The new way to get pallets moving faster in the warehouse

With warehouses and distribution centres under productivity target pressure to pack and send out more goods at an increasingly fast rate, it’s vital that the movements and timings of the pallets are accurately captured.

So how can material handling equipment (MHE) operators remain on goal when shifting warehouse pallets, and how best can operators and managers track the distance and direction of their journey, ensuring that critical data is captured, activity speed is increased while safety is never a concern?

The most recognised method, but not necessarily the most efficient has utilised barcode scanning. While capturing barcodes isn’t necessarily an arduous activity, the actual process of data collection is both time consuming and prone to errors. It can also be tricky, as in order to get scanned, a forklift truck driver is required to move his vehicle (often physically having to get on and off the truck) and into a position where it can be scanned before repositioning in order to actually pick up the load. Add to that missed pallets, or those that have been scanned twice, and it’s clear to see why a better and more resourceful method has been long desired in an environment where timing is everything.

So what is the newest location aware technology that speeds up pallet movements by up to 15 seconds per pallet while also make data errors a thing of the past?

An automatic data capture and identification (AIDC) system, such as Vero, digitally tracks the movement of pallets and inventory in three dimensions and in real-time, so every element of a pallet and forklift truck’s journey is recorded and monitored.

This latest technology uses a passive RFID tag and reader on the forklift truck, while the barcode on the pallet label is now 2D so that it can be automatically read by a camera on the truck or tracked by location.

An AIDC system enables up to 250 pallets to be moved per hour and utilises optical tracking technology in order to locate not just the position of every forklift truck in real time but it’s load as well, to within 15cm in two dimensions. There is a third dimension too, in the form of a height sensor. When used in combination, this coordinate presents a real location which in turn clarifies the exact point where a pallet or load was either picked up or dropped off.

While this new technology fulfils the key requirement of speeding up pallet movement in order to save time and increase productivity, AIDC has the added benefit of recording and measuring data, so further steps can be implemented in order for forklift truck drivers to work more efficiently and safely.  And when every pallet counts towards improving profit margins, investing in a system that reduces errors and lost time makes good sense for everyone working in the warehouse environment.