Working on a picking warehouse

I worked in a book distribution company for 3 months and got to know better how warehouse employees work, what their tasks are and how a picking warehouse is organised.

Layout of the warehouse

The warehouse could be divided into 3 zones.

• The first one was the truck loading or unloading area, where pallets full of boxes containing books were picked up and the packages were dispatched to the customers.
• The second area corresponded to the main part of the warehouse where the shelves where the different references (books and other articles) were located.
• Finally, the packing area where the books were packed and stacked on pallets.

Graphical representation of the warehouse layout

Picking process

Inside the warehouse there were different jobs, the first being that of the forklift drivers who unloaded the pallets from the lorries full of books and placed them on the shelves.

At the same time, and since it was not a task they had to do constantly, but only from time to time, they were in charge of picking up the books needed for the orders.

To do this, they had a list of references that corresponded to all the orders, they went through the entire warehouse to collect the number of books requested by the customers and put them in shopping trolleys/baskets to later take them to the parking area.

The packing process consisted of two parts and to facilitate the work there was a wall of drawers separating one part from the other.

• On one side, one or two operators with a computer scanned the barcodes of the references and placed the items in the number of the drawer that appeared on the screen, as well as the delivery note sheet and the package label.
• On the other hand, several operators collected the boxes with the items, assembled the packages with their corresponding labels and delivery notes and stacked them on the pallets

Graphical representation of manual packing and stacking on pallets

Once the pallets were formed, they were strapped so that they could be distributed to stationery shops, schools and supermarkets (some of them do school campaigns).

This experience allowed me to learn about the picking process in a warehouse, as well as the advantages of having a computerised warehouse (to a certain extent) and the disadvantages of having several people duplicating tasks.

SKYPOD SYSTEM FROM EXOTEC

This new system assists in the management of product and material storage in automated warehouses and imporves floor space utilization and does not require manua labor to operate. With the automated robot Skypod they optimize eCommerce in your warehouse.

The company

Founded in 2015 by Romain Moulin and Renaud Heitz, Exotec builds an autonomous robot, Skypod 3d, for fulfillment warehouses that automate the collection and moving of goods inside a warehouse.

The startup’s revenue doubled in 2020 as several new international clients, including Carrefour and Fast Retailing, adopted their technology in key warehousses. In 2019 Exotec and the internationa retail company, Fast Retailing started a new partnership,

The system & Robots

Some experts in the logistics world have said that this system is nowadays the best solution in the actual marketplace in order picking systems for units.

The operation is very simple, is based in shelves, robots and picking stations, only the robots have moving parts, the other components are passive elements, therefore they do not need maintenance and they do not have the chance to be damaged.

It is a vertical solution, the system and the boxes and shelves use the space of the warehouse in a efficient way, they leverage until 12 meters height. The robots themselves, using rails in the shelves, goes up to pick the container and bring to the work station, with the worker.

Another advantge of the system is the power consumption, that are lower than other automatic modes, due to the fact that the robots only weigh 45 kg.

In other words, this company is changing the rules of the game in the logistics of E-commerce companies. With the patented system of going up through the shelves and their robots, they can achieve incredibles times in searching, picking and sending the product to the final consumer. Due to the individuality of each robot, if you business growth you can add more robots, shelves and picking stations.

In the video below, you can see the different advantages and components of the system. Enjoy it!

Pick-by-Vision – Augmented Reality in logistics

(Referring to Comparing Picking Ways and Batch Picking Warehouse)

Pick-by-light and Pick-by-voice are two common technologies in warehousing operations which are used to do the order picking. These two systems already replaced the pick-by-paper approach, so order picking became paperless. This means higher accuracy, productivity and efficiency. But a new technology is approximating. Working with mobile augmented reality systems, head-mounted display cameras can improve the picking process even further.

Warehousing operations “are estimated to account for about 20 % of all logistics costs, and the  task of picking accounts for 55 % to 65 % of the total cost of warehousing operations. This indicates that AR (Augmented Reality) has the potential to significantly reduce cost by improving the picking process.” (See DHL.com).

The Pick-by-Vision system has extensive benefits compared to light or voice-directed solutions. As it can recognize the surroundings and show the operator visual information via See-Through-Display, it guides the operator through the warehouse reducing travel time by optimized route planning. Real-time object recognition and barcode reading with just one view make the handling of additional scanners dispensable. The software is integrated in the Warehouse-Management-System so booking of withdrawals is automated which enables real-time stock updates.

Advantages of the Pick-by-Vision technology:

• Training time required for operators minimized.
• Language independent navigation within the warehouse.
• Optical picking instructions replace paper, visual (lights) or voice-based directions.
• Fully automatic tracking of serial numbers.
• 100% error-free picking improves quality control.
• Applicable in every warehouse without structural changes or other modifications.

(tum.de)