In the last few years there has been more and more talk about warehouse automation and VLMs (Vertical Lift Modules) or more simply, automatic vertical warehouses. These are the solution for improving your business efficiency. Are they really so efficient and effective?

If you are not convinced, here are 6 reasons which will convince you to invest in an automatic vertical tray warehouse:

1 – So you will never again be able to say “I don’t know where that product is“

This is surely the main reason. You will have had to prepare an order and not know where the products are, either because you don’t remember or because the person who does know where the products are, is not around at the moment, or because of a thousand other reasons. With an automatic vertical warehouse, none of this ever happens. This is because each time you deposit products into the warehouse they are recorded in the database by the software which manages it. In this way, every operator, even the one who just started yesterday, will know exactly where every single product is located in the warehouse.

2 – So you don’t make unprofitable investments

We often fall into the same trap of thinking that the only solution to increasing our capacity to register and store products in our existing structures is to increase the physical space in the warehouse. Before you take this very costly step, stop and think for a moment. Are you really sure you are putting your currently available space to the best use? An automatic warehouse allows you to store products using the full height of your warehouse, up to 16 metres, and save up to 90% of your floor space. How is this possible? Because with a vertical warehouse you can store 80 cubic metres and 90,000 kg of stock in just 16 m2.

3 – So you don’t have orders returning and dissatisfied customers

Knowing the precise location of every product in your warehouse, you can quickly retrieve them and start preparing your orders safe in the knowledge that you have the correct products and haven’t forgotten any.

One of the greatest advantages of this new technology and therefore a good reason to choose it, is that automatic vertical warehouses allow you to automate order preparation: just send the correctly formatted list of products on the order to the management system. The warehouse then proceeds automatically to pick all the items on the order from tray after tray and place them in the delivery bay, ready to be wrapped and despatched.

This then allows you to create an automatic operational flow such as: semi-finished products -> finished product -> order preparation if the order you are preparing is made up of products made by you, or simply assembled by you. In other words, by linking your business management system to your warehouse you can transfer the picking list directly from the business management system to the vertical warehouse once production of the items on the order is complete and confirmed.

4 – So you don’t have to give up your Christmas holidays to do your inventory

How many times have you had to give up your Christmas holidays or cancel your employees’ holidays to do an inventory? Too many perhaps.
With an automatic vertical warehouse, this will never happen again. Thanks to the management system which keeps track of all operations and all stock movements, you can perform an inventory at any time with one click. For example, by connecting your warehouse and factory management systems, you can consult your inventory in real time, handily subdivided into raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products. All you have to do is divide up your stored items according to your operational flow patterns and let the machine keep track of everything.

5 – So products are not damaged and have to be discarded

When Storage Units have to be retrieved manually by an operator who is required to climb up and down a ladder, falls or other incidents which can injure people or damage goods are often reported. Also when products have to be moved frequently around the warehouse to either reposition them or simply to move them to the order preparation area, products often get damaged when they are dropped or are shunted against other products or simply through the carelessness of your staff. With automatic vertical warehouses, all your products are completely secure in their trays and move around without incurring any danger.

6 – So you can save, save, save

If you have read everything this far, you will know that an automatic vertical tray warehouse can save you lots of space, time and above all, money. Speeded up picking operations, improved security of goods, inventory operations with one click are just some of the advantages offered by this new technology.

Article source modula.eu

In the world of logistics, the efficiency of each movement is a fundamental pillar for business success; in an industry where speed and precision have become essential, every well-stocked or handled item plays a decisive role in ensuring the proper flow of operations.

For example, efficient pallet management, both in the warehouse and in production, is of great importance in many sectors and industrial contexts. Many companies are faced with complex challenges in administering and handling these loading units and often also encounter delays and inefficiencies in the production process.

An effective response to these logistics needs has always been a primary goal for us at Modula; during our numerous visits to clients’ warehouses and production departments, we observed and understood the importance of providing innovative and efficient solutions, to revolutionise the management of pallets in warehouses. Hence the idea of developing alternative technologies to traditional storage systems, such as stacker cranes or AS/RS.
To fully understand the impact and potential of this idea, we asked the first client who installed the new automated vertical lift module for pallets to tell us about their experience.

