO as a very professional and innovative company,” adds Håkan Larsson, new COO of WEMO. “Therefore I am delighted to further develop the technology according to our customers’ requirements and needs.”

As part of the succession, WEMO Automation will strengthen the Robotics division within the HAHN Group in the future. This bundles the know-how in the areas of linear, collaborative and mobile robotics and makes it even easier for customers to access. In addition, own sales and partner networks complement each other very well in order to further increase customer proximity. Through the HAHN Group network, WEMO is also to be developed even more strongly as a regional hub in Scandinavia in the future.

Pictured (left to right): Bengt Ståhl, Founder of WEMO Automation; Philipp Unterhalt, CEO of HAHN Group; Martin Schmitz, Division Director Robotics in HAHN Group; Håkan Larsson, New Vice President of WEMO Automation; Johannes Kjellgren, New CEO of WEMO Automation; Olof Ståhl, Founder of WEMO Automation; Sven Ståhl, Founder of WEMO Automation