Introduction
In
recent years, logistics automation technology in the domestic and
international auto parts industry has been rapidly developed and
applied. Smart logistics solutions are widely used in warehousing,
distribution, and sorting work scenarios, which have a positive effect
on the flexibility, low cost, intelligence, and accuracy of warehousing.
Implementation Effect
Smart
logistics is an integrated scenario application of automated and
intelligent technology, empowering all links, effectively realizing a
substantial increase in storage space capacity, and quickly and
accurately implementing parts storage, delivery, sorting, information
processing and other operations. Through the analysis of monitoring
operation data, we can accurately grasp the business pain points,
continue to optimize business capabilities, reduce costs and increase
efficiency. The application of technology and big data analysis based on
smart logistics will become the main direction of the development of
parts logistics, as an important indicator to measure the level of
enterprise logistics operation and management.
1. Help companies to save costs significantly
The
application of four-way multi shuttle system makes full use of the
height of warehouse to realize the intensive storage of materials and
improve efficiency; the automated intensive storage and the front
conveying system reduce labor cost, reduce labor intensity, and improve
efficiency.
2. Safe operation
Ergonomic order picking stations can improve operator performance and reduce error rates.
3. Increased processing capacity
The warehouse handling capacity is 2-3 times that of traditional automated warehouse.
4. Improvements on information construction
Realize
the whole process management of materials in and out of storage through
information management methods. At the same time, it has related query
and report management to provide data support for warehouse management.
5. Flexible, modular, and expandable
According to business needs, more shuttles can be flexibly added to improve efficiency.
Project Background and Requirements
NANJING
INFORM STORAGE EQUIPMENT (GROUP) CO.,LTD provides a well-known
automobile company with an easy-to-expandable box-type four-way multi
shuttle system solution, to help the company optimize the automated
storage system to achieve high space utilization, rapid cargo storage,
and precise inbound and outbound control requirements to ensure the
timeliness of order response, improve the efficiency of the enterprise,
and effectively save manpower and operating costs.
The
well-known automobile company that INFORM has cooperated with this time
is an active practitioner of smart logistics in the auto parts
industry. The company is mainly responsible for the operation of the
after-sales spare parts central warehouse. Previously, multitier
mezzanine and pallet racking were used for storage. With more and more
categories of spare parts, there are still many problems in warehousing,
picking and outbound process, which need to be solved through
intelligent logistics warehousing solutions. After many considerations,
the box-type four-way multi shuttle solution provided by INFORM can
better meet current business needs, adapt to the company's development
and subsequent business extensions, and help it to ensure the timeliness
of order response, improve the efficiency of the enterprise,
and effectively save the demand for manpower and operating costs, and achieve significant results.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
Project Overview and Main Process
This
project covers an area of about 2,000 square meters, and has built an
automated dense storage warehouse with a height of nearly 10 meters.
There are nearly 20,000 cargo spaces. The turnover box can be divided
into two, three and four compartments, and can store nearly 70,000 SKUs.
This project is equipped with 15 box-type four-way multi shuttles, 3
elevators, 1 set of racking-end conveyor line and front conveying
module, and 3 sets of goods-to-person picking stations.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
The
system is configured with WMS software to connect to the enterprise's
ERP system, and configure with WCS software, responsible for the
decomposition, distribution and equipment scheduling management of job
tasks.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
Products inbound and outbound process are as follows:
1. Inbound
◇WMS system manages the binding of the bar code of turnover box and material, laying the foundation for inventory management;
◇Complete
the online work of turnover box manually. Turnover box enters the
conveying system after scanning the code and super-elevation detection
without abnormality;
◇Turnover
box that enters the conveying system, according to the system
distribution logic, will be transferred to the designated position by
elevator and four-way multi shuttle.
◇WMS
updates the inventory information after receiving the instruction to
complete the delivery of four-way multi shuttle, and the warehousing
work is completed.
2. Storage
The
materials that need to be stored are classified into the three
categories of ABC based on the previous big data judgment, and the
system cargo location planning is also correspondingly designed based on
ABC. The
cargo space of each floor directly facing the elevator sub lane is
defined as type A material storage area, the surrounding area is type B
material storage area, and the other areas are type C material storage
area.
In
type A material storage area, since it faces the elevator directly,
shuttle car does not need to switch to the main lane mode when picking
and placing this type of turnover box, which saves the time of
acceleration, deceleration and switching between sub- and main-lane, so
the efficiency is higher.
3. Picking
◇System
automatically generates picking waves after receiving the ERP order,
calculates the required materials, and generates material turnover box
outbound task according to the storage unit where materials are located;
◇Turnover
box is transferred to the picking station after passing through the
four-way multi shuttle, elevator and conveyor line;
◇One picking station has multiple turnover boxes to operate in turn, so operators do not have to wait for turnover box;
◇WMS
software client-side display screen is equipped, to prompt the cargo
compartment information, material information, etc. At the same time,
light on the top of picking station shines into the goods compartment to
be picked, to remind the operator, thereby improving the picking
efficiency;
◇Equipped
with multiple order boxes with button lights on corresponding positions
to remind the operator to put materials into the lighted order boxes to
achieve fool-proof and reduce errors.
4. Outbound
After
an order box is picked, system automatically transfers it to the
warehouse conveyor line. After scanning the turnover box bar code with
PDA, system automatically prints the packing list and order information
to provide a basis for subsequent collection, consolidation and review.
After the small order materials are merged with other large order
materials, they will be shipped to the customer in time.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
For
3PL companies of auto parts, there are common pain points in the
warehousing, storage, replenishment, and picking and removal of parts.