How to automate pallet handling with Modula

Malagoli Aldebrando – a Modena-based carpentry company specialising in laser cutting, bending, welding and machining for various sectors such as agriculture, automotive, furniture and shipbuilding – manages on a daily basis a wide range of materials and components that require a well-structured logistics organisation. Given the significant amount of work and materials handled, the company was faced with the need to optimise the management of its pallets, to ensure an efficient and safe production flow

“Before the arrival of the Modula Pallet, we used about 80 m² of warehouse space to store pallets. To move them, however, an operator qualified to drive the forklifts and move loads within warehouses and production environments was needed.

Introducing this Modula solution – following the installation of two Modula Lifts – marked a fundamental turning point for Malagoli Aldebrando.“Thanks to this innovative machine, our company immediately reclaimed valuable floor space, optimising the use of production environments and significantly improving ergonomics and safety in the workplace”.

How to improve load storage and handling

It is clear that the introduction of the Modula Pallet at Malagoli Aldebrando has led to significant improvements in the management and handling of loads, bringing with it numerous tangible advantages for the company.

First of all, the use of the Modula Pallet has enabled the company to handle considerable numbers of pallets with extreme ease and speed.

“With an intuitive interface like the Modula copilot‘s, the process of loading and unloading materials has become efficient and safe: we currently load all the materials with a simple pallet truck, making the most of the convenience offered by the Modula Pallet. Plus, despite the size of the machine, the Modula Pallet was installed quickly and smoothly, in about three weeks (roughly five days for the Modula Lift). The technicians are genuinely very efficient and professional”.

Anotheradvantage of introducing automatic warehouses has been found in terms of the staff involved in pallet storage.

“Before installation, there were two permanent operators in the pallet area of the warehouse. These people have now been moved into production, thanks to the automation guaranteed by the Modula Pallet”.

Importance of software integration in logistics processes

The efficiency and optimisation of logistics at Malagoli Aldebrando are ensured not only by the use of Modula warehouses, but also by the integration of specialist software such as Modula WMS and Modula Cloud. These tools play a vital role in keeping track of every single activity in the warehouse and ensuring precise and effective material management.

“The Modula WMS software ensures we can monitor and manage all three of the company’s vertical warehouses, processing data relating to access, picking and depositing movements, as well as handling positions and quantities of goods. This level of traceability and control enables us to maintain an orderly and efficient workflow, minimising the risk of errors and delays. Finally, installing Modula Cloud provides us with easy access to all the information we need on vertical warehouses through a simple web interface”.

These integrated tools give operators an interactive map of Modula’s automatic warehouses, to decide which information to show and to provide further flexibility and control over logistics operations.

The implementation of Modula products and the integration of specialist software have radically transformed logistics management at Malagoli Aldebrando, demonstrating the tangible value of an innovative, cutting-edge solution. Thanks to Modula solutions, the company has made significant improvements to operational efficiency, workplace safety and workflow control.

Article source modula.eu

The percentage of purchases made online has grown exponentially in the last few years: more than 320 million people in Europe made at least one purchase on an e-commerce site in the last year and almost 80% make at least one purchase a month.

This makes e-commerce a great opportunity for all businesses, enabling them to reduce the distance between their end customers and their products by enabling consumers to make a purchase from their own home, with a simple mouse click, using their computer or smartphone.

However, for businesses this poses a major question: how can they manage e-commerce logistics quickly and efficiently?

The first step is without a doubt to consider all the “routine” problems which might adversely affect the performance of an e-commerce operation, such as deliveries by suppliers or excessively bulky packaging. Then the entire issue of warehouse management has to be considered, if necessary with the help of experts in e-commerce and general logistics.

E-commerce: a new approach to logistics

From storage to freight to reverse logistics and returns management, from packaging to delivery: logistics as we have always known it has to evolve into e-commerce logistics.

The main aim is customer satisfaction, considering that customers expect to receive goods on time, intact and, above all, with no additional costs. To do all this it is essential to apply clearly defined strategies and review the warehouse’s whole logistics management model.

Speeding up e-commerce picking operations: it’s much easier with automatic warehouses

One initial step in speeding up picking operations might be to consider a new solution as a replacement for shelving warehouses: one of the best options is definitely the automatic vertical warehouse.

In contrast with the traditional concept, in which the operator moves around inside the warehouse looking for the articles he needs, with the technology of an automatic vertical warehouse the goods are brought to the operator, who does not move from his workstation. All this allows tidy, safe organisation of goods, but above all allows faster picking operations, for e-commerce and in warehouses in general.

E-commerce logistics: warehouse management for faster reverse logistics

The introduction of e-commerce into businesses is a gradual process, which may take place in different ways depending on the organisation’s size. However, one factor must be considered even before the portal is opened: how can reverse logistics, meaning simply returns, be accelerated within the warehouse?

