Enhances Injection Molding Industry with a Smart High-Density Warehouse, Boosting Storage Capacity by 5-6 Times

A certain injection molding manufacturing enterprise in Cixi City faced challenges in its warehouse operations, encompassing the entire process from production and processing of pet product raw materials to warehousing and outbound sales. 

Achievements

  • Built a high-density storage system, increasing storage capacity by approximately 60% compared to beam shelving, accommodating over 400 types of materials.
  • Automated entry photo-scanning for various product types, achieving a 99.99% accuracy rate in auto-scanning.
  • Reduced labor costs by 60% through minimizing manual handling and scanning tasks.
  • Developed a customized WMS system for unmanned automated inventory management.
  • Achieved a highly efficient collaboration between hardware and software, with various depth numbers planned, reaching a comprehensive in-and-out efficiency of 90 pallets/hour.
  • Full coverage for both B2B and B2C business scenarios.
Zikoo's Solution
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  • Constructed a 3000 sqm warehouse with an 11m height, featuring a four-level storage system with 4700 storage positions.
  • Equipped with 6 four-way shuttles, 2 elevators, and 2 fully automated photo-scanning OCR systems.
  • Implemented a complete suite of WMS, WES, WCS, and RCS software systems.
Challenges
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  • Increase storage capacity in the warehouse
  • Save on labor costs
  • Implement automatic inventory management
  • Enhance warehouse operational efficiency
Project Background
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As land costs and labor expenses rise, the costs for third-party logistics have been increasing year by year. With the rapid development of the e-commerce industry across all channels, numerous merchants rely on third-party logistics for warehousing and distribution. This reliance has accelerated the expansion of the third-party logistics industry while also posing greater challenges in terms of operational efficiency, multi-goods management capabilities, and order fulfillment.

Boosts Grain Storage Transformation, Tripling Storage Efficiency

The intelligent warehouse transformation was based on an existing old warehouse, presenting several challenges:

 Limitation of Original Flat Warehouse Management on Production Capacity

On one hand, the original warehouse had a long distance to the production line, complicated working conditions, and difficulties in manual operation. On the other hand, the old warehouse had complex ground conditions, with underground channels affecting the layout of intelligent storage equipment.

High Error Rate in Manual Warehouse In-and-Out Operations

During routine product receiving, storage, and dispatch, issues like miscalculation, inspection negligence, poor management, natural wastage, and accounting errors led to surplus, shortage, and damage of goods, resulting in discrepancies between inventory records and actual stock.

Excessive and Insufficient Inventory Leading to Low Storage Efficiency and Management Challenges

 

Solution Highlights

In response to these pain points, Zikoo Robotics designed a five-level pallet shuttle car high-density storage solution for the enterprise. The warehouse, covering 1750 square meters with a height of 15 meters, includes 3360 storage positions. The system comprises multi-directional shuttle cars, stacking AGVs, high-speed elevators, flexible conveyance lines, and an intelligent storage software system (including WMS and WCS), and accompanying information systems, achieving fully automated storage management. Pallets carrying products are automated for both storage and retrieval, seamlessly integrating with external forklift AGVs and various production lines for a fully automated and unmanned operation, effectively addressing the enterprise’s multiple pain points. The system also allows for future expansion of racks and conveyance equipment to further enhance retrieval efficiency and production capacity.

Pallet Shuttle Car High-Density Storage Solution Integration with Production Lines

The multi-directional shuttle cars can move freely in all directions within the high-density racks, achieving storage and retrieval in any position within the three-dimensional space. Meanwhile, the warehouse’s in-and-out points correspond to the multi-level production lines of the injection molding factory, shortening the distance between the production line and the warehouse, saving storage space, and increasing the overall space utilization of the warehouse. This results in increased production capacity, with storage capacity enhanced to 5-6 times that of the original warehouse. The adaptability of the shuttle cars to irregular spaces was a significant advantage during the old warehouse renovation, improving operational efficiency by 20% and reducing energy consumption by 30%.

Customized Storage Strategies with Seamless Integration of Intelligent Storage Software Systems

Zikoo Robotics’ in-house intelligent storage software system was directly integrated with the client’s ERP system. Using PDAs to scan documents, it manages in-house tasks like storage, retrieval, and allocation. Additionally, the system was customized for the specific needs of the Cixi warehouse, addressing distinct storage area requirements for different materials and intelligently handling specific storage allocation strategies.

Unmanned Operations for a “Goods-to-Person” Approach

To address issues of excess and insufficient inventory in the old warehouse, the automated system includes order management for warehouse entries and exits, inventory management, stocktaking, warehouse space visualization, and charging strategies for carts. For instance, the inventory management’s alert feature accurately tracks product inventory, enabling real-time confirmation of minimum, maximum, and safety stock levels, thereby facilitating timely alerts for inventory adjustment, production capacity changes, and purchasing.

The unloading of materials from the high-density warehouse doesn’t require manual operation at the exit. The system automatically assigns transport tasks to AGVs, transporting pallets to designated locations, thereby realizing an automated “goods-to-person” process, reducing manual labor and associated risks.

Conclusion

Zikoo Robotics’ solution for the injection molding manufacturing enterprise boasts high efficiency, density, flexibility, low cost, and increased intelligence. It assists the enterprise in transitioning from traditional to automated warehousing, maximizing investment returns, and significantly enhancing the company’s core competitive edge.

Related Products

R-Bot

Four-Way Pallet Shuttle

H-Bot

High Speed Elevator

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