The demand for automation for warehouses is not only rising, but is also changing in nature. Companies are increasingly asking for flexible and scalable solutions, so that the often high investments are less risky. During the Logistica trade fair from 28 to 30 November in the Jaarbeurs, several warehouse automation companies will show their solutions in this field. In particular, robots and agv's seem to have the future.
In the coming years, a new generation of robots will enter our warehouses. These will be smart robots that will independently make their way through the aisles and collect the items that customers have ordered. Detlef Spee of the Fraunhofer Institut für Materiafluss & Logistik (IML) refers to Magazino, the Munich-based startup that has successfully developed such an order-picking robot. German logistics service provider Fiege ordered as many as 30 units for order picking shoe boxes at the end of August. "Of course, these kinds of innovations start with simple, rectangular boxes. But there are more companies now starting to apply this kind of robot. The technology is working," says Spee, head of the intralogistics and IT planning department at Fraunhofer IML.
SSI Schäfer is also busy behind the scenes developing such applications. This is confirmed by Martin ten Cate, sales manager of the warehouse designer who is prominently present at Logistica. "With SSI Robo-Pick, we have been offering a robot that can fully automatically place items from, say, one box into another box for some time. It won't be another five years before we see similar robots on AGVs running on a large scale in our warehouses. Now they are often still too slow, so working with humans is preferred because of their flexibility. But within five years, this type of mobile robots will have developed into a reliable solution."
Flexibility and scalability
The rise of robots and AGVs is an answer to the growing need in warehouses for flexible and scalable automation. So says owner Freek Reijnen of Spider Robotics, which is debuting the Nipper at Logistica. This extremely compact AGV looks most like a hand pallet truck, but without a tiller. Its main feature is the use of a laser scanner for mapping its surroundings and determining its exact position. "Users no longer need to invest in infrastructure with reflectors on walls or induction lines in the floor. Partly because of this, the Nipper is operational in a few days. That also makes this kind of solution interesting for smaller warehouses that previously lacked the resources to mechanise or automate," states Reijnen.
SSI Schäfer offers with Weasel a flexible and scalable AGV solution for totes and boxes weighing up to 35 kilograms. Weasel does not navigate with the help of a laser scanner, but with an optical system and a line on the floor that can easily be moved. Ten Cate: "Warehouses must be able to respond to market growth and perhaps shrinkage with a solution. This means that the storage capacity or transport capacity of the solution must be easily expandable." According to Reijnen, this refers to the increasing diversification in warehouses. A warehouse that used to deliver only larger orders at box level to corporate customers now also needs to be able to handle small orders for single items. "A warehouse has to be able to handle everything these days. That requires flexible solutions that are quickly operational and easily adaptable."
Working with people
That the new generation of robots and AGVs are flexible has everything to do with developments in vision technologies and artificial intelligence. This enables these machines to think for themselves and react to the environment in which they are moving. They can work smoothly among people, find their own way and find an alternative route if the passage is blocked. They can independently locate, identify, pick up and carry requested items. On the promise that modern robots can also work with humans, Spee cautions. "Suppose humans and robots are picking orders in the same aisles. If a human accidentally bumps into a stack of shoeboxes, they are impossible for the robot to read or pick up. In practice, separate order picking processes for humans and robots are preferable for the time being."
Automation of warehouses is not new, of course. For decades, for example, fully automated warehouses have been built using warehouse cranes and roller conveyors. Basically, these are large machines with a central control system: each component does exactly what the control system says, nothing more and nothing less. This method of control is also changing because of the call for flexibility and scalability, says Ten Cate. "Roller conveyors, for example, are increasingly constructed from standard modules, which can be easily linked together. Because much more intelligence is embedded in the modules themselves, control takes less time. Each module already knows how to perform its function, be it buffering or sluicing out products. Control is then more a matter of configuration than programming."
Plug-and-play
Spee confirms the 'plug-and-play' trend in automation, but argues that there is still much room for improvement in this regard. Plug-and-play may be possible between components from the same manufacturer, but not between systems from different manufacturers. "Waiting for official standards to be developed for this will take too long. I rather believe we will get practical, market-developed solutions. If manufacturers are smart, they will start working on these together. For example, we are currently having exploratory talks with a number of warehouse management system (WMS) vendors about a standard for linking mobile devices. If a certain critical mass of WMS vendors join in - and of course a few large hardware manufacturers - we stand a chance of setting a standard for the entire industry."
As a small startup, Spider Robotics also advocates more collaboration between suppliers. "Think about the development of software for controlling robots and AGVs. The Nipper is a niche product that is far from being suitable for every application. This is precisely why cooperation is important, so that these kinds of systems are interchangeable. Moreover, this way, not everyone has to keep reinventing the wheel. Call it open innovation. By working together in that area, we can expand our market together."
New applications
Meanwhile, technological developments continue at a rapid pace. In parallel, new applications are also emerging all the time. Spee mentions inventory control. A few retailers already use robots to closely monitor the stock in shops at night. To do so, each garment is fitted with an RFID tag, which is read by the robot. "For retailers, high stock accuracy is a necessity. Consumers want to be able to see online whether an item is in shop or not. But inventory tracking with drones, for example, is also an interesting application in warehouses. Think of a logistics service provider that needs to stock a new customer's stock. Where are all those pallets? If logistics service providers don't have that in order, it also has financial consequences."
That a large market is emerging for the new generation of robots and AGVs is a given for intralogistics specialists. According to consultancy firm Buck, these autonomous machines in particular are responsible for as many as 35,000 job losses in Dutch warehouses over the next 15 years. Ten Cate also expects robots to increasingly take over the work of warehouse workers. He points to the large numbers of order pickers currently still needed in webshop warehouses. "Now that the economy is picking up for a while, everyone is immediately struggling to find good employees again. The availability of employees continues to be a challenge and is driving the adoption of new technologies." He is joined by Reijnen. "One of our customers recently bought two AGVs with really only one argument: he could not get good people." A recognisable example, argues Spee. "Also look at the ageing population. In the coming years, many employees will retire because of their age, which means we will have to do more work with fewer people. The level of automation of warehouses will increase, the only question is what exactly that automation will look like."
Logistica
Logistica is the most important trade fair in the field of logistics and goods flow management within the Benelux. Besides a large and comprehensive range of exhibitors, Logistica also has an extensive content programme with conferences, seminars, demonstrations and informative tours. This edition of the exhibition has no fewer than 4 Scala's, each covering 1 of the focus areas Move, Store, Pick and Deliver. More information can be found at www.logistica-online.nl. tweet along via #logistica2017.
Taking place simultaneously with Logistica, ICT & Logistiek www.ict-en-logistiek.nl, the annual trade fair for ICT applications and services in the logistics chain. Through Logistiekprofs.nl, information on logistics developments can be found throughout the year.
