Tag Archive for: dynamic solutions

SSI Difference - Size Scope Skill

The SSI Difference: Size, Scope, and Skill

With all the obstacles that can belie any project – from labor shortages to logistical challenges to project management issues – it pays to work with a company that can solve challenges. Especially in times like these, when it seems all of these challenges are happening simultaneously, it pays off to work with a partner that offers the size, scope, and skill to overcome those and get the job done on time and on budget.

As the most significant storage equipment integrator in North America, we have the capabilities to get projects done on a shorter timeline and with a lesser impact on your day-to-day operations that other companies do not have.

What does that mean? How does that benefit you? Let’s explain…

We Can Source Warehouse Storage Equipment When Others Can’t

When it comes to buying power, we are unmatched in our industry. We are a Top-5 purchaser of pallet racking from the Top-8 manufacturers in North America when most other integrators cannot boast that claim for one or two of them. This status means that we have buying power that allows us to source equipment that others cannot because of our size and scope.

That status also means that we can achieve quicker lead times than others. Because each project is unique, we can get things done faster than the competition. We have such good relationships with our partners that, in the rare instance where production space is open, our manufacturing partners will reach out to us to see if we are interested in their supply. Of course, we are!

So, when some manufacturers may be sitting on 24-week production schedules, we can fit orders into their existing schedule because they know we’re always looking to buy. These unique vendor relationships allow us to place orders on reserved production because we know we can connect our clients to new equipment faster than others.

Another differentiator we can boast of is our 330,000 square-foot warehouse, located in Central Indiana, just north of Indianapolis. We always have new and preowned equipment in stock, and our warehouse allows us to be aggressive in acquiring inventory, which means we can help fill orders quicker. Plus, when there is a delay on a project and equipment is in transit, there are times that we can use and hold those uprights, beams, wire decks, or other equipment in our facility until the project gets back on track.

We are Growing at a Record Pace, Adding More Strategic Partners & Staff Along the Way

As a team, we continue to grow in size and skill. We have added dozens of new talent in sales, engineering, project management, installation, and operations in the past few years, which means we can accommodate a higher volume of projects at any given time and handle a larger share of each clients’ challenges. We have always engaged in training and continuous improvement, but we’ve made a real effort to get our staff accredited and certified in their area of expertise, and it’s paying off for our team and our partners.

We have new strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Daifuku, MHS Global, inVia Robotics, OPEX, and more, which means we are more connected to the latest-and-greatest solutions that can genuinely drive ROI on our clients’ projects. These are new areas of specialization that we have never been able to offer before.

Our approach means we can put the processes and programs to our client’s success. By being proactive – instead of reactive – we can control a project that many others cannot. That pays off by creating long-term partnerships with our growing number of clients because they know we can help solve nearly any challenge that may lay ahead.

We Have the In-House Talent to Navigate Project Planning and Execution

Another one of our main differentiators is our ability to provide in-house Turnkey Services to accommodate project planning and execution. Not only can we assist in the engineering and permitting process, but we offer an unmatched, robust project management team dedicated to each project. That team provides oversight on each component of a project and is in constant communication regarding safety checkpoints, installation progress, permits, logistics, and all the elements required to ensure a project is executed at a top-of-class level.

We offer this as an in-house solution because we ultimately want to be a partner that makes the best use of our clients’ time. Instead of being stuck calling around trying to find answers – or finding out what questions you even need to ask – we already know whom to ask, what to ask, and how to navigate the challenges associated with planning and executing these projects.

Our logistics and installation teams are also held in-house to provide complete control over projects and to ensure that there are no “gaps” in relying on two third-party vendors to coordinate with each other.

Especially now, in late 2021, supply chain and labor markets are experiencing massive delays and challenges. Fewer trucks are available. Delivery times are all over the place. Labor shortages are nationwide. We are not immune from these challenges, but we experience them to lesser degrees than our competition because we can control more resources than others. In other words, just because there is a labor shortage or supply chain disruption, it doesn’t mean we can’t get the job done. Our team can.

When our internal resources are stretched, and we do need to reach out to a third-party vendor, we have built a massive nationwide network of vetted vendors that we can utilize when necessary, and we can leverage our relationships when essential for our clients to receive preferential treatments.

We’re Ready to Get Started!

