The Material Handling Blog

Bastian Solutions and Toyota Assist with Automation in Warehouses It’s no secret that ecommerce has changed the way people shop as well as how quickly customers expect to receive their orders. This expectation of fast delivery puts pressure on distribution centers to operate faster and more efficiently than ever before. So, how do you make sure your business can compete in today’s ever-changing, high-demand environment? The solution is automated guided vehicles (AGVs). While traditional forklifts such as order pickers, reach trucks and stackers are extremely useful for managing inventory and transporting heavy products, it is beneficial to have automated systems in place to take some of the complex work out of fulfillment. How do you determine when it’s time to integrate an automated vehicle solution in your DC (distribution centers)? Discover how these automated systems can help you navigate your warehouse confidently and take your operation to new heights.

Put walls aren’t new but their many operational benefits continue to stand out and help drive distribution center efficiencies, despite some common drawbacks. For companies with high order commonality and batch picking, put walls can easily have a dramatic impact to picking labor. Put walls are simply shelving units with several cubbies of the same or varying sizes, dependent on the orders being processed. Modern units have light indicators at the front and back of the wall to help direct operators to pick and put items.

For any companies who has been a part of a retrofit or cutover project, you may be familiar with the challenges of taking on a project during a live operation. At Bastian Solutions, we see a lot of live operation projects every year – enhancements or modernizations of existing operations. These kinds of projects are considerably more difficult than projects that are performed in a greenfield (brand new building) or brownfield (existing building) site that aren’t operational today.

We’ve all heard some variation of the saying “Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste” but how good are we at recognizing the crisis and the best way to capitalize on it? As we enter this new year, we must acknowledge 2020 was unlike any other year in many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything in our lives: personal, political, and professional. The world learned to work from home, educate from home, and to the point of this article – shop from home. What can be learned from this “Great Accelerator” event to ensure distribution centers are ready to adapt in the future and improve throughput efficiencies? Here are three lessons from this past year, and a few recommendations for each to ensure the 2020 distribution center (DC) “crisis” doesn’t go to waste:

As we close the door on a year of tremendous challenge and change, it’s a good time for distribution center (DC) leaders to pause and reflect on how to apply the hard-won learnings of 2020 in order to make course corrections for 2021 and beyond. Despite how early it may seem, now is the time to prepare for the second half of 2021, by which time the COVID-19 pandemic may be substantially behind us. As you chart your distribution operation’s path forward consider a few key questions that take into account your business needs, workforce, trends and technologies. Not only will this help prepare your operations for a smoother process but will help you assess your capabilities as external factors continue to change.