Control with a capital C

Control systems, supply chain execution systems and data collection are converging to create new processes and greater control.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/1/2007

When Apple introduced the iPhone last month, convergence was the word of the day.

In one mobile device, the phone brings together three devices that usually operate independently: a cell phone, a computer for e-mail, and a music player.

There's a similar convergence going on in materials handling controls. We don't yet have a single iAutomation device to run a distribution center or plant. However, automated data collection, supply chain execution systems and traditional automation control systems are evolving and converging to give operators greater control over processes.

Think of this convergence as getting processes under control, with a capital "C."

"Five years ago, you had a warehouse management system to operate your warehouse, a subsystem to manage your radio frequency communications, another subsystem system to do pick-to-light and another for your conveyors," says Noah Dixon, vice president of product management for Catalyst International (800-236-4600, www.catalystwms.com). "Today, we can integrate these systems and get control of our operations through one console instead of multiple consoles."

The convergence of formerly independent technologies and systems represents an evolution in the way manufacturers and distributors control their processes. "Over the years, most companies added a work cell or a new line as things were needed," says Steve Simmerman, vice president of marketing and business development for Swisslog (757-820-3400, www.swisslog.com). "It was done piecemeal and the systems evolved over time."

Today, that piecemeal approach is being replaced with a view toward automating processes from the time an order is received from a customer until it's delivered to the customer.

In that process view of the world, consultants, vendors and end users are beginning to look at ways to combine controls, software and data collection tools to link and control those processes. "Today, the process, and not the technology, is the key," says Jerry McNerney, a senior director with Motorola (866-416-8545, www.symbol.com). "Once you know what you want to accomplish and put your processes in place, you can choose the tools and technology you need to get control of the process."

A new approach to automated data collection and order picking illustrates this convergence of control technologies.

In most facilities today, operators are directed to a pick location by a warehouse management system (WMS). They confirm their location and their picks by manually scanning a bar code. The scan also provides the WMS with the information it needs to track inventory levels and the progress of orders.

That process has dramatically improved the efficiency of warehouses, the accuracy of inventory and the accuracy of orders over paper-based picking. Still, says Mark Dessommes, marketing director for LXE (800-664-4593, www.lxe.com) "you're dealing with processes and technology that has gotten faster and slicker, but is still 20 years old."

What's more, the system can be beaten. "Every operator knows how to trick a WMS," says Dessommes. "They'll scan a box five times and then accidentally put six on the pallet. That introduces problems into the process."

The next step is to get tighter control of that process by combining technologies into one mobile multi-modal device capable of communicating with a WMS, and collecting data through bar code scans, voice technology, RFID, camera-based imaging or manual input, depending on the situation.

Now an operator might be directed to a pick location with a voice command. Once there, the RFID reader on the mobile device will confirm the pick location and read an RFID tag on a case or product as it's being picked. "The operator's focus is 100% on moving products and nothing else," says Dessommes.

In this example, any errors would be caught at the pick location, rather than later during a shipping audit that might require a rework of the order.

Likewise, in a returns processing area, an operator may use the keyboard to communicate with the WMS and decide how to best handle the return and then capture the condition of a returned product with camera-based imaging technology on the same mobile computing device.

What will enable these adaptive systems is the fact that technology solutions are increasingly being built on open, rather than proprietary, systems. ""For a multi-modal solution to work, you have to have an open system," says Rich Hayden, director of business development for Voxware (609-514-4100, www.voxware.com). "The solution has to be on any unit, any process and anywhere."

One trend driving the development of these new control systems is the increasing mix of automated equipment, like conveyors, sortation systems and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), with traditional manual processes to produce higher levels of throughput and productivity from these hybrid systems.

"Historically, we have sold a warehouse control system (WCS) with every automated system we have ever deployed," explains Bob Carver, vice president of logistics software for HK Systems (800-457-9783, www.hksystems.com). "But those systems simply controlled the equipment."

Implemented independently, traditional systems created pinchpoints and bottlenecks that impeded throughput. Integrated together, however, they can better coordinate all of the activities across a facility to improve throughput.

For that reason, the next generation WCS is integrating with, and even controlling, a WMS or transportation management system (TMS). "We're now putting together a proposal for a distribution center that already includes a high-speed sortation system, a conveyor line, an automatic scale and a WMS," says Carver. "The separate pieces were installed as islands of information with their own control systems. What they're looking for is a single layer of software that can pull all of that together."

Control systems are also getting smarter. For instance, some control systems now include order processing and order replenishment algorithms to create dynamic forward slotting. "When the WMS drops the orders to be filled, the WCS analyzes those orders to determine what inventory is going to be needed in the forward pick areas in the near term," explains Jerry Koch, product director of software controls for FKI Logistex (877-935-4564, www.fkilogistex.com). "The AS/RS then slots the inventory for optimal picking so you can fill the orders faster." That solution combines a WMS, a WCS and machine controls to execute the replenishment and picking process.

Flexibility is also a hallmark of new controls. For instance, instead of installing a complete system, an end user can install components of functionality to create the solutions needed. "If you're only doing voice-directed and pick-to-light picking, you only need the functionality to handle those processes," says Mike Khodl, director of supply chain services for Dematic (877-725-7500, www.dematic.com). "Down the road, if you add a conveyor or a sortation system, you can plug in that functionality."

Convergence produces more than greater productivity. It also enables solutions like WMS or manufacturing execution systems (MES) to extend their control of processes beyond the four walls of a facility.

That is a significant change. A WMS, for instance, used to stop at the dock doors. What happened in the yard or at an end customer's receiving dock was the responsibility of another system that might update the WMS or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system later.

Today, a WMS can be embedded into other devices that can communicate electronically with the host wherever they are located.

"I'm quoting a yard management system right now for a customer who is going to use a PDA in the yard with a cellular connection back to the WMS," says Catalyst's Dixon. "By the same token, it's a piece of cake for us to put a cellular telephone in a delivery driver's hand to do an electronic confirmation of a delivery. The physical barriers to communication between systems we had in the past are gone."

Increasingly, there is also recognition that what happens at one node in the supply chain can determine what should happen at another node. "With perishable products, the activity in a distribution center can determine what a manufacturing plant needs to produce," says Chad Collins, director of product strategy for Highjump Software (800-328-3271, www.highjumpsoftware.com). "By integrating MES, WMS and a transportation system, you can create a process that spans multiple nodes from manufacturing through distribution."

The level of visibility produced by the integration of TMS, WMS, a warehouse control system and automated data collection is what makes crossdocking possible.

Through the integration of those systems, a manufacturer can link the activities on the manufacturing floor to a warehouse or even the purchasing department. "We have components that are sending information from the manufacturing floor to an ERP system to automatically replenish what's being used in the process, based on the inventory in the system and outstanding orders," says Kevin Dimond, product operations director for equipment engineering products at Brooks Software (978-262-2400, www.brookssoftware.com).

Make no mistake. This is an emerging trend. The technologies and products that will enable a process view of the world are now coming to market, but have not been widely adopted. Still, a look at how vendors and end users are positioning them gives a glimpse at what control might look like in the future.