Think you have control over your materials handling operations? Going forward, it won't be enough. The reason: the increasing demand for real-time information at all stages of the supply chain.

'Materials handling systems have taken on greater importance as a result of the focus on supply chain visibility,' says Sal Spada, director of discrete automation at ARC Advisory Group (781-471-1000, www.arcweb.com). 'You have to extend the visibility (of what's happening in those systems) down to the lowest level.'

In other words, it will no longer be enough to have controls and software in place to direct the automated materials handling equipment that move inventory through a facility. Just as important will be the ability to manage in real-time the information about the status of each item at all times.

Something similar is already underway in the area of supply chain management. There, companies are beginning to integrate their business processes with those of their trading partners to take time, inventory and unpredictability out of the supply chain.

But now comes the recognition that the movement of goods through the supply chain begins on the factory and warehouse floor. To get true real-time visibility across the supply chain, you have to know what's happening along the way. 'The idea is to provide visibility to all materials, all orders, and all motion, at all levels,' says Mike Kotecki, senior vice president, HK Systems, Inc. (800-457-9783, www.hksystems.com )  'That means knowing what's on the shelves of a regional warehouse, what's in the automated storage system, what's on the docks, and what's on the trucks.'

Warehouse management systems (WMS) already track steps in the process as they are completed. The next step is tracking inventory between the steps within the facility. That means monitoring the movement of inventory at the level of the conveyors, sorters, and palletizers.

'Decision makers want data about what's going on in the materials handling system,' says Bill Hawthorne, vice president of marketing, Hytrol Conveyor Co. (870-935-3700, www.hytrol.com)

What's the term for this new level of information and management: information-driven materials handling systems.

In the broadest sense, the term defines a seamless control and management system that is integrated from the machines to the WMS and transportation management system, and back to the enterprise information systems if necessary.

The three critical components of an information-driven materials handling system are already familiar to operators of highly automated facilities:

• Warehouse management systems receive orders from the enterprise and direct activities of associates and lift trucks;
• Materials handling control systems (MHCS), also known as warehouse control systems (WCS), are execution software systems that direct the activities of powered materials handling equipment, and;
• Programmable logic controllers (PLC) and PC-based controls at the machine level run motors, conveyor rollers, diverters, and switches.

What's different in these emerging systems is the role assumed by these components, and the level of integration between them. Today, they are loosely coupled, resulting in information delays. In the future, they will be seamlessly integrated in real time.

Take it one step further by connecting machines over a high-speed network, and you enable a two-way street of information between devices. In that scenario, powered materials handling equipment like automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), robots and conveyors are no longer passively connected to a busbar or similar device awaiting instructions from another system as they are today.

Instead, they may potentially communicate peer- to-peer, or machine-to-machine, with the other automated devices in the facility. That means decision making can take place at the point where the work is occurring.

'It's all about pushing data, even in the materials handling systems,' says Gary Marchuk, director of industry marketing for Entivity, Inc. (734-205-5000, www.entivity.com), a developer of materials handling control systems. 'Five years ago it was okay that the factory or distribution center was a black hole. Now, you may have to know on a minute-by-minute basis what's going on.'

That's especially true where extreme uptime and responsiveness are critical, such as automotive and electronics suppliers who respond on demand to orders and deliver parts in just hours. But it may also apply to other on-demand facilities supporting catalog, prescription drug and grocery operations.

Achieving this new level of control and visibility, however, won't be easy. Integration of the three components of an information driven materials handling system is a key to visibility. And although industry standards are in development, they remain a work in progress. Many providers still offer proprietary systems that require extensive customization in order to integrate with equipment, software and controls from competing vendors.

Click here to read more about information-driven control systems.