DC Velocity - August 2019

42 DC VELOCITY AUGUST 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
says Michael Wohlwend, managing
principal at material handling systems
integrator and consulting firm Alpine
Supply Chain Solutions. Companies
must maximize those four assets in
order to ensure their warehouse or
DC runs as efficiently as possible,
he adds, noting that advanced simu-
lation tools can play a role here. “We’re
using [conveyor] simulation soft-
ware to look at how you are going
to optimize all of those things,”
Wohlwend says. “Our customers are
asking us for designs that will help
them improve overall throughput
and reduce overall labor costs.”

CHANGING TO MEET EVOLVING NEEDS

Systems integrators and equipment suppliers use conveyor simulation technology to develop and present solutions to customers, a mission that has not changed much since the technology first entered widespread use in the 1990s, Webb and others say. But customers are looking for more than just proof that a system works, and thanks to technology advances, today’s software programs allow engineers and designers to deliver that information. Today’s customers seek three key benefits of conveyor simulation, according to Webb: confidence that a proposed system will do the job; the ability to evaluate a proposed system’s performance under changing conditions;