Latest News Technology advances in automated high-bay warehouses are enabling a more integrated approach to streamlined material flow. The latest ultra-efficient automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) cranes, and inter-connected automated conveyor systems that minimize touches and facilitate smoother AS/RS transfers, are delivering significant advantages for increasing system uptime in handling unit loads and delivering a more cost-efficient ROI for the high-bays’ overall operation. As manufacturing and packaging processes increasingly become more automated, with resultant improved efficiency and output, warehouses must keep pace by implementing more streamlined and cost-effective systems. The most streamlined distribution facilities today are highly automated operations, with maximized high-bay, high-density storage utilizing automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS). These AS/RS, in conjunction with a warehouse control system (WCS) and warehouse management system (WMS), maintain precision product identification and rotation, provide rapid throughput with over 99.9 percent accuracy levels, and are considerably more energy efficient than less automated facilities. More so than ever, high-bay distribution facilities need to implement systems that have the flexibility to adjust very quickly and accurately to market conditions, such as increases in SKU range and shortened lead times. Keeping throughput on the move is critical in any distribution operation. It is here where the latest technology in AS/RS cranes, and associated pallet-handling systems, can provide the biggest benefit to a company’s distribution efforts. Flexibility and Energy Efficiency Define the Latest Generation AS/RS Cranes ASRS cranes have advanced to an extremely high level of performance, and continue to improve, making them one of the most efficient material handling systems in highly-automated warehouses. The latest generation of cranes incorporates a unique flexibility, allowing single-deep, double-deep, triple-deep and up to 14-deep pallet stacking utilizing telescopic forks and shuttle cars (moles), with the flexibility to handle one load at a time or multiple loads. Such […]