If you’ve worked with us before, you know our agnostic approach to sourcing solutions means we can deliver your project with fewer challenges than any other partner. If you haven’t worked with us before, give us a call and share more about how we have the size, scope, and skill that positions us as a true industry leader. That position makes us an ideal partner, especially in the current environment of unforeseen challenges and obstacles.

Whether you are about to plan a significant project like designing a new distribution center, investigating whether or not to introduce automation to your operations, or are just exploring options for a project partner, give us a call. We have a team in-house that can help you at every stage of that project, from design through implementation and support.

 

inVia Robotics SSI Partnership

Storage Solutions, inVia Robotics Partner to Expand Offering of Automation Solutions

Storage Solutions is excited to announce a new partnership with inVia Robotics, a leading provider of automation solutions, that will allow the two companies to provide innovative solutions to challenges faced by warehouses, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers across North America.

As “The Amazon Effect” continues to challenge these facilities with quicker fulfillment demands, rising labor costs, and inefficient processes, the barrier to entry historically has been the investment that comes with adding infrastructure or reconfiguring an operation. inVia Robotics’ warehouse fulfillment solutions are designed to help clients meet today’s customer demand while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to tomorrow.

Their Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) subscription-based pricing model also allows warehouses to adapt their traditional pick modules and shelving units into a true goods-to-person picking environment without requiring a massive investment in physical infrastructure. inVia Robotics offers the only automation solutions that can back that claim.

This new partnership will bring forth three levels of automation to fulfillment centers:

Software Only. inVia Logic starts with software that optimizes the most inefficient and costly fulfillment task: picking.

InVia Picker. When you add robots to perform some tasks in a facility, you can automate select tasks – like picking and replenishment — prone to inefficiency and inaccuracy.

inVia Picker+. This option will upgrade your operations to automate all fulfillment tasks by adding workflows and warehouse locations, giving you full automation benefits.

The modular, scalable offerings mitigate the cost of change for warehouses, allowing warehouses to plan by pacing deployment as their needs evolve. When fully deployed, robots can retrieve all goods for each day’s orders overnight and consolidate them in one forward picking location. That means your human labor can do higher-level tasks like sorting and packing, rather than spending that time walking and gathering.

“When you optimize your operations, you can truly start to grow and scale your business,” explained Kurt Nantkes, Chief Revenue Officer at inVia Robotics. “Our business model is built on integrated, long-term customer relationships like these, where we can focus on supporting growth.”

“With our ‘simple, smart, strategic,’ approach, we can examine a facility’s operations and fairly quickly find opportunities for automation, bringing increased throughput and cost savings via lower labor costs,” explained Eric McDonald, Chief Customer Officer of Storage Solutions. “Our clients partner with us because they know we bring the expertise in storage design, picking and process optimization. We see this partnership as a huge value for our client base, particularly those who are interested in automation but unsure where to start.”

inVia Robotics was recently recognized by Frost & Sullivan as a 2020 Best Practices’ New Product Innovation Award winner for North America for the development of their goods-to-person robotics systems. Their solutions bring unmatched order, accuracy, and efficiency into your warehouse, translating customer demands into business realities. All these systems are adaptable and fully scalable, providing a return on investment on the first day the software or robotics are integrated.

To learn more about inVia Robotics’ warehouse fulfillment solutions, contact a Storage Solutions expert today and let us share how these integrations can help you introduce or expand automation in your operations.

Automated Packing Solutions Blog

Are You Ready for an Automated Packing Solution?

As e-commerce continues to grow rapidly, fulfillment centers are exploring avenues to maintain or lower operational costs through process improvement, data-driven design, and technology solutions. For companies experiencing growth in their e-commerce fulfillment demands – or are new to e-commerce fulfillment altogether – it may be challenging to find a place to start.

The packing process is one of the more costly areas for most fulfillment centers in that stage. For the most part, freight, materials, and operational or labor costs all rise as order volume rises, and if there is no strategy in place to maintain or lower those costs, expenses can get out of hand quickly.

By investing in automated packing technology solutions, distribution centers, warehouses, and fulfillment centers can minimize these cost increases while boosting productivity, increasing fulfillment velocity, and improving your overall customer experience.

What Should I Look for with an Automated Packing Solution?

With any well-designed automated packing solution, it is essential to value the reduction of waste. Not only are you paying for material you may not be entirely using, but you are creating a messier working condition and requiring additional cleanup – two factors that can cause increases in labor costs over time.

