From traditional to high-tech, goods-to-person picking systems are quickly becoming table stakes for operating in a fast-paced environment marked by tight labor capacity.
Victoria Kickham started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area before moving into B2B journalism. She has covered manufacturing, distribution and supply chain issues for a variety of publications in the industrial and electronics sectors, and now writes about everything from forklift batteries to omnichannel business trends for DC Velocity.
Labor challenges and productivity demands have long been pushing business leaders to adopt automated solutions for their warehouses and distribution centers, a trend that accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic and that shows no signs of abating as 2022 gets underway. Goods-to-person (GTP) picking systems are among the most popular and easiest ways to automate, as both traditional and more advanced systems can yield results quickly and put companies well on their way to meeting their operational goals.
Recent studies attest to those benefits.Gartner research from 2021 predicted that demand for robotic GTP systems would quadruple through 2023, largely to deal with labor challenges. Such systems address the need for social distancing by moving goods from one person to another—and doing it so efficiently that they increase productivity and improve storage density along the way, according to Gartner.
“While the social distancing aspect is an imminent benefit, robotic GTP systems will provide value long after the pandemic is over,” Gartner Analyst Dwight Klappich said in an April 2021 Gartner.com article. “This technology is advanced and economical, and can easily be tailored to work in every kind of warehouse environment.”
But what exactly are GTP systems—robotic or otherwise—and how do they work? Here’s a back-to-basics look at some of the types of GTP technology available today and the benefits they can bring to material handling operations.
DETERMINING WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU
Essentially, goods-to-person picking systems deliver items to an operator, so that the operator doesn’t have to travel between locations in a facility. They can be used in retail operations, in warehouses and fulfillment centers, in point-of-use applications in manufacturing and packaging operations, and, increasingly, for merchandise returns. E-commerce fulfillment centers are seeing among the highest rates of GTP adoption, driven mainly by the accelerated growth of online buying since the spring of 2020. The situation was especially acute in the grocery market, where demand for microfulfillment systems—highly automated, small-footprint systems located close to the end-consumer—has skyrocketed over the past two years, according to Kevin Reader, vice president of marketing for logistics solutions provider Knapp. Up-to-the-minute ordering and expectations of fast delivery are driving the need.
“In an environment that’s constantly demanding later order windows during the day and next-day delivery—there’s not much of an option,” Reader says, emphasizing the growth in demand for GTP systems in general. “[This technology] is becoming almost table stakes.”
GTP systems fall into two general categories: 1) Traditional systems such as horizontal or vertical carousels, which present items to pickers in a warehouse or DC operation, as well as vertical lift modules (VLMs), which take advantage of a facility’s ceiling height to store and present items to workers; and 2) More advanced, high-density solutions, including shuttle-based systems and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), which deliver products to a worker at a pick station. Some advanced solutions also use autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to deliver products to workers.
Logistics solutions providers work with customers to select the best type of system for their particular application.
Determining the best system hinges on the particular “use case” in the market, according to Laura Bickle, senior offering manager for Honeywell Intelligrated’s warehouse execution software (WES). Use cases can include e-commerce order fulfillment, retail or store fulfillment, omnichannel and combination applications, buffer systems (which accumulate units for grouping, such as for palletization and cartonization), and inventory management. Bickle explains that at Honeywell, GTP stations can be used for multiple functions, including picking items for orders, putting away inventory (for example, replenishing an AS/RS by decanting items from vendor cases into plastic totes that are stored in the AS/RS), and conducting inventory cycle counts.
And although each use case is different, there are some guiding principles for determining the best system for a particular organization.
“There are several factors that need to be considered,” according to Bickle. “What type of products are in the system? How much space is available? What is the density? What is the desired throughput? How are orders to be filled—retail or e-commerce? How many different zones is product coming from, and is buffering needed?”
Bruce Bleikamp, director of product management for material handling solutions provider MHS, agrees, emphasizing that data is the most important part of developing a solution—lots of data.
“We like to look at the orders,” Bleikamp explains. “We typically ask for a year’s worth of data. What are they moving? How many? How is it packaged? … These are things we have to understand. So we ask for a lot of data.”
Reader, of Knapp, adds that it’s also important to understand the role existing software plays in an organization, along with overarching business considerations, and the ebb and flow of orders through the facility.
“Understanding all those elements and the interplay with machine capacity is really critical to making these systems work effectively,” he says.
BENEFITS: WHAT TO EXPECT
Productivity improvement is the primary benefit of installing a GTP system, as these systems allow more picks per operator and help boost overall facility throughput. This is especially beneficial in a tight labor market, Bleikamp points out.
“Everyone is struggling with the ability to get labor,” he says, especially in the warehouse and DC, where picking tasks often involve heavy lifting, lots of walking, and repetitive actions that can lead to stress and injuries. “It’s hard to get people [for those positions], so you have to do more with the resources you have. Automating helps with that.”
Chris Steiner, Americas vice president of solution development for logistics solutions provider Dematic, adds that reducing workers’ travel time through a facility drastically increases performance levels. In a manual operation, a worker typically picks about 100 pieces per hour; reducing travel time via automation can increase that volume up to 700 or more per hour, he says.
“The most expensive parts of the fulfillment supply chain are the first 100 yards and the last mile,” Steiner explains. “[Goods-to-person picking systems] help eliminate that first 100 yards.”
Although labor optimization is key, order quality is “the next frontier” when it comes to benefits and improvements, Steiner adds. Because inventory is tracked, presented, and typically confirmed by the automated system, order fulfillment accuracy skyrockets. What’s more, the controlled environment typically means less product damage and fewer errors. Assisted by the system, workers are less fatigued and make fewer mistakes—all in a better working environment.
“Generally, [these systems] are ergonomic in nature, so it’s a good working environment, which helps with quality [and] employee retention,” Steiner adds.
ALWAYS EVOLVING: WHAT’S NEXT?
As technology evolves, GTP systems are becoming more high-tech and driven by advanced software systems and controls. Reader says there’s been an increase in demand for GTP systems of all types, but particularly in systems that include robotic picking—those that use robotics to automate tasks that require manipulating individual items, as opposed to automating transportation through a facility. Such systems require artificial intelligence (AI), vision systems, cloud technology, and the like to automate the complex tasks of selecting products for an order.
Steiner adds that there’s also growing interest in collaborative robotic solutions—in which robots work alongside associates for picking and related tasks—as well as goods-to-robot solutions, or a combination of both, depending on the organization’s needs and goals. He says many customers are looking to create the right mix of solutions that justify the investment in advanced technology.
“[Customers will] mix robotic picking … with goods-to-person picking,” using robotic picking for steady, non-peak demands, and adding workers during busier periods, he says.
Whatever the mix or level of automation, the experts say demand for GTP systems and their more advanced and evolving counterparts is only set to accelerate over the next few years.
“It’s almost a perfect storm of macro-economic drivers that are driving the need for increased efficiency in the fulfillment space,” Steiner adds, circling back to the labor shortage and supply chain delays that have plagued companies over the past year or so. “But I think it’s consumer behavior that has changed the most. … From the beginning of the pandemic, e-commerce [saw] about eight years’ worth of growth in three months and [that] has continued; it hasn’t leveled off. That has created a significant space of demand that is affecting the [service level agreements] of our customers to their customers, and, in turn, continues to drive the need for increased investment in this type of technology.”
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.