A recent survey by Peerless Research Group (PRG), in conjunction with Modern Materials Handling and sister publication Logistics Management, revealed that companies plan to spend an average of almost $402,000 on materials handling equipment and information systems solutions during 2025, compared with about $329,000 last year.
As warehousing, distribution and manufacturing environments continue to evolve, key concerns identified by survey respondents are safety (84 percent), cost containment (80 percent), corporate growth (69 percent) and employee training (64 percent). Labor availability, achieving productivity goals, capital availability, disaster recovery and the environment also are areas of growing concern, according to the survey.
Assessing the true operational needs and requirements is critical when making a business case for automation. Before considering solutions, it’s important to have an in-depth understanding of the present processes, workflows and challenges within a facility. That’s why Carolina Handling’s process to automate begins with data collection and discovery.
What are the business needs?
The primary reasons to automate are to improve processes and labor efficiency, improve ergonomics and employee health, improve employee retention, reduce operational expenses, lower order fulfillment time and reduce human error.
Companies also might look for automated processes to recover floor space and prolong the need for expanding a facility or building a new one. For example, vertical lift modules can reduce a company’s storage footprint by as much as 90 percent by building up, not out.
Whatever the business needs, it’s important to remember that all automation is not equal, nor is it a silver bullet. Automated systems should be targeted to address specific business challenges, and they should be designed to integrate with and support operations upstream and down.
What are the operational requirements?
Before searching for solutions, it’s critical to understand the current state of your operations. By evaluating processes, workflows and information flows, you can identify areas for improvement and establish baselines for objectively comparing various automated options that can accomplish the same thing.
During this discovery phase, you want to see how products move through the warehouse, exploring current processes and the type of equipment presently in use.
Carolina Handling assists customers by offering an intralogistics solutions assessment designed to uncover the root cause of operational disruptions or slowdowns.
This two-day, on-site assessment of your operations includes evaluation of material and information flow by Carolina Handling Continuous Improvement professionals. A detailed, written report will be provided that may include:
- Documentation of current material flow and process waste
- Spaghetti diagram of workflow
- Process map with Kaizen opportunities
- Standardized work instruction examples
- Recommended solutions including but not limited to:
- Process flow
- Inventory flow
- Equipment/tools/materials to improve operational efficiency
Making the case.
The capital investment associated with automated solutions must be sold internally, so it’s important to involve as many parties as possible early in the process. Operations, of course, will be involved but also include IT, safety, finance and any other stakeholders in early discussions.
In addition to an internal agreement on cost, there also should be acceptance of a realistic and achievable timeline needed to select, develop, design and implement solutions.
This is the time to make a list of the must-haves and nice-to-haves and conduct a weighted average of those elements. Remember to include values such as scalability, ease of integration and maintenance and repair costs, especially when automation options are of similar cost and ROI.
Finding the right partner.
At Carolina Handling, our focus is helping customers optimize their operations and create higher levels of service for their end users. Taking a consultative approach, we work with companies on how to maximize operational capabilities. And being vendor agnostic, we can identify the best equipment for addressing individual or unique challenges.
As a systems integrator, Carolina Handling has access to a wide range of automated solutions. With vastly different technologies available to accomplish the same end, our Intralogistics Solutions Group makes recommendations based on budget, ability to integrate with existing warehouse systems, scalability and many other factors.
Working with the customer, we define project success and plan a phased integration approach that achieves the desired results.
Go HERE for more information on automation solutions from Carolina Handling.
