Why ACRs should lead your warehouse automation project today
Written by Julian Brancaccio, National Director of Sales ANZ for Hai Robotics
Never before has the competition for warehouse and fulfilment labour been so fierce, strongly driven by sustained growth in B2C channels. In the short term, businesses are having to offer higher wages, bonuses and flexible working conditions to attract staff. But the long-term implications of increased reliance on labour and manual processes are clear: automation in warehousing is no longer just nice to have but an imperative for sustainable growth. In such an environment, ACR systems allow DCs to meet demand in a flexible and highly efficient manner. Business operators can drastically elevate warehouse throughput by adding ACRs or high-speed loading and unloading workstations without refitting existing facilities. And unlike traditional automation solutions that require months-long planning and year-long implementation, the ACR systems can be easily deployed in several weeks, bringing little disruption to ongoing operations.
Higher pick rate with huge SKUs
Huge and ever-changing SKUs are common with e-commerce and retail orders, making piece-picking a heavy and laborious duty in warehouses. ACRs that move totes/cartons instead of a whole rack are adept at order fulfilment in such scenarios. By planning efficient picking routes to reduce travel time and establishing organized picking processes, the ACR systems enable more efficient order fulfilment with less human intervention and fewer human errors.
Higher space utilisation
ACRs boast a picking height of up to 10 meters, meaning that almost every inch under the ceiling of a 10-meter warehouse can be used for storage. This feature sets ACR systems apart from rack-moving systems that generally cover a space of no higher than 4 meters. Meanwhile, a greater storage density can be achieved with the same shelf height when using the ACR systems. The slim ACR chassis design allows narrower aisle width, and precise picking supported by AI algorithms permits more efficient use of shelf space.
How ACRs have helped Booktopia to increase capacity and improve fulfilment
Australia's largest online bookstore Booktopia deployed ACR technology to increase capacity and improve fulfilment and putaway rates at its national distribution centre (DC) in Lidcombe, NSW. For the past seven years, Booktopia has been exploring ways to add storage and packing capacity to its existing DC. While capacity was the key driving factor for the project, the efficiency improvements for picking and putaway also gave Booktopia further opportunities to improve the customer experience.
ACR technology from Hai Robotics allowed Booktopia to improve its putaway rates by an impressive 800 %. The robots use 3D visual recognition technology to identify goods without codes, resulting in faster inventory counts through shelf scanning. It supports multi-size cartons and tote picking and can be applied to multiple business needs. Furthermore, the robots use artificial intelligence technology to establish which SKUs are in demand and will re-organize the inventory accordingly, resulting in further efficiencies. Wayne Baskin, CTO at Booktopia, said: "With this solution, the efficiencies we get from pick and putaway drive efficiencies in other areas of the business. For example, our dock is now much more efficient as we can put away so much faster so we can ingest stock more quickly."
