Automated warehouses
• Traditional warehouses, even mechanized ones, tend
to have high operating costs.
• These operating costs can be reduced, as well as
improving aspects of service, by using automation.
• Automated warehouses include the following
components:
– storage areas that can be accessed by automatic
equipment; these often use narrow aisles up to,
say, 40 m tall to get a high density of materials and
minimize the distances moved.
• Equipment to move materials around the warehouse;
these are usually automated guided vehicles (AGVs)
which use guide wires in the floor, but might include
conveyors, tractors, or a range of other moving
equipment.
• Equipment to automatically pick materials and put
them into storage, including high speed tacker cranes
that can reach any point in the narrow aisles very
quickly.
• Equipment to transfer materials between the different
types of equipment; these automatic loaders and
unload might include industrial robots.