Exploring Automations – Advantages of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
Throughout both request for proposal (RFP) processes and as part of our Continuous Improvement commitment to our partners, Katoen Natie consistently seeks the most financially and technically balanced solutions to address labor intensive activities and improve on overall quality. Whenever considerable volumes must be processed for a complex range of products, Autonomous Mobile Robots, known as AMRs, can potentially provide a potent solution that strikes that balance.
Simplifying Complexity with Versatility
A core strength of AMRs lies in their versatility. The ability of these robots to serve various processes enables them to provide a spectrum of functionalities that crucially include:
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- ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system);
- Internal transfer of goods between points A and point B, using SLAM technology (simultaneous localization and mapping)
This adaptability extends to handling diverse storage units such as pallets, shelf racks, boxes, and plastic bins. Such versatility can enable us to automate processes related to the handling of goods irrespective of the type of storage unit used. This, in turn can allow us to process larger volumes resulting in increased overall throughput. The more we can process in automated way, the lower the necessity of manual intervention and the less human errors can be made.
Combating ever changing circumstance with flexibility
A further meaningful advantage of AMR solutions lies in their capability to adjust existing installations. These installations can be flexibly adapted to new set-ups and configurations, allowing for scalability up or down, depending on business needs. This scalability, when combined with Katoen Naties large scale platforms – facilitates easier management of the seasonality of products, growing volumes as well as adding new or changing existing flows & processes in a fast and efficient way.
First Time Right
At Katoen Natie, our proficiency in AMR solutions is not just theoretical. We have amassed a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience in deploying a vast range of AMR solutions in our facilities, where we provide logistics services to our existing and prospective partners. This firsthand experience places us in a position to reliably evaluate the feasibility and gauge the intricacies of implementing an AMR business case in our distribution centers. While AMRs undoubtedly offer a transformative solution, they will, of course, not always be the answer to our partner’s logistics’ challenges. For that reason, we do not evaluate them in a vacuum, but always compare them with other viable alternative solutions, both automated and manual, in order to immediately propose the right tailor-made solution for our existing and prospective partners.
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