Today, many distribution and fulfillment (D&F) operations are adopting automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) to address a variety of e-commerce and omnichannel retail market challenges. As the labor shortage continues to grow, wages rise and service levels become more demanding, AS/RS are helping site managers to reduce their reliance on manual labor and transition to more automated processes.

With its flexible, scalable construction and smart use of available vertical space, an AS/RS is often a logical investment for operations seeking to maximize the utilization of existing facilities and avoid expansion costs. In the race to meet escalating order fulfillment requirements — with higher throughput rates, more SKUs and shorter cycle times — AS/RS delivers much needed fulfillment bandwidth and accuracy.

Although AS/RS impacts are immediate, many operations often encounter limits in achieving continual process improvements. This is often because most AS/RS solutions lack the tools to effectively manage system complexities or maximize its benefits for peak effectiveness.

For example, a typical AS/RS solution requires the precise orchestration of hundreds of shuttles and/or storage and retrieval (S/R) machines across numerous aisles and vertical lifts. In this interdependent system, every function, action or decision — to retrieve and replenish inventory or deliver a tote to a specific goods-to-person (GTP) station — can impact other parts of the system and create a variety of unintended consequences.

Download our white paper to explore how AS/RS and GTP technologies, coupled with advanced warehouse execution system (WES) software, can precisely orchestrate S/R activities to increase system utilization, responsiveness and throughput rates.