Warehouse efficiency has always been critical to supply chain success — in today’s business landscape it’s essential.
Increased competition, challenging consumer expectations, and the aftershocks of supply chain upheavals caused by COVID-19 have all pushed warehouse efficiency to the forefront of the discussions surrounding profitability and customer satisfaction.
At the same time, 80% of surveyed manufacturing and fulfillment executives report weathering at least one disruption in the last 12-18 months that created a "heavy/very heavy impact on their supply chain." A sobering 90% of the same executives reported a noticeable increase in the frequency of these disruptions over the last decade.
The simultaneous need for warehouses to adapt to stiffer competition and customer expectations while navigating ongoing industry challenges points toward a rapidly emerging need to reevaluate the tools and technologies warehouses rely on to drive efficiency, productivity, and performance.
Two key solutions - dynamic and automated storage systems - have become agile and forward-focused warehouse operations’ go-to solutions for meeting rising expectations and increasingly frequent disruptions head-on.
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Understanding Dynamic and Automated Storage Solutions
Dynamic and automated warehouse storage solutions may be two sides of the same efficiency-boosting coin, but it’s important to not get them confused.
Dynamic Storage Solutions
Dynamic solutions, like carton flow racks and dynamic shelving, utilize the force of gravity to move products through warehouses and fulfillment processes.
Dynamic solutions are typically classified as "semi-automated" solutions because they still require manual support for tasks like restocking and order picking. These semi-automated solutions are ideal for streamlining carton organization and replenishment, optimizing warehouse space utilization, and increasing worker efficiency across order picking operations.
Automated Storage Solutions
Automated storage solutions leverage advanced machine learning and similar tech to provide new solutions to time-intensive manual tasks like storing and retrieving goods and cartons.
Automated systems require minimal human involvement, making them strong contenders for maximizing warehouse productivity and efficiency. Automated storage solutions combine powerful software that integrates into your warehouse management or control systems (WMS, WCS) with hardware like:
- Robotics
- Powered Conveyors
- Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs)
- Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
- Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems (AS/RS)
The combination of integrated software and advanced hardware allow automated tools to independently complete a wide range of universal warehousing tasks.
Dynamic + Automated Storage Solutions: The Perfect Pair for Exceptional Efficiency
Adding automated solutions' speed and efficiency to dynamic solutions' ability to maximize space utilization and streamline operations sets the stage for peak warehouse efficiency, productivity, performance, and accuracy.
Depending on your warehousing needs, you could see significant efficiency gains by implementing dynamic and automated solution pairings like:
- Carton Flow Racks and Robotic Pickers
- Dynamic High-Density Shelves and Collaborative Robots (cobots)
- And Modular Flow Racks and Autonomous Robots
Benefits of Dynamic and Automated Storage Solutions
Let’s dive deeper into the many benefits and advantages of dynamic and automated storage solutions.
We’re going to explore how this dynamic duo can expand your storage capacity, enhance order picking efficiency, and improve your inventory management almost instantly.
1. Increased Storage Capacity
Did you know on average, only 20% of available warehouse space is used to its full potential? If you’re just learning this, no need to fret — dynamic and automated storage solutions can help you unlock the remaining 80%.
Dynamic, high-density industrial shelving, like UNEX’s SpeedCell, offers a convenient solution for maximizing your space utilization without expanding your existing storage footprint. SpeedCell simply installs to existing pallet racks and instantly increases storage density by up to 60%.
SpanTrack, another dynamic solution from UNEX, is a carton flow system that expands storage capacity by better utilizing space within your pallet racking.
The gravity-fed, rear-to-front replenishment of cartons and goods at the point of pick allows warehouses to utilize the full depth of their pallet racking, empowering them to store more SKUs in the same footprint.
Pallet Track, a dynamic gravity conveyor for full pallets, increases storage capacity by supporting two-deep pallet storage lanes while retaining high levels of visibility and accessibility.
When used in conjunction with automated solutions, like collaborative and autonomous robots, these benefits can increase exponentially.
2. Enhanced Order Picking Efficiency
Dynamic and automated solutions also make a potent pair when it comes to enhancing order picking efficiency. Collaborative robots and dynamic storage solutions are the perfect efficiency amplifiers for your existing pick teams.
Collaborative robots and AS/RS systems enhance human pickers' efficiency by augmenting their productivity by locating, picking, and transporting SKUs — either as directed or following autonomous instructions provided by your WMS/WCS.
Dynamic industrial shelving, like SpeedCell, transforms productivity-killing "storage sprawl" at the point of pick into a high-density, neatly organized footprint that both humans working with cobots can navigate with speed and precision.
3. Improved Inventory Management
Inefficient inventory management is a pervasive problem for warehouses worldwide. Fortunately, dynamic and automated systems can simplify and streamline inventory management in minutes.
Dynamic storage solutions, like carton flow racks and dynamic high-density industrial shelving significantly improve SKU visibility compared to static storage solutions, making organizing and tracking down inventory intuitive and easy.
Other perks, like automatic FIFO rotation using solutions like SpanTrack, minimize or eliminate inventory worries like product expiration and obsolescence while making restocking and replenishment less time and effort-intensive than ever before.
When used alongside an automated solution like a real-time inventory tracking system — which independently monitors, analyzes, and generates up-to-date reports on inventory data — you can say goodbye to inventory management inefficiencies.
Discover the Benefits of UNEX's Dynamic Storage Solutions
Dynamic and automated storage solutions represent the future of warehouse efficiency. Combining the powerful tech and productive tools available from both camps with your existing warehouse assets will generate instant gains to efficiency, productivity, and performance. To learn more about how UNEX’s dynamic solutions, like SpeedCell, SpanTrack, Pallet Track, and FlowCell can augment and enhance automated warehouse systems, contact one of our experts today.
