BY VICTORIA KICKHAM, SENIOR EDITOR
CONVEYORS AND SORTERS
MATERIALHANDLING
THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF ROBOTIC MATERIALhandling technology on the market today, and manyorganizations find themselves bombarded with solutionsat trade shows and in other venues, enticing them towardautomation, “Industry 4.0,” and the “smart” warehouse.
The technological advances are impressive and the appealgreat, leading many to seek out and implement robotictechnology on a variety of levels.
But once a company decides to implement a particularrobotic solution in its warehouse or distribution center—whether for picking, palletizing, automated truck unloading, or another task—it faces a critical next step: figuringout how to integrate that solution into its operation as partof a larger system. The technology will need to work withother equipment and infrastructure, including a longtimeworkhorse of the warehouse: conveyors.
Blending the tried-and-true with the up-and-coming is
something conveyor manufacturers and systems integrators
say is becoming a more important part of material handling
system design.
“They must work hand in hand,” Tim Kraus, product
conveyor.”
Kraus and other conveyor professionals say the convergence of robotics and conveyors can lead to increasedproductivity and quality while reducing error rates—factorsthat help improve a company’s competitiveness in today’smarketplace.