To that end, some systems offer to automate tray forming, which allows enough material to ship the product with minimal scrap. Once the product is in the tray and any value-added services like coupons or marketing materials are included, the ideal packing solution can automatically measure and void fill an inflatable or paper cushioning to keep the product secure for shipment.
Another feature of an optimal end-of-the-line solution would include automatic lid placement and pack closure. After the lid is placed and the pack is closed, shipping information and any other required labels can be applied to the package, either by a packer or automatically by the packing solution.

Lastly, once the system is implemented, you will want to find a partner that offers ongoing customer service in the event of a disruption. The right solution partner should help you meet your customers’ needs and your operational needs long after installation. Some systems even offer remote repair and offsite monitoring, which can detect problems, perform routine maintenance, and conduct productivity analyses.

The result should showcase a product that looks similar to a product shipped from the most comprehensive e-commerce fulfillment centers, with tamper-evident, easy-to-open, and easy-to-return packaging. A right-sized package can also reduce freight costs, and customers are happy because the product is secure and delivered in line with their expectations.

Find a Custom Automated Packing Solution for Your Needs

Each business has its challenges, and the optimal solutions for those challenges genuinely depend on the organization’s distinctive needs. As part of an overall fulfillment strategy, the right automated packing solution should be uniquely designed to minimize freight, operational costs, and weight while improving productivity for a valid return on investment.

If you are interested in increasing your fulfillment velocity and meeting your customers’ demands for rapid delivery, give us a call. Our team of experts will learn about your business’s specific challenges and connect you with the right automated packing solution that best fits your operational needs.

Carton Flow Racking Case Flow Racking

What You Need to Know About Carton Flow

Warehouse managers are often tasked with finding new and innovative ways to increase storage capacity while increasing speed and effectiveness in order fulfillment operations. Carton flow, also known as case flow or gravity flow, features various storage options that may be the right solution for your facility.

A carton flow system can be an ideal way to improve picking speeds and storage capacity within a warehouse. These systems consist of tracking and rollers that use gravity to push products through a pallet rack. As an item is picked from the rack’s front, the package behind it gravity feeds into the front position, ready to be selected.

This storage style is ideal for a warehouse set up for case picking or each picking. This process allows for each SKU to have a dedicated pick face, helping the picker with the accuracy of an order. Because a lot of SKUs can be presented for picking in a bay of rack, that means shortened travel with a reduced pick path, increasing throughput. It allows you to get more done at a faster rate because you are making a shorter run.

One additional benefit is that these can be installed into standard pallet rack, with the tracks being dropped into hangers that attach to the beams. These systems can be designed to fit multiple sizes of cartons, bins, and boxes to accommodate different SKU sizes.

Traditionally, there are two downsides to carton flow picking. Because someone (or something) physically places the boxes into storage, then another person retrieves them, there are additional material touches with each pick. The extra step may slow down some processes that require high throughput to remain effective.

With this storage method, products are automatically sorted for a first-in, first-out inventory system.

There are many different styles of carton flow available and finding the right mix of these may be the way to turn your warehouse into a more profitable fulfillment operation that maximizes its storage capacity.

Click here to order Carton Flow Racking Systems

Spantrak Carton FlowFull-Width Roller Tracks

Pros: Typically, this style of racking is suitable for heavy loads because of its durability and ability to withstand abuse. It offers higher capacity on a per-square-foot basis, so this type of racking is often found in beverage storage situations where there is a need to store heavy cases of product.

Cons: The downside of the durability is that this style of racking is rigid in its configuration. It offers almost zero flexibility after it is assembled (without tearing it down and re-assembling, of course). For instance, if you have 15″ wide lanes and the packaging size for that product changes, you have to get new lanes to accommodate the updated package.

Example: UNEX’s SpanTrack Carton Flow Lane

Carton Flow FlextrakPolycarbonate Skate Wheel Tracks

Pros: These polycarbonate skate wheel tracks essentially make a level of carton flow lanes a full flow bed. Since carton lanes are not configured ahead of time, this style of racking is very flexible in terms of the package sizes that can flow through the storage. Meaning, if your product size or packaging type changes, then you will not have to reconfigure this system. It is also relatively easy to install into new or existing racks.

Cons: Because there are no pre-defined lanes, this racking style makes it easier to change pick faces frequently. However, if your warehouse is relatively static in terms of the number of SKUs in inventory & their packaging, there may be lower-cost alternatives for carton flow storage.

