In the distribution world, a broad spectrum of technologies are tagged as “automation.” The fully automated, lights-out operations are at the high end of the scale. On the other hand are the less complex, more affordable solutions that deliver improvements without complicated technology and operations integrations. These machines, such as portable ergonomic conveyors and parcel sorting solutions, are force multipliers that allow one employee to perform the work of many people. “These systems are a kind of semi- automation, a bridge to full automation in the future,” says Brendan D’Anna, business development manager of warehouse solutions with Gorbel ® . “It’s something achievable right now with a real return on investment.” With the promise of full automation seemingly always a few years away, many DC operators are reluctant to make what they think will be interim investments in less complex solutions. “Products like the Gorbel Destuff-it ™ portable ergonomic conveyor allow companies to bank on several years of productivity gains in the meantime,” says Anton Sawatzky, sales manager for warehouse solutions. “We’re seeing many companies realize they want solutions to help them perform better now, rather than waiting.” Nimble automation solutions allow DCs to adapt to packaging changes, such as the boom in polybags for parcel shipping, notes Brent Gregory, director of business development and marketing for Engineering Innovation Inc. “Packaging used to be all boxes, and now it’s 50-50 boxes and polybags. Who knows how it will be in five years?” he says. “So, it’s always changing, and you have to be adaptive and innovative as a company.” To keep pace with volume growth, labor shortages, and market shifts, distribution centers of all types can deploy cost-effective, easy-to-integrate solutions to meet immediate needs. At the same time, more sophisticated technology continues to develop for widespread adoption.
Gorbel®’s Destuff-it™ helps workers unload trailers safely.
Gorbel ® : Driving Dock Door Productivity Many truck trailers and most ocean containers are floor-loaded instead of stacking goods on pallets. While this makes it easier to utilize the trailer’s total cubic volume, there are some pitfalls. For example, there are few warehouse events worse than a dock worker opening the trailer doors and boxes tumbling out in a pile. That means the integrity of the box wall in a floor-loaded trailer has been compromised. The cardboard boxes can be damaged by condensation, crushing, and other impacts that weaken the boxes. Even the boxes that stay in the trailer can be hard to handle without damaging the packaging or the contents. The proliferation of polybags, while cube- and weight-efficient, makes it hard to build a sturdy box wall. Today’s automated systems still struggle with handling odd shapes and less-than-perfect boxes. “Some of
the boxes are in horrible shape so you can’t grip them,” says Charles Blizard, regional sales representative with Gorbel. “Robotics don’t work well when there’s not a uniform size of boxes in the load.” In a typical warehouse, teams of two to three people manually unload floor- loaded trailers across 10 dock doors. They spend hours working each trailer, hoisting boxes on carts or conveyors that feed into the DC’s downstream sortation system or an auto palletizer. As the volume and variety of inbound loads increase, DC operators realize there has to be a better way. The Gorbel Destuff-it and its complementary machine, the Restuff-it ™ , dramatically improve labor and warehouse space utilization. The Destuff-it is a one-way conveyor designed to unload trailers with an employee platform and conveyor at the box wall. The Restuff-it is bi-directional and equipped for loading and unloading operations.
November 2024 • Inbound Logistics 47
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