Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems from PEC

Optimize the Use of Floorspace

At any facility, floor space is vital. Any space that is wasted could harm your profits and translates to serious inefficiencies for your business. This means you need to get the very best out of your warehouse space, ensuring that each and every square foot is working for you.

Automated storage and retrieval systems make this happen. With an AS/RS, you will be able to effectively store and process items on the vertical plane, as well as the horizontal one. This essentially means you can handle many more items within each square foot of floor space.

Enhance Health and Safety

One of the biggest advantages of automated storage and retrieval systems is improved health and safety. The AS/RS will reduce the amount of time your human personnel needs to spend on the warehouse floor. The system also reduces the need for manual lifting and the management of heavy loads.

All of this makes it much easier to protect the welfare and well-being of your personnel. This translates to an engaged workforce that feels cared for and supported by management. In addition, you’ll be able to hit those all-important regulatory compliance requirements with ease.

Integrate with Digital Solutions

Automated storage and retrieval systems are data-driven solutions. They rely upon real-time stock and inventory data, and they depend upon integration with a range of smart technologies, such as autonomous robots and automated guided vehicles.

This is why AS/RS works so well with your existing digital infrastructure. From warehouse management systems to enterprise resource planning platforms, your AS/RS solutions should be able to interact with a broad range of different software pieces, supporting comprehensive facility management.

Maximize Storage Density

Maximizing storage density is key to increasing profitability and serving the needs of your customers and clients in the right way. AS/RS solutions include a variety of different components, each designed to boost the levels of storage density at your facility.

Not all items are suitable for extreme, high-density storage. However, there will be pieces in your inventory that are well suited to this form of storage, and deploying high-density system components wherever possible can greatly improve operations within your facility.

Reduce Errors

Human error can be costly to your business, and it is almost unavoidable if you are relying on human teams to handle repetitive tasks, such as order picking and inventory data processing. Robotic, automated systems are far better suited to handling these kinds of tasks.

The AS/RS solution is ideal for helping your business to reduce costly errors. Systems like these can handle repetitive processes with ease, processing orders and calculating storage volumes without fail. With errors almost completely eliminated, the operating costs of your business fall significantly.

Improve Throughput and Productivity

Not only is an AS/RS solution able to handle repetitive tasks in a simple and straightforward manner, but it is also able to handle these tasks quickly and efficiently. Calculations that would need to be checked, double-checked, and triple-checked by human personnel are handled effortlessly by the AS/RS and in a fraction of the time, greatly increasing throughput and productivity.

On a more basic level, the AS/RS solution greatly reduces the time needed to pick and pack orders. The system utilizes components like virtual life modules (VLMs) to handle order fulfillment from a single centralized column, so personnel or autonomous robots do not need to traverse the warehouse floor when picking orders. This means less time is wasted and throughput is enhanced.

Vertical Carousels

Vertical carousels are crucial for optimizing space, enabling items to be stored vertically. These carousels rotate on wheels, drawing items up and down as required, and are ideal for high-density storage configurations.

Horizontal Carousels

Horizontal carousels operate on the horizontal plane, typically rotating around a track. When compared with vertical carousels, these horizontal components are better suited for increasing accuracy when storing and retrieving smaller items.

Cubic Storage Grids

Cubic storage grids increase the warehouse’s high-density storage capabilities even further, storing a great number of items together within compact units. These units are accessible via robot technology to support goods-to-person picking.

Unit-Load Components

These system components are designed for storing and retrieving very heavy loads. This might involve bringing together a number of smaller loads into a palletized consignment, or it might instead involve the storage of individual high-mass items.

Mini-Load Components

Mini-load system components work on the same basis as a unit-load component, but they are designed to work with lighter components.

Vertical Lift Modules 

Vertical lift modules (VLMs) are storage units formed of a column of trays at the front of the module and another column at its back portion. Between these two sections, there is an automated mechanism that provides access to designated trays.

Shuttle Units

Shuttle units are another method that can be used to provide automated and reliable access to stored items. Cartons, trays, and totes may be deployed within a shuttle system.