Dan St. Peter

Technology has significantly changed the automated warehouse. One side effect is the ability to maintain social distances between operator stations. #4 Goods to Person Order Fulfillment Many distribution centers have manual picking processes that put a high number of operators in a specific area.  Using Goods to Person technology decreases the number of operators needed to fulfill orders.  In addition, the process automatically keeps distancing between operators.  GreyOrange and OPEX are both goods to person technologies that fit different applications based on your specific operation.  Use the links below for videos of each application in use. Grey Orange / OPEX

Reduce the operator interaction by utilizing Autonomous Mobile Robots to move material from one location to another Automated Materials Delivery – Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) Do you have a lot of repetitive material handling in your process?  Are your operators manually moving products throughout your facility?  An Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) can help reduce the human movement and therefore potential threat of contamination.  These types of technologies are collaborative with AI style interfaces.  It is also a great way to reduce non-value added movement and increase overall efficiency. 

Some repetitive tasks can be supported or eliminated with the use Collaborative Robotic Technology – Cobots Automate repetitive tasks – Collaborative Robots (Cobots) Highly repetitive tasks within a production facility that can be done with a collaborative robot will reduce the operator density and naturally distance workers from one another.   As Universal Robot’s blog explains, “the simplest way to understand how cobots and industrial robots differ, is that cobots are designed to work alongside human employees, while industrial robots do work in place of those employees.  Cobots are also more easily programmable than industrial robots because they are capable of “learning” on the job.”  They are easy to program and redeploy for other tasks as your business needs change.

Securing your facility is important to eliminate untested visitors. Common uses are for Trucker waiting areas or Visitor entrances. Do you have entrances where visitors can gain unsupervised access to your facility?  Installing a building access cage is an inexpensive way to add another level of security.  If the visitor is scheduled to be there this would be a great place to have the questionnaire and thermal temperature reading taken, along with a sanitation station prior to entering your building.Wirecrafters offers a wide range of products for this application.  www.wirecrafters.com

By actively managing the pick path of the operators you can limit the contact and effectively promote social distancing. #7 Manage operator pick paths and/or reslotting Here are some ideas to reconfigure your order picking area to promote social distancing: Spread out High volume SKUs over greater area to maximize distancing and minimizing pick path cross over Provide MULTIPLE slot locations for high volume SKUs ZONE Picking / Pick -n- Pass Use Technology to rethink Pick Paths to improve and control operator distancing Add Pickup & Delivery (P&D) stations to REDUCE employee interaction Use software to control how orders are initiated.

Renting conveyors for a short term fix   10. Conveyor Rentals – temporary reconfiguration of production line What if you have a new temporary production line you would like to add – have you considered renting conveyors on a month to month basis?  Sometimes simple portable belt conveyors can allow you to quickly set up a new operation.  The beauty is that if business conditions change you can return the conveyors when you are done with them!   View your options at SysteminMotion.com or download the list of equipment in our fleet here.

CSI Happy Hour – Baby Pictures for Mother\’s Day Friday Afternoon we all video called and tried to figure out who was who.  See if you can figure it out! Happy Mother\’s Day!!

Goods to Person in a Brave New World. Brandon Hunter will be co-hosting a webinar with Joe McGiness of OPEX Corporation to discuss the future of Material Handling.   This coming Tuesday May 5th at 4PM EST Brandon Hunter of System in Motion will be hosting a Webinar on Goods to Person technology with Joe McGinnis of OPEX. I am hoping that some of you would be able to join the webinar,Goods to Person Technology will shape how we do eCommerce in the future. In this Seminar we plan to dive deeper into this technology. Check out the video to learn more.  VIDEO LINK Topic: Goods to Person in a Brave New World We will be discussing: Labor Supply shortages – In your business and ours Cost justifications for Goods to Person Technology Major project deployment times Unique Solutions Micro Warehousing what is it and when does it make sense. Time: May 5, 2020 04:00 PM EST REGISTER HERE

Employee Profile in MHEDA Journal \”@Work\” Austin King has been with System in Motion since he graduated from Purdue University. Austin\’s educational background is an Industrial Engineering Technology degree with a Supply Chain concentration including a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification. These foundational blocks have helped him and System in Motion achieve success in System Integration, Project Engineering and Sales. We first met Austin when he attended the MHEDA convention as part of a Student Tour Group. This year he led a Student Tour Group for us and MHEDA at Modex 2020 in Atlanta. His engineering background has helped move the needle on our ability to supply customers with a first-class Customer Experience. Read the entire article in his words here (Click Here).

With today\’s environment we need to do all we can to keep our Employees Safe and Healthy Securing the entrances to your facility is important.  Many facilities have never installed a \”Drivers Cage\” to secure a space for the drivers to wait until they can be helped.  These small secure welded wire cages provide a safe place for the drivers or warehouse visitors to wait.  With today\’s environment, these small secure rooms are even more important and the use of them has expanded beyond just a Drivers rooms. Typical wall panels are roughly 4\’ x 8\’ and available in 1\’ increments.  The modular design allows Security Cages to be created in many shapes and sizes to match your facilities needs. Another option to create a small waiting area could be the High Visibility Guardrail.  The Guard rail can be used to keep visitors and employees out of a traffic zone for fork trucks.  These are not the standard galvanized highway rails.  These are solid steel, heavy duty units intended to stop fork trucks from damaging equipment and protect pedestrians.  Components to create your custom, safe, and secure zone are ready for immediate shipment.  For more information, use the link below or give us a call. Learn More! Click Here.