Reverse logistics is a major weapon in the battle for market shares: in fact, over a two-year period consumers tend to reduce their purchases by 100% on sites with a charge for returning goods, but to increase them by up to 457% on sites with free returns.

So efficient management of the return of products is essential to ensure complete customer satisfaction. It is estimated that about 10% of online purchases are returned to the seller, although in sectors such as fashion the percentages can be as high as over than 20%.

This implies the need to reorganise the whole logistics operation, with the aim of speeding up reverse logistics as much as possible, in order to minimise the associated costs.

Modula automatic warehouses: the integrated solution for e-commerce logistics

Modula automatic vertical warehouses are the appropriate solution for all the logistics problems of an e-commerce business: created to make full use of all the height available, saving floor space, vertical technologies are suitable for any type of product, in any industry or sector, since they can be customised with different payloads, heights, sizes and accessories.

Modula allows you to store goods in an organised, clean, secure and fast system, reducing the number of movements operators have to make and avoiding damage to your goods. Packaging, cardboard boxes and returned goods can be stored in a single warehouse, regardless of size and weight. A single storage tray has a payload of 990 kg and remains balanced even if the load it contains is off balance. What’s more, Modula can calculate how the storage trays should be placed to optimise the gaps between them.

Article source modula.eu

Safety in the warehouse is a fundamental element for effective workplace management and is synonymous with quality of production and of your workplace environment. A safe warehouse means fewer accidents, fewer problems, fewer delays during operations and fewer incidents.

In fact, although these last factors primarily have negative repercussions for your staff, they can also affect the financial health of your business. Frequent accidents mean a reduction in efficiency, replacement of staff, possible extra recruitment, insurance policies and government inspections.

The starting point for eliminating all critical factors which conspire to make a warehouse less safe, and therefore less efficient, is to identify what the actual problems are. The most common “symptoms” which indicate problems with warehouse management in terms of safety are generally as follows:

• Damaged goods
• Disorganised warehouse
• Complaints by operators about onerous tasks or heavy loads
• Frequent accidents
• If you become aware that one of the above problems is occurring constantly, then the time has come to think about the safety of your warehouse.
• When we talk about safety, it’s important to distinguish between the two different types:

1. Safety of personnel working in the warehouse: everything that relates to the people working in the warehouse and the various activities they perform when moving goods around, but also the weight limits imposed by manual handling regulations, obstacles and distances between objects depending on whether handling is being carried out manually or using mechanical vehicles.
2. Security of goods: everything that relates to the goods being stored. Everything in the warehouse has a value, so theft and damage will negatively impact the business’ bottom line. For this reason, it’s important to pay attention to how goods are being stored in order to avoid this type of issue.
   Let’s take a look in more detail.

Protecting operators

Looking after the people who work in the warehouse is an absolutely fundamental issue. In this case, the concept of safety can be split into two methods: adoption of accident prevention measures or the ability to intervene effectively when an accident occurs. We all know that prevention is better than cure, and it’s always better to pay attention to and invest money in the former. If operational risks are high or if you are getting complaints from your staff relating to safety then you need to take another look at how you are managing your warehouse.

How? First of all, you must monitor completely all operations. Don’t leave any out just because they may not be performed very often. They may still pose a significant danger for anyone who performs them and they must obviously be redesigned or eliminated.

Now analyse each individual activity and everything that relates to it. This is so you can understand if the working environment is safe enough for the people working there. Are the goods located on traditional shelving units and therefore are people often required to use stairs or carry heavy loads by hand? How safe is the equipment being used? Is the space between shelving units wide enough to allow people climbing stairs to retrieve the goods safely? What is the likelihood that a load could be dropped by an operator? Are you complying with legal limits? These questions will help you to understand any weak points in your warehouse which can act as the starting point for implementing new safety measures.

If, for example, loads are mainly being moved manually, the risk of incidents or accidents is increased compared to movements made using automatic systems or mechanical equipment. As manual handling requires operators to push, lift or drag even very heavy loads, this carries a much higher risk of objects being overturned and puts the health of operators in jeopardy.

The size of loads also has an influence on the quality of work in the warehouse. If the goods to be moved are large and cumbersome, operators are required to make movements or twisting motions which are dangerous to their safety. For this reason, and in the interests of improving safety in your warehouse, you must design your packaging correctly so that it reduces the effort required by your staff to a minimum, or else you need to rethink how their work is organised.