Example: Engineered Products’ Flextrak Bed Carton Flow

Carton-Flow-Plastic-RollersSmall-Diameter Plastic Wheel Carton Flow In Shelves

Pros: Small-diameter plastic wheel carton flow is a light-weight shelf and track system that can be flexible in that it allows for adjustments as product or packaging changes. This style of racking is ideal for lighter-weight products that will not damage the light-duty carton flow during use. While it is used in a low percentage of carton flow applications today, this type of racking has historically been popular because of its low initial cost.

Cons: Because of the plastic wheel’s small diameter, this type of racking is not built to store large or heavy packages. It is also susceptible to damage due to its light-weight design.

Example: Gauer Metal’s Flow-Track Option

Carton Flow Heavy DutyHeavy-Duty Carton Flow

Pros: Heavy-Duty Carton Flow is an excellent option if you are storing very heavy or bulky items like automotive parts, and you have concerns about the durability of your carton flow racking. Like the polycarbonate skate wheel tracks, this carton flow style offers a full bed of rollers, though snap-in wire dividers are also available. The main difference is that the rollers are full steel, offering additional durability with an estimated 40% higher weight capacity.

Cons: With the added durability, there comes a higher initial cost in material and installation for heavy-duty carton flow.

Example:3D Storage Solutions’ Heavy Duty Carton Flow Applications

To find the option best for you, talk with an expert. Our team of Storage Solutions experts has decades of experience finding creative solutions for nearly any use case. We can walk you through what may be best for your warehouse and see if carton flow is ideal for increasing your storage capacity and optimizing your fulfillment operations.

dynamic-solutions-labor-costs

Solve Your Labor Cost Issues with Dynamic Solutions

With wages projected to rise nationwide, along with costs associated with employee safety, warehouse managers are experiencing an uncomfortable environment of increasing labor costs. Labor cost issues are not unique to those in the material handling industry. The cost of labor in this industry is especially affected by variance when it comes to maintaining the high levels of service expected by customers today.

No one can predict the future. Accidents are avoidable but happen. Weather delays are not unavoidable. Production delays, changes in regulations, and “the human element” all factor into these variances in labor costs. So, how does one accurately forecast? Can you avoid any of these variances with the addition of automation?

Thankfully, the answer is yes. Our experts know how to solve these issues by introducing dynamic solutions to your operations.

Dynamic solutions like vertical lift machines, conveyors, or any of Fetch Robotics’ On-Demand Automation Solutions supplement your current labor force. These solutions allow for growth for your employees. Rather than having your team carrying items back and forth, dynamic solutions assist with the mundane, repetitive aspects of picking. With dynamic solutions in place, your team can focus its attention on more rewarding – and profitable – tasks and initiatives.

How Dynamic Solutions Help Your Business:

  • Cost Certainty: Adding dynamic solutions can help add cost certainty to your budgeting process. We create efficiencies by automating processes that typically are done by manual labor. With investments into automated solutions, you can streamline variable costs that come with human labor – salary, vacation, benefits, insurance, and more.
  • Right-Sized Investments: When it comes to investing in automated solutions, there is a typical misconception around the size of investment a business needs to make. When you work with a Storage Solutions expert, we will work with your team to address your needs and find the right solution, with an investment that matches your budget and fits within your current operation. Every client has unique challenges. However, we solve these challenges by eliminating unnecessary costs.
  • The “Human Element”: Let’s face it. There is a “human element” that comes with labor that often goes understated and underreported. For example, managers account for sick days, underperformance, and other indirect factors that come with employment. By introducing dynamic solutions, you can account for those lost costs and remove some overhead in the process, adding to your overall efficiency.
  • Maximize Potential – While the “human element” is real, your co-workers are still your co-workers. Now that mundane tasks are automated, what kind of work will your employees do next? How will additional attention toward safety, execution, and optimization improve your warehouse and workflow?

What is Next?

Dynamic Solutions are available to help you run your operations smoother. With a higher level of certainty and quality, where can you see your business in just a few months?

Our experts often see returns on our dynamic solutions within two years or less, because we put the right solution in front of our clients. We pay attention to the details so we can customize a solution to satisfy the exact needs of your operations.

Contact us today to learn more about our Dynamic Solutions and how these solutions can support your bottom line.