Material Handling Automation

Want to make your supply chain work seamlessly? Think about managing all the moving parts and materials when it comes to your supply chain project. Obviously, you need a strategic approach and swift engineering as a fundamental part of material handling. Well, now, as you are dealing with procurement you need to invest in material handling automation. It will help you right from the procurement of equipment (it could be a hardware or software), installation, setup, testing, support, maintenance, and repair. Here, automated material handling benefits the logistics and supply chain businesses.

In any industry, all types of ideas, designs and plans with achievable objectives come together for product development and business success. Considering discrete manufacturing as a reference case, warehouses, shop floor, assembly line and production plants all depend on material procurement and handling. Despite this fact, many manufacturers often pay the least attention to material handling. Your manufacturing facility runs smoothly on the mantra ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ and this is absolutely true. Now, you can assume your factories, warehouses and supply chain facilities as the birthplaces of modern technology. This automation takes the lead and gives you full control of your material handling equipment.

Now, as the technology makes sense to be used to make your material handling work go smoothly and efficiently. There are several tools and machines that can be used as automated material handling tools and equipment or systems. For instance, pallet positioners, tilt tables, scissor lift tables, and loading dock machineries such as dock levelers and dock lift to name a few. Another most commonly used material handling machine is a conveyor that can be automatic and you will find it mostly in the factories and warehouses to move raw and finished goods to be used in assembly lines and shop floors and for other purposes.

All these material handling equipment make work easier and faster. Moreover, in most of the cases it helps reduce the number of workers you need in a warehouse or factory. It means you can free your resources to perform more valuable tasks.

Automation material handling can bring you following advantages:

Maximize space:
With automated systems such as dock levelers and lifts you can easily store raw materials and finished goods. Items can be accessed easier even if you stack them higher using a lift, it means you will be having more workspace to move around in your warehouse and additional storage space in your facility.

Enhance efficiency:
Automated material handling equipment and systems allows the workers to do their jobs more efficiently. It will eventually help enhance your warehouse productivity. Since the time consumption is less, your workers will be able to accomplish more tasks. Moreover, with automation, it’s more likely to do work with more accuracy.

Risk mitigation:
Safety risks are obvious at any workplace. Manufacturing facilities and warehouses are more prone to accidents where most of the work is done manually. One of the biggest benefits of automated material handling systems is minimum chances of accidents. With these systems, as you eliminate manual lifting and stacking of materials, you can ensure employee safety because it will minimize the likelihood of worker’s falling or tripping.

Save money:
Since automation accelerates productivity, you can save a lot of money that could be consumed otherwise on labor-intensive resources. With less people involved and manual equipment, you can quickly do your work. It means you need less people to hire, which makes automated material handling an economical investment.

Improve customer service:
Quick material handling through automation will help you complete and deliver your orders quickly and efficiently. What else a customer needs? Faster order fulfillment and that’s also with hassle-free shipment. It will help increase productivity, which means you can take on new clients and high influx of sales orders.

Real-Time Updates:
Automated material handling greatly helps in production and supply chain planning. You can easily reset reorder points when you have quick and accurate information about material procurement and inventory movements. High demand periods will not bring you any stress because you know that enough stock is available. You can also prioritize customer orders using automated inventory updates.

Last but not the least is the enhanced warehouse value, meaning that automated systems give a boost to the resale value of your storage facilities. It will help you attract more potential buyers and you can ask for a higher price for the entire facility or individual material handling system.

Let’s cut to the chase, if you still haven’t a material handling system in place, you must consider it without further delay. For all the perks mentioned above, automated tools and equipment will bring your business more growth and sustainability.

Check out the material handling automation system from MWI solutions – designed for your business success.