Tag Archive for: covid-19

SmartGuard UV Blog

Enlighten Your Safety Procedures with SmartGuard UV AMR

As the supply chain industry continues to adjust to a “new normal” in business operations due to the COVID-19 crisis, managers across the country are looking to provide their employees with additional measures to stay safe in uncertain times.

What new products are out there to keep your team moving? What solutions could maintain – or improve – productivity while limiting distractions? Is there such a thing?

We are excited to share an innovative solution for warehouse safety, introducing the SmartGuard UV disinfection autonomous mobile robot (AMR). The AMR moves through a facility and uses flashing ultraviolet lights that send out antibacterial and germicidal flashes that act as a powerful sterilization agent.

The result is a process that eliminates 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the AMR’s path.

Dual pulsed xenon UV lamps power SmartGuardUV, so while the robot has the highest germicidal power, it is also environmentally friendly with low power requirements and no toxic mercury like other UV lamps.

The SmartGuard UV technology has been tested by independent, accredited third-party testing labs to deploy these broad-spectrum UV-C, UV-B, UV-A, and violet-blue light to kill germs. The system has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in food and medical areas but is adaptable to take the same disinfecting technology into the warehouse. The device is also registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The SmartGuard UV robot offers quick disinfection with minimal downtown and can disinfect from 2,400 to 3,800 square feet of space in an eight-hour shift. The technology also features a safety motion sensor for automatic shut-off to prevent unnecessary UV exposure. So, once the robot completes an area, it is immediately available for use by employees.

These AMRs are particularly effective in disinfecting areas where there is a high level of activity in a condensed space, making it perfect for:

  • Pick modules
  • Picking/packing areas
  • Break rooms
  • Changing rooms
  • Cafeterias
  • Waiting areas/lobbies
  • Private offices
  • Conference rooms
  • Loading areas
  • Entrances / exits
  • Hallways
  • Work stations

Because these devices run on the cloud-based FetchCore operating system, you can be up and running in just hours. The AMR’s task flow can be mapped, tested, and deployed simply and easily. Once deployed, the AMR’s sensors allow it to follow workflows while avoiding obstacles, keeping employees safe.

If changes need to be made once deployed, the cloud-based platform also allows you to dynamically schedule, initiate, or modify the workflows from anywhere with an internet connection using a mobile device. This technology gives you more control to disinfect your facility without requiring you to supervise every move.

Optional disinfection analytics provides disinfection event validation and UV light performance, including date, time, location, photographic evidence, disinfection duration, and cleaning performance.

All this means the SmartGuard UV offers a fully-automated disinfection solution that allows the employees currently tasked with a new degree of workplace cleaning to be repurposed to only focus on high-traffic or high-touch areas when the AMR is not in those areas. In short, you can clean more areas more thoroughly, using fewer labor resources.

As times change, we understand that businesses and managers change to meet the needs of changing demands. With employee safety at a premium during the COVID-19 crisis, these AMRs provide a simple but effective tool to ensure your team stays safe in uncertain times. If you are interested in utilizing a SmartGuard UV AMR in your facility, contact our team of experts, who can speak further to these devices’ benefits.

Warehouse Safety Solutions

7 Warehouse Safety Solutions to Adapt to the “New Normal”

As states across the country begin to lift restrictions considering the COVID-19 crisis, managers are working on creating work environments with safety at the top of mind to prevent an expansion of the virus. This “new normal” will likely feature new processes and operations to which your team will need to adjust.

To make this transition smooth and void of disruption, managers need to take some time and evaluate tools, products, and processes that can help keep employees safe and productive.

Below, we have highlighted the warehouse safety solutions that warehouse managers are adopting to help keep their employees safe. If you are in this stage – or are about to be – let’s talk about your operations and see if there are any options that suit your needs. There are options out there that, for a relatively low cost, can keep your operations running smoothly while still maintaining an appropriate social distance.

Limit the Number of People in Your Warehouse with Building Access Cages

Building Access Cages are installed at the entry points of warehouses and are designed to control who can access your facility. By creating this additional level of security, you can help prevent unnecessary contact with the outside world and restrict the number of humans unnecessarily coming into contact with your staff. These cages are adaptable and offer the benefit of avoiding unwanted disruptions and keep people safe within your day-to-day warehouse operations.

