www.dcvelocity.com DECEMBER 2018 DC VELOCITY 35
legacy systems continue to turn over to
the bigger WMS systems, and you’ll see
more on the controls side as well. All this
equipment and automation needs good
software to run it.”
Johnson agrees and points to the
growth in warehouse execution systems
(WES), which help highly automated
warehouses and DCs connect different
systems and functions in one platform,
improving communication across the
entire operation. As Johnson explains,
a WES “pulls” various functions from a
traditional WMS, such as waving, order
release, order diverting and so forth, and
combines those functions with a tradi-
tional warehouse control system (WCS),
which controls equipment, automation,
and routing. With this additional layer of
communication, he says, organizations
have greater visibility across the opera-
tion and can improve the flow of orders
through the warehouse.
“With the WES, I’ve now got a layer
that’s ‘talking’ between each piece of
automation,” he explains. “We will defi-
nitely see more use of that ahead.”
“That will increase, and the trend will
continue into next year,” he says.
AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS
FIND THEIR PLACE
Saenz says he expects more companies
to start using “Kiva-type systems” in the
warehouse and DC, referring to the compact orange robots used in Amazon.com’s
DCs to ferry racks of products to order
pickers. (Although Amazon took the Kiva
robots off the market after it acquired the
parent company, Kiva Systems LLC, in
2012, other robotic developers, including
GreyOrange, Swisslog, and Otto Motors,
are introducing similar solutions today.)
Such solutions are especially helpful in
automating the picking process,
resulting in greater productivity,
Saenz says. Similarly, Johnson and
Logan point to an increase in shut-
tle systems that can be used to
retrieve products from storage and
deliver them to the picker.
“Picking is where most of the
labor is” in a distribution center or
fulfillment facility, Saenz explains.
“So it helps to have something that
is moving around [the DC], grab-
bing orders for you or helping you
be more productive in other ways.
We will see a lot more of these
types of solutions [deployed] to
assist in the picking process.”
Saenz, Johnson, and Logan point
to an increase in labor-saving tech-
nologies such as autonomous fork-
lifts and automated guided vehicles
as well.
“[These are] drawing interest,
and I’m sure we’ll see more of them
[in use] in the next year,” Logan
says. “It’s happening already in
Europe, and I think we’ll see more
here. It may not make sense if you
only have one or two forklifts, but
if you have a fleet, it’s another
story.”
Saenz says he thinks the use of
autonomous lift trucks will sky-
rocket in large operations.
“[Companies can realize] big
savings there—tangible savings for
the warehouse,” he explains.
Looking beyond the next year,
consultants say that future-focused
technologies such as augmented
reality (AR) and more sophisticated robotics are ripe for investment
and will become the next automation wave.
“Full-picking robots, each-pick-ing robots, [human-like] bots,
and augmented reality—those are
more futuristic types of automation where we are seeing a lot of
investment,” Johnson says.
