Automated case handling on the rise

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/1/2007

Demand for automated case handling systems is growing. Cases, of course, have been around for years, but they've traditionally been moved in unit loads or manually picked by workers building mixed pallets.

The following are a few of the reasons for the shift to automation:

Mixed pallets rule: The days of shipping full pallet loads of a single stock keeping unit (SKU) to a retail store are over. Retailers want smaller and more frequent deliveries of mixed pallets to reduce the amount of inventory they keep in the store.

"That means big wholesalers and retailers are depalletizing and repalletizing cartons into mixed pallets before they ship to the stores," says Richard Rodgers of HK Systems ( www.hksystems.com). Automated storage systems not only optimize storage, they automatically sequence and deliver the cartons required to build a mixed pallet.

No touching allowed: All of that depalletizing and repalletizing results in increased handling. Combine automated storage with automated palletizing and depalletizing solutions—such as robotic palletizers—and manual handling of cartons can be virtually eliminated.

The need for speed: Every distribution center is looking to speed up the cycle time required to fill orders. If a DC can increase the number of case-picks per hour, it can reduce cycle times with essentially no increased labor costs.

Dynamic storage: Automated case storage is also being used to create buffer storage that eliminates bottlenecks. A manufacturing line, for example, may produce more output than the shipping line can handle.

"We created a system for Cargill Beef that handles boxes of beef weighing between 35 and 100 pounds to the carton," says Bruce Boldrin of Daifuku America ( www.daifukuamerica.com). "This is a brute to handle. By buffering that in an automated storage system, they can provide factory-integrated shipping."