Archive for the ‘Warehouse managment’ Category:
Aldi Expands Tully Warehouse
Aldi Foods, Inc. is expanding its food-distribution warehouse in Tully. The expansion is prompted by a need for space to supply its increasing number of stores in the area. The company expects the warehouse to be completed as soon as possible. There are 65 Aldi stores statewide. The company has over 550 stores in the United States and 7,000 stores worldwide. Aldi Foods is a privately owned company. Aldi Foods is relying on the Charlotte, N.C.-based management firm A.M. King Construction Company to build the warehouse expansion.
To know about the voice technology in warehouse management modules, read my previous post titled “Voice Technology in Warehouse Management Modules“.
Subscribe to the comments for this postNewsStand Introduces LibreDigital Warehouse Service
NewsStand, Inc. has launched a new service that allows book publishers to digitally capture and deliver selected book content online. NewsStand serves the digital content delivery needs of magazine and newspaper publishers. The new LibreDigital Warehouse service is designed to offer book publishers a one-stop shop that simplifies Internet distribution and partner management, while providing secure, controlled portions of online content to help sell their books. The features offered by LibreDigital include content digitization, asset ingest, automated tagging, digital rights management, digital content display, search and page view control.
To know more about warehousing services, read our previous post titled “Voice Technology in Warehouse Management Modules“.
Windows CE PDA Gets Warehouse Management Certification
According to Datalogic sources, its Windows CE-based Jet professional PDA series has received certification for compatibility with Oracle’s Warehouse Management System application. Datalogic can now guarantee interoperability with Oracle’s E-Business Suite of business applications. The Jet PDAs support all data capture, sales force and field force automation applications in the Oracle ERP suite. The company also aims at extending this certification to all of its .NET mobile computers, including new mobile models.
Read our post titled “Is Warehouse Management System Necessary for All?” to know more about warehouse management.
PSI’s Autoslip Express to inflate Operator Productivity at Warehouse Packaging Stations
With the growing popularity of online retail sale , warehouse packing station operators are finding newer ways to increase their productivity. Understanding the trend, PSI Engineering , a recognized name in designing and manufacturing high speed material handling automation equipment, has launched Autoslip Express packing slip system to increase productivity in distribution centers and to minimize the critical time gap between order placement and shipment.
A standalone-version of PSI’s successful inline Autoslip packing slip system , the Autoslip Express is specially designed for the packing station. On demand, the Express prints , folds and inserts up to four shipping documents into a tamper proof adhesive pouch , which is applied to the shipping box by the packing station operator. With an ROI of less than one year , it is seamlessly integrated into an existing warehouse with minimal downtime as the system is a part of the packing station , not directly connected to the line , saving considerable time and implementation resources.
With the new product in the market , the distribution centers can now increase their productivity without major operational changes and without increasing capital expenditure for more space or labor resources as the product is compact enough when compared to large machinery in already crowded warehouses. Although it claims to double the operator productivity, the industrial durability is yet to be confirmed. So it is time that will decide the actual impact of this system.
Voice Technology in Warehouse Management Modules
There are several companies that adopt innovative ideas to improve their warehouse management system. Accord is no different. Recently, I came across its website and found that it has implemented voice technology across all of its warehouse management modules. The modules include Order Picking, Goods Receiving and Stocktaking. The system uses speech recognition and speech synthesis to allow workers to communicate with the system.
Workers use a wireless computer with a headset and microphone. The microphone is linked to the server via a radio frequency network. In voice directed picking, the order picker is instructed by voice via the handset. Voice technology allows users of Accord’s Warehouse Management software to maximize the real-time benefits. It also generates major performance benefits in terms of accuracy and productivity. Accord says that its voice technology is fully integrated with the warehouse management software and their integration has the potential to improve the warehouse management system of any organization.
The Evolution of Warehouse Management System
The evolution of warehouse management system is very similar to that of many other software solutions. The role of warehouse management has been limited to control movement and storage materials within a warehouse. Now it is expanding to include light manufacturing, transportation management, order management and complete accounting systems.
Material requirement planning was started as a system for planning raw material requirements in a manufacturing environment. Soon it evolved into manufacturing resource planning that took the basic MRP system and added scheduling and capacity planning logic. Eventually, it led to the birth of enterprise resource planning (ERP). Here, it is debatable whether the WMS evolving into a warehouse-focused ERP system is a good sign or not. Can you answer this question?
7-Series Lift Truck Launched by Toyota
Toyota Material Handling launched its new state-of-the-art 7-Series lift truck with adjustable base legs. These trucks are available in both 2,000 and 2,500-pound capacity models. They provide a cost-effective material handling solution for a variety of pedestrian truck applications from manufacturing to retail store operations. The new models resemble Toyota’s 4,500-pound walkie pallet truck. They share many of the same internal components.
The new lift trucks feature a 24-volt electrical system, regenerative braking and a spring-loaded control handle that automatically applies the parking brake when the handle is released. They also feature Controller Area Network communication technology to provide quicker, more reliable control from the operators. These new models also offer more power and many advanced features not commonly found in such affordable lift trucks.
Warehouse Management Systems
The evolution of warehouse management systems (WMS) is very similar to that of many other software solutions. Warehouse management is essential to control movement and storage materials within a warehouse. The role of WMS is expanding to include light manufacturing, transportation management, order management and complete accounting systems.
Although WMS continues to add new functionalities to its areas of operation, the initial core functionality of WMS has not been changed. The primary purpose of a WMS is to control the movement and storage of materials within an operation and process the associated transactions. The detailed setup and processing within a WMS can vary significantly from one software vendor to another. However, the basic logic will use a combination of item, location, quantity, unit of measure and order information to determine the stock.
Thermo King Corp. Launches MD-100 Refrigeration Unit for Trucks
Thermo King Corp. has introduced the MD-100 refrigeration unit for trucks. The MD-100’s innovative design offers reliability and performance as well as reduces fuel and maintenance costs. It also uses the TK 370 three-cylinder liquid-cooled diesel engine to optimize both power and fuel-savings performance. Thermo King’s MD-100 includes other cost saving features such as Smart Reefer Controller. Its simplified keypad design makes it easy for operators to maintain ideal conditions and monitor system performance. It also increases load protection while reducing fuel consumption and unit downtime. The Smart Reefer has an exclusive TherMax system to provide faster defrost and superior heating capacity.
Tools Used for Picking in Warehouse Management
Selection of orders is the single most experience part of the warehousing process. Conveyors and sorters are always considered expensive. However, they are effective in reducing the labor involved in order picking. Most conveying systems are a combination of mobile and static equipment. The frame is static, but there are rollers or wheels within the frame. Gravity flow rack has two varieties: one moves single cases and the other one moves full pallets.
A central question in order picking is whether to move the order picker to the part or move the part to the picker. Carousels and automated storage and retrieval systems are designed to bring the product to the picker. Carousels are effective when there are sufficient number of items of appropriate size and weight. They may be less than optimal if the application requires fewer than two or three units. Comprehensive systems for conveying and sorting are necessary for large distribution centers supporting high-volume order fulfillment.