Keep the warehouse clean and tidy

One simple but fundamental rule which will help you maintain a higher level of safety for your operators is really just about keeping the place clean. Especially where oily substances are used inside the warehouse or where the floor of your working area often gets wet, the risk of accidents occurring is rather high.

It’s a good rule in these cases to warn others of the “danger” as soon as possible and proceed as quickly as possible to remove the spillage. Clean the floor to avoid falls which may be dangerous for operators and at the same time create an obstacle for vehicles used inside the warehouse.

Pay attention particularly to transit areas: avoid any type of obstacle which might cause an accident such as packaging, detritus and stationary vehicles. Operators can get distracted, become tired or simply can’t physically see the danger. However, it’s important that every person working inside the warehouse remains alert to these issues to encourage a workplace which is safer for everybody. Being in a hurry to complete the day’s deliveries can sometimes cause omissions or distractions which can have undesirable consequences in terms of safety.

Organise safety courses for all operators and update staff constantly about regulations

Always give a high degree of importance to training new staff before they start work. This goes especially for those workers who use transport and handling equipment.

Make use of the advice of safety experts so you know what types of courses your operators should be sent on and also find out if your warehouse is effectively compliant and safe.

Pay particular attention where new people are employed and/or when new machinery is being adopted. In both cases, before starting production, you must ensure that you have properly explained all safety regulations that relate to your warehouse to your new employees and, in the latter case, ensure that all methods for using the new machines are clear to everyone.

If any equipment requires specific certification for its use, you must make sure that all those persons who will be using the equipment are in possession of this certification and that it is still valid.

Security of goods

Have you ever found goods have been damaged in the warehouse? Or have you noticed that some products have magically disappeared?

These are definitely symptoms of a failure in the way the warehouse’s security is managed. It could be that your employees are not very careful when moving goods about, that the goods arrive already damaged but nobody says anything, or that orders coming in are not complete (you are receiving lower quantities than you ordered), or that someone does not have a clear conscience.

Resolving this type of problem is simpler than you might think: just keep track of all operations involving the goods. For each order coming in, know with certainty what the quantity is and its relative specifications (model, colour, etc.) but also who was responsible for loading it onto the shelves or moving it around.

One of the simplest ways of doing this is to get yourself some Warehouse Management Software to manage and record day-to-day operations. We recommend that you allocate specific tasks and responsibilities to each person or to groups of people so you can more easily get to the heart of the problem. If a particular product type is regularly proving to be faulty, you could turn to the person responsible for its production and request an explanation. You can then understand if it is a problem with how the warehouse is managed or if the problem is down to a careless supplier.

Lots of problems? One single solution which improves security in your warehouse

In the last few years, new types of solutions have been arriving on the market which simplify warehouse management and bring improvements in every area: from improvements to throughput in picking operations to security for the entire storage area.
These are automatic vertical warehouses, dedicated product storage systems which are made up of ultra-robust metal trays propelled automatically by an internal elevator and which are able to hold weights of up to 90,000 kg.

Using a simple digital interface, you can control all the goods in your warehouse and with one click you can bring them directly to the delivery level which can be either internal or external, single or double. As you will have noticed, this avoids all dangerous operations normally carried out by people, such as carrying heavy loads, retrieving them from very tall shelves or gangways and mezzanines, and which are generally the main source of accidents. With automatic vertical warehouses, the operator only has to move the goods from the delivery/loading level which is completely ergonomic, protects the operator’s personal safety and prevents issues related to this type of task.

Another very important aspect is that not everyone has access to the automatic vertical warehouse, only those who have been authorised. In this way, you will know exactly who performed certain loading and unloading actions: who accessed which tray, at what time and in which machine. This will allow you not only to keep watch, in real time, over everything that happens in the warehouse but therefore also better manage orders. Moreover, you will be protected from theft of and damage to your goods.

This type of warehouse is recommended for any type of product, from small items up to heavy weights and even expensive goods and allows you to store goods with different sizes and weights thanks to the use of Dynamic Tray Height Storage: in other words, the machine organises the trays according to the various heights of the goods stored in them in order to best manage the space available and not waste even a millimetre of it.

Once your goods are organised into the closed trays, they can no longer become damaged and always stay clean. For this reason, all the above problems simply disappear.

Article source modula.eu

It is well known that keeping a certain amount of merchandise in the form of stock involves costs. In fact, stock is a cash asset which requires a large capital investment and has a direct effect on delivery to customers.

