Event emphasises innovation

Automation specialist Swisslog held a customer event at the Williams F1 Conference Centre in Oxfordshire. The agenda included high profile case studies, technology briefs and workshops exploring how material handling issues are likely to change in the future.

Companies attending the day included ASDA, Haribo, Heinz, Muller, Tesco and Unilever.

Emma Rawlinson, head of marketing (Europe Central) at Swisslog said: “We've developed our innovation team and are keen to let customers and potential customers know what this will mean for them. The release of AutoStore (pictured) was a big step forward and we are building towards releasing more exciting products early next year. Events like this help us show high profile customers that we are working hard to address their requirements.”

One ongoing project featured on the day was automated warehousing for Tine, the huge Norwegian dairy products retailer. A key challenge here is dealing with roll cages. Swisslog is solving this challenge by automating the handling of Tine's roll cages by deploying a special pallet with a deck supporting four roll cages. This permits the safe internal transport of roll cages in the warehouse.

Emma continued: “For retailers, automation in the warehouse can be used to drive savings in-store. There is a multiplier effect as many stores are served by each distribution centre, but the impact on stores must be monitored to yield optimal return on investment.”

The event also discussed future technology, including augmented reality picking, and the greater use of robotic grippers, more typical to production environments, in picking.