Vanderlande is finalising more deals with customers wanting to automate their warehouses with the company’s FASTPICK goods-to-person and ADAPTO solutions. MHD found out more from Roald de Groot and Paul Stringleman.
Since its establishment in 1949, Vanderlande has been a market leader and global partner for future-proof logistic process automation in the warehousing, airports and parcel sectors. Its extensive portfolio of integrated solutions – innovative s*stems, intelligent software and life-cycle services – results in the realisation of fast, reliable, and efficient automation technology.
Its warehousing solutions are the first choice for many of the largest global e-commerce players and retailers in food, fashion and general merchandise across the globe. The company helps them to fulfil their promise of same-day delivery for billions of orders, with nine of the 15 largest global food retailers relying on its efficient and reliable solutions.
Among its many solutions, is its FASTPICK goods-to-person (GtP) order fulfilment system, including robot arm picking, designed to achieve greater speed and efficiency, and above all, support continuous operations with less dependency on labour.
SAVING TIME AND LABOUR
Robots can pick more accurately than people – with less errors – and they can also work 24/7, which does away with the need for shifts. Vanderlande estimates the return on investment when implementing robotic item picking can be as short as two years. They can also tackle labour scarcity as it affects many warehouses worldwide.
The FASTPICK is not only efficient but can be installed on a limited footprint. This is why LYKO, the Swedish hair and beauty specialist with the market’s widest range of products, 32 fully owned integrated stores and salons in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, as well as business-to-business operation with two factories in Sweden for the production of beauty products and an online store, has chosen this particular Vanderlande solution to automate its new Vansbro warehouse.
“This solution gives us the capabilities we need to scale our business in a cost-efficient way – it will therefore support our plans for growth and help us expand into Europe,” says Rickard Lyko, LYKO’s CEO and founder.
“By increasing our capacity and providing us with the efficiency we need through integrated robot technology, Vanderlande has shown that it best understands our needs.”
The two companies signed a contract for the installation of Vanderlande’s FASTPICK. LYKO’s greenfield warehouse is scheduled to open in 2025 and will be its largest automation project so far. The scalability and flexibility of Vanderlande’s solution provides the opportunity for further extension.
SMART SORTING FOR DEMANDING OPERATIONS
The FASTPICK includes the ADAPTO automated storage and retrieval s*stem (AS/RS): 216 ADAPTO shuttles will be able to access more than 152,000 product locations across 27 levels and 40 aisles. The innovative s*stem will be capable of handling 45,000 orders daily.
The contract also includes 15 GtP workstations, three of which are equipped with robot item pickers from Vanderlande’s portfolio of Smart Item Robotics. In addition, all the manual workstations, including those for decanting, are height adjustable to minimise lifting duties for operators. The s*stem also includes Vanderlande’s POSISORTER shipping sorter.
“We listened closely to what the LYKO project team needed, and we’re delighted that they chose our state-of-the-art technology to help realise their expansion plans,” explains Vanderlande’s Executive Managing Director Warehouse Solutions, James Cotton.
“The FASTPICK solution offers the company the flexibility and sophistication it requires to handle an extensive range of products and deliver orders to customers as quickly as possible. We look forward to the installation and forging a long-term partnership with this dynamic company.”
Vanderlande’s digital suite of software services drives the FASTPICK. During the entire process, the s*stem handles items as gently as possible, which makes it an ideal solution for LYKO, with its stock of fragile and expensive products, such as bottles of perfume.
POWERING BUSINESS WITH SMART ITEM ROBOTS
Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning robots are now capable of picking items they have never encountered before. Like their human counterparts, they can deal with changes in packaging and the introduction of new product lines.
Ever-more sophisticated suction cup and gripper technologies have been introduced that allow their robots to handle an increasingly broad variety of items although some are better at dealing with certain product ranges than others. Fashion companies mightn’t choose picking solutions because they’re not suitable for sorting general merchandise whereas it’s appropriate for pharmacological and beauty products and parcels.
“Whatever the situation, the key to successful robotic item picking is to manage the inflow to guarantee that they only receive items that they can handle,” says Paul Stringleman, Sales Director Warehousing Solutions, Vanderlande.
“This can be ensured with a solution based on autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), or with a shuttle-based solution based on your needs and requirements, which Vanderlande can advise on.”
For the highest throughput and storage density, Paul recommends the shuttle-based automated storage and retrieval s*stem (AS/RS) equipped with goods-to-picker (GtP) workstations. When correctly integrated, position robots at GtP workstations can deliver great results – and without the need for any breaks. The robot can easily manage to keep up with a presentation of more than 600 carriers per hour.
“A key ingredient is an intelligent AS/RS that possesses sorting and sequencing capabilities, routing individual items straight to picking robots that have been configured to handle certain product characteristics,” adds Roald de Groot, Sales Director Warehousing Solutions, Vanderlande.
“Just as importantly, the s*stem should send any items that cannot be dealt with by the robots to manual picking stations. That way, you can get the most out of your integrated warehouse operations.
“Vanderlande’s shuttle based AS/RS ADAPTO can do just that, and thanks to its modular construction, it can be easily expanded to add more shuttles and robots for even higher throughput rates.”
For more information on Vanderlande, click here.