Why does stock accumulate?

The reasons vary greatly, but on the whole stock is essential for covering any shortcomings caused by the temporal inconsistency between supply and demand. To counter this need in the 1980s, the Just in time method was born, an Oriental production philosophy developed within Toyota. “Just in time” fits into a broader methodology of organising production without any waste, pursuing continuous improvement with the aim of creating warehouses without stock and purchasing only when there is demand.  Obviously in many realities, if not exactly in all of them, this is a hypothetical and unrealistic attitude. However, the one thing that we must learn from this philosophy is that limiting the quantity and value of stock stored in warehouses allows large capital savings.

If the goal is to keep stock to a minimum, it is a given that purchases will have to be much more frequent, with little chance of volume-related discounts and high costs in terms of order preparation and despatch times for the procurement department.

On the one hand, therefore, we have the cost of ownership, referring to the stock of inventory goods, on the other the cost of supply, linked to handling a large number of orders.

Inventory management, or stock management, aims to reach a compromise between these two costs while at the same time meeting overall business choices and goals as well as the strategies of each department. In fact, while finance departments prefer to maintain low stock levels to save capital outlays, marketing departments push for high stock levels so as to allow them to offer and increase discounts.

Stock management models: the variables to consider

There are multiple stock management models and there is not one that suits every company.

When deciding which road to go down and what system to adopt, you must consider the following variables:

• Company goals and business types
• Type of stocks: raw materials, semi-finished products or finished products
• Goods Rotation Index: indicates the number of times that goods are “rotated” or “renewed” over a certain period of time within the warehouse
• Lead time of supply, that is, the time it takes from issuing the order to receiving the ordered goods
• Demand characteristics: volatility, unpredictability, etc. Two types of demand can be identified: independent demand refers to market conditions and is therefore dependent on factors outside the company and therefore by nature unpredictable, and dependent demand refers to companies that build and assemble a finished product. This is predictable and strictly depends on the final product
• Available resources to devote to managing and organising stock: human capital and/or physical capital

Given these variables, there are three main questions to ask yourself and to get answers to:

1. How much to order?
2. When to order?
3. How to check the efficiency of the system?

Let’s look at this last aspect.

Managing stock efficiently and effectively

As mentioned earlier, there are several systems for managing stock, and not one can be considered the best across the board. The optimal solution differs from company to company, but there are some common principles that can be implemented regardless of the type of system used and which guarantee effective stock management.

Ascertain the priority of items in the warehouse

An easy way to do this is to use the ABC system and subdivide the products into three categories based on their usage value (high, middle, and low). Generally, it is common to implement this system using Pareto’s law, according to which 80% of sales come from 20% of all items. Items in category A will therefore be those that need more attention. Classifying them in this way allows you to always keep control over availability of the most important stock for production, manage its reordering more efficiently and avoid production downtime.

Always keep inventory data up-to-date

Whenever an action takes place within the warehouse you have to monitor it because it changes the total value of your stock. Only with an up-to-date and true representation of your stock situation at any time can you make effective management decisions.

Plan shelf and compartment layouts so that they can provide a suitable environment for locating and picking items as quickly as possible. It must also be dynamic so that it can be reorganised according to future needs.

Adopt management software

With software, you can automate management of stock movements and simplify it, keep track of all transactions and reduce errors.

And what if there were a solution to automate and simplify stock management?

This topic gets talked about more and more, and the answer is automatic vertical tray warehouses. This is a simple solution, and much simpler than fully automatic warehouses. These automatic machines are able to facilitate the management of all items in the warehouse, including stocks. Arranged vertically, they have an automatic tray handling system and an operator interface that allows you to handle picking and loading requests with just one click. In most cases, they integrate perfectly into your company’s network so that you can monitor all actions performed by any operator.

This solution requires only a limited budget (depending, of course, on the number of machines you want to acquire), and you can keep an eye on your stock situation which is updated in real time. Not only that, automatic vertical warehouses are able to manage your stock automatically and report any items in need of reorder.

Remember that they are machines, and so they will remain. There is therefore a certain amount of research necessary on your part beyond this current session to find the best solution for your business in order to decide when and how many to order. The above points remain valid (variables and decisions to be considered), but if properly planned, inventory management and automatic vertical warehouses can offer an absolutely optimal solution: they reduce errors (almost to the point of eliminating them entirely), save space, time and ensure maximum security for your goods and safety for your operators.

Article source modula.eu