ifwla - Warehousing and Logistics International

24 Automation“It is important for customers to be able to speak through their accountmanager to somebody involved in modernisation and upgrades todiscuss ideas and costs for such enquiries. By putting together a conceptand costings and then explaining and demonstrating its features,benefits and the return on investment, they can help customers removeobsolescence and refurbish equipment to extend the life of their currentsystems to ensure they continue to meet business objectives thus ensuringthat their automated solution’s profile does not resemble that of awhite elephant.”Dave Bull, Dematic (left)ment route for small companies on a growth path,allowing them to start with a relatively small investmentin automation, such as voice picking, then graduate toWarehouse Management Software before stepping upto a small conveyor system.When investing in any kind of automation it is vitalto look at the total cost of ownership rather than theinitial purchase price. The full lifecycle costs should belaid out in detail, including factors, such as power consumption,which are critical to ensure a system’s ‘green’credentials are fully understood.To give the customer full visibility of the full life cyclecost of a system most service contracts are now negotiatedas part of the main bid process. If you are investinga great deal of money in automation to improvematerial flows it is absolutely vital that downtime isminimised and peak performance maintained so thatthe systems deliver their full productivity, accuracy andcost reduction benefits and continue to do so wellbeyond the payback period. Today’s automated systemsare hugely reliable yet any mechanised systemneeds to be regularly maintained and serviced to deliveroptimal performance and uptime.Automated warehousing systems will play a centralrole in the support of increasingly complex supplychains and will also form the foundation for futuredevelopment. This means that making price-baseddecisions for short term savings by selecting automatedsolutions with reduced maintenance and service packageswill only increase the risk of extended downtimeand decreased productivity. Ultimately this will result ingreater costs over the long term. Looking back just fiveyears ago few companies considered the customerservice side of their automated system investment.Today’s increasingly competitive supply chains howeverhave banished complacency and customers are takinga more holistic approach and so customer service forautomation is becoming the key differentiator.Successful businesses do not stand still and keepingup with growth-based change means keeping an eyeon the future - particularly for a customer that hasstepped on the first rung of ladder with their investmentin simple automation. In a further example of howautomation has developed, a systems provider shouldnow continue to work in partnership with its client andanticipate any ongoing system and training needs aswell as supporting any requests for upgrades and modernisation.This may mean updating software or controls;it could see individual components or modulesbeing replaced or upgraded; it might also require newsolutions - for example, a customer having started inthe shallow end of automation now needs to put a further1000 pallets through its warehouse or wishes toreduce the number of staff required for picking.It is important for customers to be able to speakthrough their account manager to somebodyinvolved in modernisation and upgrades to discussideas and costs for such enquiries. By puttingtogether a concept and costings and then explainingand demonstrating its features, benefits and thereturn on investment, they can help customersremove obsolescence and refurbish equipment toextend the life of their current systems to ensure theycontinue to meet business objectives thus ensuring thattheir automated solution’s profile does not resemblethat of a white elephant.Issue No 3www.ifwla.com