MHD MATERIALS HANDLING
REDUCE OPERATIONAL COSTS WITH AGVS Philip Makowski at Dematic offers his tips for optimising and reducing costs in food and beverage logistics.
T
he importance of optimising productivity and reducing costs in supply chains has never been greater for manufacturers across Australia and New Zealand.
While labour costs continue to rise and drive the need to increase productivity, these cost pressures are being compounded like never before by the increasing concentration of the grocery retail market, and increasingly price conscious consumers. As a result, more and more local companies are turning to automated guided vehicles (AGVs), especially in the food and beverage (F&B) sector, to help improve productivity and reduce operational costs in their manufacturing and warehousing facilities.
THE CHALLENGES FACING MANUFACTURERS IN FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Dematic AGV accessing the top level of pallet racking at Oxford Cold Storage.
64 | MHD SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
Grocery retailers are currently in a unique position of strength and this has major implications for F&B manufacturers. In Australia, the market share of the two top grocers stood at 68 per cent in 2017-18 according to IBISWorld, which means it is one of the most concentrated grocery retail markets in the world. Major grocers are also consolidating market share in liquor retail. Australia’s two major grocers – with their big box liquor outlets and aggressive pricing – now control 67 per cent of the alcohol retail market. The grocers have leveraged their position to drive strong agreements with suppliers, enabling them to offer low store prices that smaller outlets find difficult to compete with. They are also using their position to drive their own private label ranges, further cutting manufacturer’s margins. In a highly competitive, consumerdriven market it is imperative for F&B manufacturers to get the right
product in the right quantity at the right time to customers, more so than in any other industry. Grocers are less tolerant of missed delivery windows or incorrect products that lead to out of stock store shelves, imposing penalties for late or incomplete deliveries. Manufacturers need to ensure there are no bottlenecks in their operations – such as an operator leaving a pallet at the end of a palletising line – which can lead to production lines being stopped. In turn they need to ensure they have the correct product in the required stock quantity, and that orders are complete and accurately despatched in a timely manner. The challenge many F&B companies are facing to reduce costs is compounded by increasing labour costs and the growing difficulty in finding and retaining workers who want to work in warehouses and distribution centres (DCs), especially in cold storage facilities.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGVS IN THE WAREHOUSE F&B manufacturers are investing in AGVs to drive productivity gains in their warehouses and distribution systems. They’re also switching from manual forklifts to automated operations with AGVs to reduce operational costs and reduce reliance on scarce labour. These companies are implementing AGVs in their warehouses to cover numerous applications. Dematic’s range of AGVs provide pallet transport within and between production and warehousing, storage and retrieval from rack – including heights up to 10.7m, double-deep, narrow aisle, drive-in and mobile rack – and block stack operations, pick face replenishment and truck loading, within a variety of environments including outdoors
