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Much has been written lately in the mainstream press about the future of robotics. The consensus is that robots are coming, if they’re not here already. The New York Times, for instance, recently ran an article highlighting some of the struggles the workforce may confront as robots grow smarter.

No matter how much you prepare, peak season is always difficult. Boxlogix Automation is here to help customers with Distribution Center upgrades. No matter if its an equipment, technology or process upgrade Boxlogix Automation can help.

As with successful athletes and teams in all sports, maximizing the performance of a conveyor system starts with good execution of the fundamentals.

The bad news is that every year, thousands of people working in industrial plants and facilities are injured on the job. Here are five things industrial plant operators could do today to create a safer work environment:

There are several basic principles that apply to designing and running an effective distribution center operation. Without the proper layout and design of your distribution center, no matter the square footage, you will be facing capacity issues, decrease in productivity, and storage inadequacies. This is a short list of these areas that should be addressed in your warehouse operations planning and facility layout.

Ryson foresees an increasing demand for their high capacity Spiral Conveyors because they can go higher and have double the weight capacity of their standard spiral models. These spirals can convey Totes from the floor level up to the top of a pick module at a 30 ft elevation. Each tote can weigh as much as 125 lbs. Ryson's High Capacity Spiral Conveyor has a total weight capacity of 3600 lbs making it a prime candidate for applications such as this.

Wynright’s new Green Line conveyor platform takes conveyor from commodity to cool. Helping clients reduce their carbon footprint is crucial. They challenged their engineers to re-evaluate their equipment and to use the latest technology available to design the next generation of material handling products. In doing so, they not only came up with revolutionary innovations to improve energy consumption and ease of control, but they addressed the age old problem of conveyor aesthetics by incorporating a common side channel into the design of four different conveyor families.

From the perspective of conventional operators, use of conveyor picking solutions or even higher level goods-to-person automation are very attractive as a purchasable solution to control labor.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the barcode, it is easy to reflect back on how it has positively impacted distribution center operations over the years and to ponder how barcode scanning will improve operations in the years to come.  The question is – will the barcode continue to play a central role in DC operations, and if so, in what ways?

This news release may be far-fetched, but nonetheless, the thought of it disturbs me. It’s time to take a moment to reflect on whether we’ve exhausted the options for giving WMS a renewed lease on life. I know he’s still breathing. After all, he’s only 40 years old.