Integrate Dynamic and Technology Solutions to Lessen Dependency on Human Interaction

Technological solutions, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), offer several benefits to a warehouse’s operations, including an increase of safety. In zone picking situations, for instance, the robot can take a package from one destination to another, limiting human-to-human contact and keeping employees within safe, designated zones. Not only does that reduce wear-and-tear on the body, but it also allows your staff to remain productive while maintaining social distancing within the operation.

Keep a Safe Social Distance with Employee Separation Panels

Employee Separation Panels are clear, portable panels that can protect your team from human-to-human contact by physically creating a barrier between groups or individuals. With no timetable for how long we can anticipate social distancing requirements, this is a low-cost, high-reward tool to implement into your warehouse while giving your employees peace of mind and may prevent workers from missing additional time due to an illness they may have contracted. Plus, with cold-or-flu season seemingly always around the corner, this is a tool that can keep your team productive year-round.

Install Additional Machine Guarding to Separate Operational Groups

From a COVID-19 safety standpoint, fencing such as machine guarding can help keep groups together – and in some cases, separate groups entirely. For instance, if you have a maintenance area that may have a tool that another group uses, you could create a machine guarding barrier to prevent individuals from going into an area they were not intended to be within. This is a low-cost solution that prevents groups from intermingling during this time but can be easily removed once restrictions on social distancing are removed.

Reduce Bacterial Concerns with Antimicrobials Mats

Ergonomic mats are ideal solutions to protect your employees from the wear-and-tear that comes with working in a warehouse setting. By introducing antimicrobial matting – commonly found in foodservice and medical settings – you can help eliminate cross-contamination hazards on your floor.  These mats are produced with an antimicrobial additive that reduces bacterial contamination concerns. Because these mats are also designed for healthcare settings, you can trust that they are effective in curbing the spread and multiplication of microbes.

Decrease the Number of Touchpoints with Key Fobs and Keycards

Typically, we recommend that warehouses work with key fobs and keycards anyway to help reduce unwanted visitors and to ensure that your facility is always safe. By reducing the number of touchpoints –locations upon which every employee touch – you will limit the exposure to any harmful bacteria that may be living on that surface.

Supply a Modular Location for Changing Clothes

During the COVID-19 crisis, medical professionals across the country took steps to limit their family’s exposure to the virus by changing their clothes in a safe, secure location between the inside of their home and their hospital. With the same thought in mind, consider installing a modular building or cleanroom within your facility to allow your employees that same courtesy. This step will assist in keeping any clothes that may be carrying a virus contained within a secure area without introducing them to the warehouse setting.

Any Questions? Let’s Get Started.

If any of these solutions sound like they will be of benefit to your business, let us connect. Click here to speak with one of our Storage Solutions experts who can work with you to find the right solution to fit your operational needs.

Driver Cages Building Access Cages

Protect Your Team and Warehouse with Building Access Cages

While safety is always on the minds of warehouse managers, crises can trigger an evaluation of your practices. Who can access your facility? How easy is it to get in and out? How are you controlling your visitor access?

The COVID-19 crisis sweeping the world is causing much re-evaluation of safety protocols within warehouses. Our Storage Solutions experts have been recommending the installation of building access and driver cages at the entry points of warehouses across the country because they are a simple, smart, and strategic way to control access to facilities, creating an additional level of security to prevent unnecessary contact and the potential introduction of unwanted pathogens into a building.

driver-cagesBuilding Access Cages Are Adaptable

While these cages are customizable to suit your needs – they can be ordered in any size and can even be constructed as free-standing entities – typical cages offer the security of restricting full access to your facility while still allowing some level of visitor interaction through service windows. The service windows are ideal for exchanging small package deliveries and paperwork.

Give Your Team Control Over Who Can Access Your Facilities

building-access-cagesStandard cages are equipped with a push bar on the warehouse side of the enclosure to allow for visitor access when required. There are also coded push-button locks, and remote control latches available as well. This way, you can allow truck drivers or other visitors into your facility if they need to. If they don’t need to be in there, they are restricted to a defined area. There are also accessories available, such as benches, that you can install to keep your visitors comfortable until they are addressed, and cage ceilings if additional security is required.

