DC Velocity - April 2017

“integrated facilities management” services that include managing the systems and equipment on the floor, and the labor needed to support it, Harrington said. A full-service suite of solutions from the real estate firms might not be far off, he said.

A MOVING TARGET

Though systems integrators employ hundreds of on-site support technicians, most maintenance and repairs are now done remotely, either by communicating with workers on the plant or DC floor, or through embedded software that allows integrators to make immediate fixes without having a technician at the site. For instance, Dematic rolled out in late February a mobile phone app called “SiteView,” which functions like the “FaceTime” app on Apple iPhones to enable Dematic technicians to see and hear descriptions of the problem from a non-tech worker on the floor, according to Sermersheim.

“We are driving more technology than ever into our products to allow for more self-diagnostics and problem solving,” said John Sorensen, Intelligrated’s senior vice president and general manager, lifecycle support services.

Technical mastery of systems and equipment is a moving
target, mainly because the marketplace moves on so quickly
from the last big thing. What’s considered whiz-bang at this
year’s ProMat show may be obsolete by 2019, replaced by
automation that hasn’t yet been conceived. The difficulty in
acquiring, training, and retaining engineers and technicians
will create greater demand for machines and solutions that
do not require complex programming and that can be man-
aged by people who may not have received formal training
to do so.

Perhaps most important is the need to think proactively when it comes to support, no easy task with maintenance budgets that are fixed even as DC networks expand, and with omnichannel demand ratcheting up the pressure to perform. “Everybody has been in a firefighting mode for some time,” said Sorensen of Intelligrated.

Businesses with fast-growing DC networks tend to give proactive strategies short shrift, either because they are overwhelmed by current demands or are unaware that they need to, according to integrator executives. In addition, they may take a chance on hiring a supposedly qualified technician, only to discover that the employee can’t keep up with the demands of rapid system and equipment obsolescence or master the technology upgrades, they added. All of this presents a recipe for trouble down the line, they warned.

“There was a time that you could walk in with a tool bag and be moderately successful,” said Sorensen. “You can’t do that anymore.”

With material handling partners REB Storage Systems and
SpaceRAK providing custom designed, cost effective rack systems,
these data and record management specialists can shred their
concerns and store their profits.