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efficiency, safety, profitability.
Moving and storing goods in warehouses is one of the most demanding activities. Most parcels are heavy and bulky and handling them with conventional forklifts involves risks for logistics operators. In addition, the whole process is time-consuming and prone to errors. According to a study by Amazon Web Services, companies lose about $150 million a year due to human error, leading to total or partial shutdowns.
Transform your warehouse and prepare it for Industry 4.0 with automated guided vehicle (AGV) solutions. Thanks to their superior features, the number of companies implementing these solutions is expected to triple between 2020 and 2030.
Human errors are the main factor for temporary shutdowns. Implementing AGVs eliminates this risk and gives you the confidence that you will always deliver the right goods to the right place.
AGVs can operate safely alongside people. Thanks to built-in sensors, they quickly detect obstacles and stop or immediately seek an alternative route.
Implementing automated warehouse transport solutions helps you reduce both direct costs, such as hiring the necessary employees, and indirect costs.
AGVs can operate 24/7 and picking processes can be up to 3 times faster than with human operators.
An Automated Guided Vehicle, AGV, is a system that follows a pre-determined route and can pick up high volume and weight packages for safe storage.
The AGV moves along a circuit consisting of a magnetic guide made of adhesive tape or an underground guide where RFID tags are positioned. These tags contain the commands that the vehicle must execute on the circuit: stops, communications with field elements, battery charging, etc.
This is based on SLAM technology and allows the AVG to move freely, without any physical guidance, on the floor. The vehicle can build a map of its location that makes it easy to find its way around and position itself at any time.
Errors caused by carelessness or fatigue of human operators bring an extremely high cost to the company. And according to research by GE Digital, 23% of factory downtime is caused by human error. Any contractor who’s had to shut down entire production because of a misread label can attest to that.
Eliminate this risk by implementing automated guided transport solutions. They can operate 24/7 without distraction, and if programmed properly from the start, will perform tasks without any errors. In addition, if connected to your company’s internal ERP or integrated with a WMS solution, they help streamline warehouse management by making inventory processes smoother.
AVGs are designed to meet the highest quality standards when it comes to safety. They have built-in cameras, sensors and lasers that allow them to avoid any obstacles that get in their way. In contrast, equipment driven by human operators, such as forklifts, do not have as many built-in safety mechanisms and rely more on the human factor, which is subject to error for many reasons. In addition, AGVs can also operate smoothly in extreme temperatures or around hazardous materials, where humans can either only work for short periods of time or have no access at all.
All this increased safety leads to reduced costs and reduced downtime, which can ultimately increase the profitability of operations.
AVGs primarily reduce labor costs. An automated guided vehicle working in 3 shifts can replace 2 or 3 human operators. So, in a market facing an acute lack of staff, implementing an automated transport solution allows you to make much more efficient use of your existing workforce. You can leave the difficult tasks to the AVGs, while assigning human operators to roles where they add value to the company.
Automating processes also helps you streamline other costs: energy consumption is reduced, regular training is no longer required, and the lack of accidents and errors helps increase business profitability.
Increased productivity is becoming a must, especially in increasingly competitive markets such as e-commerce, where changes in the industry are forcing warehouse operators to do more with the same tools and people. Warehouses and delivery centers need modern cloud-based software technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the picking process. And AGVs are programmed to choose the best route, which can lead to a three times higher picking rate.
The increased picking rate, together with all the elements outlined above, reduced costs, elimination of errors, better safety conditions, inevitably lead to improved overall productivity.
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