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Home » Automating the Cold-Chain Warehouse
SPECIAL REPORT


AUTOMATING THE COLD-CHAIN WAREHOUSE



Photo: iStock.com/sorn340

September 28, 2023
Sponsored by Lineage Logistics


It’s more than just robots — it’s automating decision-making processes to manage
costs, enhance efficiency, build resilience and navigate a volatile labor
market. 

For shippers and receivers of goods that require cold storage, the automation of
warehouse activities and processes is not a one-size-fits-all affair. Each cargo
owner has unique attributes and requirements, which means that cold-chain
logistics operators need to evaluate those and tailor solutions to fit the
customer. In fact, they should first consider whether a given customer scenario
is amenable to automation. 

When many people think of automation in a cold chain, or any warehouse, they
think about robots performing some tasks that otherwise might be done by human
labor. That could be the beginning, but certainly not the end, of the
implementation of cold-chain automation.  

Robots have their advantages. They reduce wear and tear on human workers and
take over repetitive tasks, making the human side of work more rewarding. They
give employers a tool to contend with labor shortages and business surges, and
they even contribute to the resilience of cold-chain facility design.  

But the information systems operating in the background are the ones that
automate processes in cold-chain warehouses from end to end. They orchestrate
robotic and human tasks and plan loading, unloading and storage. They share data
among disparate platforms to make sure all platforms are operating in tandem.
The ultimate goal is to automate decision-making, and it’s the information
systems that facilitate the analysis of data that allow that to happen.
End-to-end automation in cold-chain warehouses can contribute to greater
efficiency, higher quality and lower costs, benefiting cold-chain logistics
operators — and their customers as well. 

Cold-chain capabilities are assuming increasing importance in today’s world when
demand for perishable goods is on the rise, but, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, between 30% and 40% of the food supply in the U.S.
goes to waste. Around 13% of all food produced globally — amounting to over 1.6
billion tons — is lost every year due in part to poor cold-storage supply-chain
capabilities, according to a study from Columbia University’s Climate School.
Meanwhile, the cold-chain logistics industry faces an ongoing labor shortage.
According to a recent research report from MHI and Deloitte, a majority of
survey respondents said that hiring and retaining qualified workers were among
their top supply-chain challenges.  

The first step when considering the deployment of cold-chain automation
technologies is to determine whether they will benefit a given scenario.
“Automation works better in some use cases than others,” says Daniel Walet, a
senior operations research scientist at Lineage Logistics, a
temperature-controlled logistics services provider. “If you have customers whose
products sit in the warehouse and don't move much,” he explains, “then
automation is less suitable than in the case where products are moving.  You
want to use automation when there's a lot of work to automate.”  

It goes without saying that the objective of the cold chain is to keep products
at low temperatures throughout their journey through the supply chain, and to
make sure they spend as little time as possible outside the freezer. On the
other hand, one of the primary objectives of cold-chain automation is to keep
human workers out of the freezer, where temperatures can reach -30 degrees
Fahrenheit.  

“Freezers are harsh environments and can be difficult to staff,” says Matt
Goebel, a senior project manager. “It’s advantageous to keep people in the
warmer sections of the warehouse.” 

Manual warehouses use reach trucks operated by human workers in freezers, but
those pieces of equipment have their height limitations, around five or six
levels. Automated warehouses often use automated storage and retrieval systems
(ASRS), which deploy cranes and shuttles that are programmed to retrieve pallets
as directed by warehouse management systems (WMS). That configuration allows
freezers to be built taller, which has several advantages. 

“It creates greater density of product in the same footprint,” says Goebel, “and
can reduce the land costs for the cold-chain warehouse.” 

Building taller also contributes to more efficient and resilient building
designs. “They're higher density cubes, which are much more efficient to cool,”
says Claire O'Connor, vice president of automation systems at Lineage.
“Heat-producing forklifts are no longer required in those frozen spaces, so
there's a reduced heat load. The openings in the freezer get a lot smaller
because you have only a conveyor and a pallet or a box moving through a smaller
aperture. You don't need a larger opening to accommodate a forklift, and those
smaller openings reduce temperature loss.” 

All of that, of course, will reduce the energy costs for the automated
cold-chain facility. “In the refrigerated world, energy costs are very high,”
says Goebel, “so density helps to reduce costs.”  

