Automation of Logistics – Rethinking the Processes
The project scope of many, especially large-scale, new projects is about automation, at least to a major extent.
Important and tempting as the topic of automation may be for many companies, the limits are often set by reality.
For example:
– lack of flexibility when processes are automated (e.g. short-term workload peaks)
– exorbitant investment costs that exceed the budget
– no significant savings of running costs
– lack of standardization of load carriers or of the business
Very often, process and workflow issues can be solved.
In many cases, automation requires a radical rethinking of the workflows concerned.
A simple 1:1 replacement of a manual solution by an automated one only works in very rare cases – or it may be in that case precisely that the new solution does not make any economic sense at all.
But the economic challenges are usually more difficult to deal with.
In that context, we often see that manual solutions justifiably play an important role within intralogistics.
Manual or automated: the focus must be on effectivity and efficiency in both systems.