While reducing operating efficiency and increasing enterprise costs, it
also brings more difficulties to the storage management of
manufacturers:
①SKU keeps increasing, it is difficult to plan and manage goods
Conventional
auto parts warehouses are mostly divided into pallet warehouses that
mainly store large parts, and light duy shelving or multitier mezzanine
that mainly store small parts. For the storage of small items, as the
number of SKUs is increasing day by day, the long-tail SKUs cannot be
removed from the shelving, and the workload of planning and optimizing
management of cargo locations is relatively large.
②Low utilization rate of warehouse storage capacity
For
the standard warehouse, there is a clear space of more than 9 meters.
Except 3-tier multitier mezzanine, other light duty shelving has the
problem that the upper space cannot be fully utilized, and the rent per
unit area is wasted.
③Large storage area and many handling workers
The
warehouse area is too large, and the running distance is too long
during operation, resulting in low efficiency of single-person
operation, so that more workers such as replenishment, picking,
inventory, and shifting are required.
④Large workload of picking and unloading, error-prone
Manual
operation warehouses mostly use the pick-and-seed method, lack of
fool-proof methods, and often encounter problems such as missing codes,
throwing the wrong boxes, more or less postings, that requiring more
manpower during later review and packaging.
⑤Increasing demand for information
With
the advent of the Internet of Things era, the demand for product
traceability is gradually increasing in all walks of life, and auto
parts are no exception. Smarter information methods are needed to manage
inventory information.
INFORM
has been deeply involved in the auto parts industry for many years, and
has rich experience in the fields of racking and automated handling
equipment; there are nearly 100 system integration cases in the
manufacturing industry alone; the project implementation has both
hardware and software, and can provide turnkey projects and save
management. On the other hand, INFORM, as a listed company, has stable
operations. It has sufficient protection for all kinds of risk control
during project implementation and follow-up maintenance services.
Therefore, the company chose to cooperate with INFORM to build this
project.
Project Difficulties and Core Highlights
In the design process of this project, many technical difficulties were overcome:
◇There
are many SKUs at site, so INFORM designed turnover box separation
scheme. Turnover box can be divided into 2/3/4 grids, and multiple
materials can be placed in the same turnover box. In the information
processing, accurate positioning of each grid in turnover box is carried
out to ensure that the direction of turnover box does not change during
picking, which will lead to deviations in the picking guidance system.
◇Due
to the mixing of materials, it will increase the time for operator to
determine the goods, and the error rate of judgment will increase.
INFORM used the light picking system on the goods-to-person picking
station to promptly remind operators to improve work efficiency and
reduce errors.
◇With
the increase of business volume, the efficiency of warehouse entry and
exit can be flexibly improved, and the transition will be smooth. INFORM
adopted four-way multi shuttle solution to solve the problem.
Initially, each layer is equipped with one shuttle car. Later, it
supports to increase the number of shuttle car at any time, to achieve
multiple operations on the same level, so efficiency will be improved.
Through
continuous efforts to overcome difficulties, the project was
successfully implemented, showing many bright spots during the
implementation process:
1. Design of the large and small loop conveying line system
In
the scheme, three picking stations faces three elevators respectively.
Therefore, in the normal picking operation, turnover box required by
each picking station is directly in and out of the corresponding
elevator. The path is short and the efficiency is high, this is the
small loop path of the conveyor line. In other links such as full box
storage, during picking, inventory and other process, turnover box needs
to pass through a horizontal conveying loop, which runs through three
small loops. This is the large loop, the aorta that connects each node.
2. Multifunctional picking station design
The
picking station is equipped with multiple temporary storage positions
for material turnover boxes and order turnover boxes. After finishing
the picking of one turnover box, in the process of replacing turnover
box, operator can pick other turnover box, which will not cause waiting
time, and ensure efficiency.
The
picking station is equipped with a human-computer interaction screen, a
light picking system, and a button light confirmation system, which
improves efficiency while preventing fools.
In
addition to picking function, the picking station also has an inventory
function to ensure that operators can also inventory individual
materials when performing wave orders.
3. Escorted by mature software system
The
auto parts in this project need lean management, and the equipment
needs to be intelligently scheduled. Therefore, WMS system and WCS
system in this project are developed on the basis of standard processes
to meet the actual needs.
WMS
mainly provides functions such as conventional inventory management,
inventory query, product traceability, and inventory warning. At the
same time, It can directly import order information from ERP in time,
automatically start placing orders after merging waves, and track the
execution process of orders, feed back execution results, update
inventory information, and accumulate operational data.
The
system is equipped with WCS system, which decomposes the job tasks from
WMS system, schedules and manages the execution of various hardware
devices. The core logic includes: the dispatch logic of multiple
four-way multi shuttles on the same layer, the elevators in and out,
shuttle cars layer change, turnover box cross-picking station
scheduling, etc.
4.
Configure a real-time monitoring system to help customers understand
operational information and key warnings in a timely manner
At
site, a large touch-sensitive monitoring screen is configured to
display the operating efficiency of each equipment in real time, and the
related parameters of order task execution, so that on-site managers,
leaders and visitors can understand the on-site operation status at a
glance.
At
the same time, the large monitoring screen can display important alarm
information in real time, and remind operation and maintenance personnel
to handle alarms in time through sound and light to ensure operation
efficiency.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
Why choose us?
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
Top 3 Racking Suppler In China
The Only One A-share Listed Racking Manufacturer
1. NanJing Inform Storage Equipment Group,as a public listed state controlled enterprise, specialized in the logistic storage solution field since 1997.( 26 years of experience)
2.Core Business: Racking
Strategic Business:Automatic System Integration
Growing Business: Warehouse Operation Service
3.Inform owns 6 factories, with over 1000 employees. Inform listed A-share on June 11, 2015, stock code: 603066, becoming the first listed company in China’s warehousing industry.
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()
![Four Way Multi Shuttle System Four Way Multi Shuttle System]()