Using robots allows warehouse operators to better manage labor costs, according
to O’Connor. “Especially during difficult labor markets,” she says, “it allows
warehouse operators to smooth out the peaks and troughs when they might have to
ramp up or ramp down staff. Automation solutions help to address labor
volatility.” 

Automating work in the freezers by consigning tasks to robots, adds O’Connor,
also “creates a safer work environment for team members.” Besides removing the
human element from the freezer as much as possible, cold-chain operators also
endeavor to automate repetitive tasks in the warehouse. Moving repetitive tasks
from humans to robots benefits accuracy too, according to Walet, and systems are
equipped to “task both team members and robots and use data to have them work in
harmony.” 

In traditional cold storage, much of the human labor involves case picking —
moving boxes from one area of the warehouse to another. “Those are the kinds of
tasks that should be automated,” says Walet. “Using robots to do case picking
ensures that the right number of cases are being picked. It’s also less likely
that product gets damaged or lost, and it’s easier to more reliably track where
inventory is located.” 

“Less human touches means less human error,” explains O’Connor, “so you get an
overall increase to inventory accuracy and that can lead to costs savings.”  

Automating repetitive tasks frees up team members to perform more meaningful
work. Once the pallets are unloaded, advanced cold-chain warehouses use
automated receiving technologies to capture all of the products’ relevant data.
“In traditional manual warehouses, that's all done by humans,” says Walet. “A
team member walks around the pallet to record the information.” 

Computer vision systems, by contrast, automatically identify the contents of
each pallet. Photographs of pallets are analyzed to grab information such as the
kinds of products, number of boxes, stacking configuration and sell-by date —
all of which is captured in the WMS. That data, in turn, allows the warehouse
operator to validate the information received from the shipper.  

“The receipt of the shipment is confirmed with the customer,” says Walet, “so
the warehouse operator can close out the loads and the truck driver is good to
go.” 

That’s just the beginning of how information systems contribute to automation
success. “Ultimately, it’s about automating decision-making,” says Walet.
“Automating data capture facilitates the optimization of pallet storage,
inventory tracking and order fulfillment.”  

As part of automating the receiving process, cold-chain warehouse operators
apply algorithms — integrated with WMS and machine learning capabilities — to
historical and real-time data to predict a given pallet’s length of stay in the
warehouse. That’s going to have an impact on where the pallet is going to be
stored.  

“It often depends on the demand for that product,” says Walet. “Fast-moving
products will be put in the front of the warehouse and slower products in the
back. That reduces the distance that team members and robots need to travel to
retrieve the fast-moving ones.” In determining the ideal location within the
warehouse for a pallet, the WMS also considers its size, the distance between
rack locations and first-in-first-out (FIFO) principles. 

On the outbound side, cold-chain warehouses are typically tasked with assembling
pallets containing different products. Visibility platforms provide views to
inventory levels and alert shippers and logistics providers to schedule
shipments and coordinate orders to satisfy demand. These platforms interact with
operating software to ensure that tasks are prioritized to achieve high levels
of throughput and productivity.  

Systems also “calculate up front how they’re going to build out the pallet and
how to load it,” says Walet. “Trucks have to be loaded in a strategic way to
make sure that they don't go over weight.” 

Team members on the floor have limited visibility to what's going on everywhere
in the warehouse, especially in larger buildings. That's why it’s crucial to use
software to plan and coordinate warehouse activities.” 

In automated cold-storage warehouses, WMS, automated receiving technologies,
computer vision systems, algorithms, visibility platforms and machine learning
capabilities all work in tandem to create end-to-end process automation. “They
make sure that product gets to the right location on the inbound side,” says
Goebel, “and that the right product and quantity are picked on the outbound
side. A warehouse control system, or WCS, connects all the software that runs
the warehouse.” 

At a high level, the “number-one benefit” to end-to-end cold-chain automation,
according to Goebel, is improving quality and food safety. “It’s necessary to
meet regulatory and customer requirements,” he explains. “Warehouse operators
need to have systems that monitor temperatures to ensure compliance, and
automation can make that easier.”  

In the end, the success of any given implementation of cold-chain automation
depends on the scenario presented by individual cargo owners — their mix of
products, shipment velocities and other factors. “Tailoring the automation
solution to the individual customer and their specific needs,” says O’Connor,
“is going to lead to the best outcomes.” 

Resource Link: www/lineagelogistics.com/services/automated-warehousing




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