Increase Safety After the Pandemic

wirecrafters-cagesAlthough managers are currently concerned about “flattening the curve” and containing the virus, these cages have untold benefits for as long as your warehouse is operating. Warehouse visitors are often not aware of how busy operations can be, how loud they can be, and how easily they can be introducing themselves into safety hazards. Fork truck traffic and automated machinery rely on clear paths and can cause immense harm if accidents occur.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Think About Safety

By installing building access and driver cages, you are not only protecting your team and everything within the warehouse; you are protecting visitors from disrupting your business and potentially causing themselves harm.

Let’s face it: every facility can be safer. A time like this makes a perfect opportunity to make a minimal investment with a sizeable impact.

We work with the experts at WireCrafters to ensure that our partners’ warehouses are outfitted with exceptional quality solutions. Contact one of our Storage Solutions experts to learn more about these cages and take a natural step to make your facility safe and secure.

essential solutions storage needs

Essential Solutions to Serve Your Essential Needs

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As the COVID-19 crisis continues its lifecycle, businesses deemed non-essential are closing down across the country. Because our company serves many necessary logistics, construction, and supply chain industries, Storage Solutions is continuing to operate unless circumstances change. We were early to establish a COVID-19 Task Force and shift to a remote workplace, wherever applicable.

We also know that we are not alone in our essential role in our economy. Companies in the material handling industry are working safely to ensure deadlines are being met, and progress continues as well as it can, given the circumstances. We are seeing many businesses responding to a change in demand. Now more than ever, companies are seeing the need for flexible, dynamic operations and are adjusting how they work to meet those challenges head-on.

Our experts are always ready to learn about how the challenges are causing pain in operations. As our company is continuing to evolve, we have the expertise in providing essential solutions and so much more.

Let us know what we can do to help. Below are a few ways we are supporting companies who are running to the best of their ability to meet changing patterns in demand at a rate they may never have before.

We Are Buying and Selling Used Warehouse Equipment

We are here to help make sure your business and storage space has what it needs to operate as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Sometimes that means having an affordable solution. We hunt for the best-used equipment and thoroughly inspect every piece to ensure it’s 100% safe and ready to use.

If you are getting rid of your equipment, reconfiguring your warehouse to meet new demands, or relocating your operations, we are also here to help you solve the issues that naturally arise. Whether it’s tools, lighting, logistics, or anything else the job requires, Storage Solutions’ experience and integrated services approach creates truly effortless teardowns that don’t need your constant attention.

Plan Projects with Turnkey Solutions

Because we take an integrated supply and service approach, we can manage projects of any scale to meet your timeline and budget. Need to get permits signed off? We can do that. Need an installation schedule developed? That’s our bread and butter. Need to handle logistics? Why rely on another vendor when we can do that in-house. Our Project Managers assume the unexpected and work with you closely to give you a single point of contact and peace of mind with better command and more control.

Determining the Right Course with Design and Dynamic Solutions

We know that the best solutions start with the best designs (link to blog), and we are ready and capable to get started in providing Design Solutions to develop the optimal storage layout and pick process custom developed for your operation. We can address issues like SKU proliferation, the impact of e-commerce, anticipated changes in demand, and factor in costs associated with labor. We want to give you a flexible and scalable solution based on data and expertise.

We can also talk about how adding dynamic solutions like automation to your operation no make it more technology-driven, no matter what level of automation currently exists (if at all). Many companies are looking for creative ways to stay competitive in an ever-changing economy, and one of the most cost-effective forms of changing the way your warehouse works is to introduce these solutions.

Let’s Talk About Essential Solutions!

Whatever your needs may be during this time, we are here for you. We are interested in learning about the challenges you may face. Whether those challenges arose before, during, or after the crisis, we are ready. Give us a call at 800-474-2001, and our experts would love to connect.

We are here to serve you with the essential solutions that are necessary to keep your business optimally running. And, we are here to do so in the highest degree.

covid-19-thank-you

Thank You for Being There in the COVID-19 Crisis

We wanted to take a moment and thank all of the employees of our partners, vendors, clients, and everyone else who is doing everything they can to keep the supply chain moving as our world endures through these tough times with the COVID-19 crisis. We would also like to thank our own installation teams, who continue to work on customer sites to support ongoing essential operations.

