Automatic warehouses and
handling systems
TECHNOLOG has been operating for more than 20 years in the intralogistics sector in which it collaborates with partners who produce automatic warehouses and handling systems based on the most varied technologies. This is why today it is able to offer its customers automatic solutions for every need: automatic tray warehouses, warehouses for long and heavy bodies, stacker crane and miniload warehouses, compactable warehouses, warehouses and handling systems managed with AGVs or automatic conveyors.
What is it?
An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is an automated system for storing goods.
The automatic warehouse consists of:
- storage facilities (usually shelves) used for the stowage of UDC (Load Units) which can be pallets, boxes, trays, boxes, boxes or in any case containers in which the goods are contained and moved
- robots for the automatic handling of UDCs (picking and depotting from storage facilities), which, depending on the type and size of the UDCs to be handled, can consist of stacker cranes, AGV vehicles, shuttles, etc.
- warehouse head, also called handling, i.e. the set of automatic conveyors, roller/chain crossings, fifth wheels, shuttles, shape controls designed to insert and extract the UDC from the system
From an operational point of view, automatic warehouses differ from conventional ones in the way they deposit and collect goods. Automatic warehouses work with the concept of “goods to man”, i.e. the operator stands still in a position used for loading / unloading operations and the system takes care of automatically handling the materials. Conventional warehouses are based on the concept of “man to goods”, in these systems it is in fact the operator who moves to reach the desired storage position where to deposit / pick up the goods.
A handling system (material handling) is nothing more than an automatic handling system, but above all the handling of goods and aims to make the right amount of the right material available in the right place, respecting the required times, sequences and conditions. This is made possible through the use of self-driving vehicles and / or automatic transport systems governed by a special management software. Very often handling systems are helpful, or are in any case integrated, with one or more automatic warehouses.
Fields of application
Automatic warehouses are typically used when a high storage density is required, in the presence of substantial volumes of incoming / outgoing goods, when it is necessary to operate in prohibitive environments (cold rooms, toxic or otherwise inhospitable environments), when it is important to increase the safety of the goods stored or even to improve safety in the working environment.
Key Features and Benefits
These systems differ mainly in the characteristics of the UDC handled: pallets / bins, boxes / boxes or metal trays.
For pallets / boxes the handling of the UDC takes place with heavy stacker cranes single / bi-column that can reach 45 meters in height and capacity up to 3 tons. In the case of boxes/cassettes, we are talking about miniload systems capable of moving light load units (up to 50 kg) with decidedly higher accelerations and speeds and with more limited heights. As far as metal trays are concerned, si refers to the cheapest and perhaps most versatile category of automatic warehouses, namely automatic tray warehouses. These warehouses use mechanical structures that move between two rows of racks where the UDC are stored, consisting of metal trays particularly suitable for the storage of moderately sized items for a maximum capacity of about 500kg.
TECHNOLOG offers automatic warehouses with new and used trays. With regard to large automated warehouses and handling systems based on AGV vehicles, it makes use of the dense network of technological partners.
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