A fresh approach

THE INTRODUCTION of greater levels of automation and robotics within fresh grocery products warehouses and distribution centres is, arguably, long overdue: a surprisingly high number of the processes that are fundamental to the smooth running of every fresh produce warehouse or distribution centre are performed manually.

This over-reliance on human labour is difficult to understand or justify when automated handling technology and autonomous robot-based solutions are available that undertake the same jobs as human workers at twice the speed, more accurately, safely, cost effectively and, particularly importantly, in ways that make the most efficient use of the warehouse space available.

Most – if not all – fresh goods distribution centres have traditionally operated a ‘pick-to-zero’ order picking regime for fresh produce. This involves operatives manually sorting incoming pallet loads onto a ‘target’ pallet or a roll cage which is then loaded onto a delivery vehicle and shipped to a retail store. By rethinking the process and introducing robots to reduce the level of human intervention required for sorting, picking and order building it is possible to cut the amount of manual handling required and, consequently, reduce the number of workers dedicated to the task.

For example, at a typical UK Regional Distribution Centre where, for instance, 50,000 orders are picked each day, by introducing robotic technology it is possible to reassign as many as 50 workers to other more profitable duties within the business.

Space race

Traditionally, an automated solution might feature cross belt conveyors, needing as much as 300% more warehouse space than the people-intensive system it is designed to replace. This means that the benefits of being able to reduce the number of workers dedicated to the picking and order collation process have always had to be weighed against the cost of the extra warehouse space that will be needed to accommodate cross belt sortation conveyor technology.

However, with mobile robot technology a fully-optimised automated picking and sortation system that delivers greatly improved labour efficiency and a raft of other benefits within a storage building’s existing footprint is now possible.

An order building system based on circa 100 autonomous mobile robots requires just 1,000 square metres of warehouse space to work within and will move some 3000 units per hour. That is over 60,000 a day, which is certainly sufficient to meet or, in most cases, exceed the typical daily throughput of a regional distribution centre serving the grocery sector.

And robotic lift solutions are available that make optimum use of the vertical space too.

Within ambient stores the cost of the extra space required to accommodate a cross belt sorter is significant but in a chilled store where the additional area must be kept refrigerated, at a time when energy prices are among the biggest overheads for many businesses, cross belt technology is particularly hard to justify.

The grocery industry is going through a period of structural change but by adopting agile mobile robot based intralogistics solutions grocery retailers will be well placed to not only embrace the changes but view them as an opportunity.

Alfred Chen is founder and CEO of Rainbow Dynamics

www.rainbow-dynamics.com