Every one of you plays a key role in the success of our industries during this unprecedented point in time. We know we will get through it and come out stronger once this is all done.

Storage Solutions is doing our part to support our customers who are conducting essential business operations. Our staff is working safely & smartly, but we are here to assist if you have needs to keep your essential operations running smoothly.

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing to help keep us moving, thank you. Let’s continue to work together to progress through these challenging times to a more positive future!

slowdown-growth-potential

What To Do with Your Business During a Slowdown?

Whether it comes as a result of an impossible-to-predict natural disaster or a regular component of a business cycle, a slowdown is going to happen every so often. Few industries are not susceptible.

Slowdowns do not necessarily mean that the business has stopped. In the current situation that affects the entire world, we are still operating at full steam. However, we are subject to regulations and restrictions that affect different cities, states, and regions throughout the country, and we adhere to the authorities there. While some projects are on pause or slowed because of external forces beyond our control, others are continuing per usual.

For those experiencing slowdowns due to external forces, there is a silver lining. During times like these, business owners and distribution center managers can take advantage of these rare slowdowns by taking a proactive approach to evaluating their operations.

What Works for Your Business? Let’s Do More.

The most natural place to start in evaluating your business is to look at what is successful. You have spent the time, resources, and investment in people and processes that led you down a path to success. After all, you have been in business for a reason. However, now is a great time to see what you can do about throwing more gas on that fire.

Are there new hires you can make in an area of your business? Can you bring someone’s problem-solving ability or mindset from one area of the company to another? For example, are there lessons you can apply from a recent win in one area of the business to another? Take a look at your past few years of reports, examine the peaks, and evaluate what it took to achieve those results. Then, do more.

What Isn’t Working for You? Can You Stop Doing Those Things?

It can seem simplistic to say, “We should stop doing the things that aren’t working for us.” However, you will rarely find a more productive time to investigate all of the areas of your business. What are those processes, partnerships, or procedures that can be removed or replaced?

Taking an accurate evaluation of your business also means you need to recognize what doesn’t work for you. It can be a difficult task because an honest assessment requires decision-makers to be humble and own up to actions that are not working the way they initially were intended. It forces action on shortcomings. However, turning those negative habits into positive ones allow your business to avoid any lags when the slowdowns stop, and your business is ready to speed up.

What Are Successful Programs You Can Adopt?

Slowdowns are also a great time to look at processes that competitors or partners have adopted recently. Would a new approach benefit your business? Would now be a good time to look at implementing something new that has worked elsewhere?

This step bears the fruit from building out your network. Is there someone you talked to at a recent conference or whom you interacted with on LinkedIn that may have some insight into something new for your business?

There’s never been a better time to stop, listen, and think about what others are doing and saying about successes in their business. How can you benefit from the lessons they’ve already learned?

It’s Time to Make the Lemonade.

Slow times can cause stress, headaches, and hardships. However, proactive businesses can stem the tide by taking the additional time afforded to them by evaluating their processes. When it is time to put the pedal to the metal, these decisions can pay off in real ways because you’ve done the leg work to put yourself in the best situation to succeed.

If you are looking for a place to start, we would love to help. Our teams are working safely and remotely during the COVID-19 crisis, and we are here to learn about the challenges you face. We are here to provide you with solutions for every square foot!

An Update on COVID-19 from Storage Solutions

Last Updated: March 23, 2020

At Storage Solutions, the well-being and safety of our employees and customers is our top priority. We recognize the role we play in the supply chain industry and in the communities in which we live and work, and are taking steps to help keep our families, colleagues, and friends safe.

Storage Solutions is here for you! We have created a COVID-19 Task Team to ensure our continuation of services and to monitor updates from the authorities, including the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. In the meantime, our teams are working hard remotely to provide solutions, manage timelines, and work with our partners to the best of our ability during these challenging times.

We have a fantastic team and on behalf of everyone at Storage Solutions, we are committed to being your partner for all of your industrial storage and material handling equipment needs.

Let us know if we can help you solve any of the challenges facing your business.