Smart Solutions for Third-Party Logistics: Multiway Robotics' Warehouse Automation Success

The logistics industry is a vast and complex system. In the logistics industry, third-party warehousing differs from regular leased warehouses. It can provide specialized, efficient, cost-effective, and accurate distribution services. Third-party logistics warehousing is characterized by high-level warehouse design that adheres to high standards for specific goods and specialized handling requirements. Compared to traditional warehousing companies, they can offer a comprehensive set of logistics services to cargo owners, including storage, loading and unloading, consolidation, order categorization, inventory management, in-transit mixing, inventory control, transportation arrangement, information management, and other requirements from cargo owners.

Project Overview and Implementation

Recently, Multiway Robotics successfully achieved a full warehouse automation upgrade for this third-party logistics warehouse, realizing efficient, intelligent, and fully automated storage and logistics management. The project background is as follows:

• Project Scenario: Warehouse area of nearly 10,000m², involving inbound and outbound operations, as well as picking tasks.
• Material Handling: Handling of full pallets of goods.
• Handling Processes: Involves common warehouse handling modes such as inbound, sorting, outbound, and inspection.

The project was executed through the following Implementation Phases:

• Phase 1: Involved deploying multiple pallet trucks to handle ground-level storage tasks.
• Phase 2: Focused on retrofitting multiple reach trucks, specifically the MW- R14 model, for high-level rack operations (8 meters high, with 2.85-meter aisles).

Key Technical Challenges

The following challenges were addressed during the automation process:

• Large warehouse area of 160m (L) x 70m (W), leading to significant non-value-added operation distances.
• Involvement of diverse handling processes, leading to high manual handling workload.
• With increasing business volume, the costs associated with warehouse logistics are continuously rising.
• Dedicated to achieving fully automated storage and logistics management for enhanced efficiency and intelligence.

Meeting Customer Needs Comprehensively

Efficient Operations to Meet 24-Hour Demands

The third-party logistics warehouse, covering an area of nearly 10,000m², has extensive non-value-added operation distances. While a significant amount of manual work could meet the demands, it increased issues such as human resource management, coordination, and costs. To further enhance efficiency and reduce costs, Multiway Robotics tailored a specialized intelligent logistics solution for this project. These forklifts achieve efficient automated inbound and outbound handling, addressing the challenges of low efficiency.

Collaborative Integration for Efficient Intelligent Automation

The warehouse encompasses a wide variety of products and involves diverse handling processes, leading to a substantial manual handling workload. Multiway Robotics intelligent logistics solution covers point-to-point, point-to-station, station-to-station, station-to-point, temporary station planning, fruit picking and sorting, inspections, and other conventional warehouse handling processes, thereby enhancing overall automation levels.

Flexible Upgrades for Cost Reduction

With increasing business volume, the heavy manual workload and the need for precise storage placement further contribute to manual labor requirements, escalating warehouse logistics costs. To address this, pallet orientation visual recognition is applied to enable accurate automatic pallet placement, thereby enhancing spatial flexibility.

Project Summary Table

Category	Details
Warehouse Dimensions	160m (L) x 70m (W)
Equipment Used	AGV Pallet Truck, MW- R14 Reach Truck
Storage Height	8 meters high
Aisle Requirements	2.85-meter aisles
Software Support	Multiway WMS, Multiway RCS, Multiway WCS

Unmanned equipment is being implemented across various stages. The application of industrial robots and automation technology will significantly enhance enterprise productivity. This represents a significant aspect of smart manufacturing and is a prevailing trend in the future of industrial production.