automation solutions

Warehouse Picking

Picking and inventory management are some of the biggest challenges in today’s warehouses. Automated picking solutions can increase productivity, cut costs, and improve picking accuracy.

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What Is Automated Warehouse Picking?

Automated warehouse picking strategically utilizes robotics, lighting, vision, and other technology to improve picking speed, safety, and accuracy in warehouses. There are numerous solutions for automating warehouse picking, including conveyance, mobile robots, sortation systems, and pick-to-light or put-to-light systems. The best solution for your company is one that integrates seamlessly with your warehouse processes and enhances the efficiency of your employees. Integrating automation into warehouse picking processes can safely save on inventory costs, productivity, and labor.

Benefits of Automating Picking

The most significant benefit of automated order or stock picking is increased productivity. Warehouse floor plans can be busy and inefficient, and employees must be trained and experienced to efficiently find items. With automation, associates spend less time finding items, increasing the number of picks per hour. But that is not the only benefit of automated picking. By strategically integrating robotics, sensors, vision, and other technologies, you can improve the safety, accuracy, and efficiency of your employees. Customers who have optimized and enhanced their picking processes with automation have seen improvements in the following areas:

Flexibility
Scalability
Reliability
Accuracy

Main Types of Automated Picking

Picking automation involves using any advanced technology to streamline the picking processes. While there are many options for automating your picking process, some of the most common solutions are robotics, sortation systems, or pick-to-light systems.

Collaborative Robots

Collaborative robots are industrial robots that can safely operate alongside your employees to efficiently pick, transfer, sort and store items throughout the warehouse. Companies can integrate collaborative robots into their existing picking processes to improve accuracy and increase throughput.

Learn More About Robotics Integration

Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light Systems

Pick-to-light systems use programmed LED lights to guide employees to the correct area to retrieve specific goods. These systems illuminate an optimized pick path and verify once the correct item is picked. Pick-to-light systems can interface with automated storage systems to autonomously store and present items to associates, and/or incorporate robotics to scan and process products after an associate pick. These systems reduce the time for employees to locate products, increasing pick rate and associate productivity. Put-to-light systems operate in a reverse flow, guiding operators to retrieve incoming goods, consolidate by SKU or customer order, and pack/stow dependent on the organizational method.

Autonomous Mobile Robots

The key to AMR automation is the flexibility that autonomy brings to the process. AMRs use sensors to interpret their environment, enabling them to perform each task efficiently while fluidly navigating fixed (racks, workstations) or variable (people, debris) obstructions. Completing non-value-added tasks such as picking up or dropping off products utilizing an AMR allows operators to focus on other value-added tasks, such as picking, checking or packing an order. AMRs can be advantageous when handling or storing heavy items, thus expanding application options to larger loads.

Learn More About AMRs and Warehouse Automation

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems

Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) store and sort items in a compact footprint, enabling accurate and efficient retrieval of loads from storage or transport. There are many different sizes and configurations for ASRS. They are ideal for non-palletized items.

Learn More About Using Automation in Warehouses

Industries That Benefit From Automated Order Picking Systems

Automated picking has become popular among a diverse range of industries. Wherever there are complex picking processes, regardless of industry, automation may help with optimization. For example, automotive manufacturing and consumer product manufacturing can use picking solutions for handling raw materials or parts for assembly. JR Automation has deployed warehouse automation solutions across several industries, including:

Automotive
Ecommerce distribution
Food and beverage
Manufacturing
Medical devices
Pharmaceutical
Retail
Transportation

JR Automation’s Picking Expertise

JR Automation’s decades of experience have prepared us for the modern warehouse. We help our customers uncover the best automation solutions for their warehouses and deploy those solutions at scale as operations grow. Whether you’re building a new facility or expanding current operations, we can help you take full advantage of your existing footprint by designing and integrating custom automation solutions for picking, material handling, packaging, and more.

Customized robot tooling enables flexible part handling

CASE STUDY

A Complete Overhaul from Manual to Automated Data Tracking

A leading medical device customer wanted to minimize operator errors in tracking part progress and the number of reject parts these errors were producing. They had previously used manual methods for handling and tracking processes, recording data by hand that included the part history, part location, and number of times the part had cycled through each production process. To solve the tracking issues, the JR team automated a part handling method and developed a data tracking system.