Taming the warehouse’s bulky beasts

Somewhere beyond the conveyor belt lies a group of products that simply can’t be tamed using the normal means. Whether it’s a 12-foot-long kayak, a piece of bulky exercise equipment or a sofa, anything too big to fit on a conveyor belt is considered a non-conveyable and requires special handling, packaging and storage.

The complexity increases when that kayak has to be paired up with a paddle and two life vests to complete a customer’s order. The kayak may be off in the corner with the rest of the oversized items, but the life vests and paddles may be stashed in another location. Pickers have to navigate the warehouse floor to find all of the items, consolidate them and get them out the door.

These are just a few of the hard parts of managing non-conveyables, which can be particularly onerous for organizations that manage a high volume of these large, bulky items.

“The biggest problem with non-conveyables is that they nearly always require manual handling,” says Bobby Uland, product portfolio manager at Fives Intralogistics Corp. “They’re big, bulky and odd shaped, but not necessarily heavy. In fact, sometimes the product’s shape puts it in the non-conveyable category.”

Automation enters the picture

Traditional automated sorters and materials handling equipment were designed to manage traditional cuboidal packaging and standard boxes; not large oversized packaging that comes in all different shapes and sizes.

“Automated systems can’t always handle all of the different types of packages being shipped these days,” Uland points out. “They can potentially slow processing times, create bottlenecks and increase labor costs.”

Hefting large items also requires strength and introduces the possibility of ergonomic injuries for the individuals called upon to move those goods in the warehouse. Even a smaller operation that manages a low volume of non-conveyables has to think about this during this era of labor constraints.

“Regardless of the company’s size,” Uland says, “the main issue is always going to be that big and bulky items require a lot more manual handling, which may translate into significant cost and potential bottlenecks.”

Some companies are using automation to address their non-conveyables management challenges. Fives, for example, makes flexible, modular automation solutions that accommodate a “wider range of items and shapes,” Uland explains, effectively increasing the types of items that can be processed by those automated systems.

Other warehouse operators are using advanced data analytics to paint a more accurate picture of their workflows and the impact of non-conveyables on those processes.

“By analyzing item dimensions, weights and handling times,” Uland explains, “you can identify different patterns and/or bottlenecks. Then, you can use those insights to make more informed decisions on resource allocation or system design.”

Tackling the problem with automation

Handling non-conforming items consumes much more energy, labor and space than a “normal” package requires. This can create major receiving, storage and fulfillment inefficiencies.

“Whenever intervention is required, there’s going to be inefficiencies,” says Rupesh Narkar, vice president of sales and systems, logistics, at BEUMER Group. Those inefficiencies start at the point of fulfillment capacity consumption, extend into conveyance and then right out onto the loading dock.

Still, Narkar sees a lot of companies sticking with their manual approaches for handling non-conveyables. Their reasoning is straightforward: for starters, there’s no return on investment (ROI) associated with a more streamlined approach. And, the market has yet to introduce any “convincing” automation solutions that can handle big and bulky items efficiently and effectively.

“Most of the available solutions either don’t perform as expected or are very costly due to the level of customization required,” says Narkar. “Plus, in most cases organizations still need manual labor to support the process.” On the bright side, Narkar sees potential in the use of robotic handling to manage oversized and odd-shaped items that can be put on a conveyor belt.

By pairing a robotic arm with an autonomous mobile robot (AMR), for example, companies can shift the laborious work over to a mobile robotics setup, with the pick-and-pack process handled by the robotic arm. “These robots can grab the non-conveyables and handle them as unique pieces using the capacity of a robotic arm,” says Narkar.

There are also some simple steps that companies can take to get a handle on their non-conveyables. For example, using proper item labeling and RFID ensures that items aren’t “missed” as they’re checked in and stored, and everyone knows their warehouse locations at all times.

Narkar says non-conforming items can also be segregated as pre-sort items (versus being put into the traditional automation lineup) and then managed by an AMR right at the pre-sort stage (before they even get into the system).

Narkar says the key is to find the right balance between manual and automation, and then create a “hybrid” strategy that helps to streamline the management of non-conveyables. “The bottom line is that some items will never make sense for an automation solution to manage,” he adds. “If you can find the right balance between manual and automation, you’ll start to experience improved efficiency and accuracy because you’ll already be tackling at least half of the problem with automation.”

Exoskeletons and individual assist tools

Moving a single oversized item out the door and onto a truck is one thing. Putting together a complete order that includes the oversized item plus a bunch of smaller accessories—all of which are scattered in different locations in the facility—is a completely different animal.

TJ Franco, account executive at FORTNA, says software plays an important role in bringing those different elements together and into a single, cohesive order.

“Software is getting smarter and better at helping companies slot the items in places that make most sense to reduce bottlenecks,” says Franco. The systems also cut down on the amount of running around that employees have to do as they assemble the orders by, say, slotting related items in closer proximity to each other. This helps eliminate the amount of shift-by-shift training that may be needed to ensure the new crew knows where those kayaks, life vests and paddles are in the warehouse.

Looking ahead, Franco sees exoskeletons and other individual assist tools potentially playing a larger role in the non-conveyables space, where it’s really easy to throw out a back or hurt a knee when maneuvering large, bulky items around on the warehouse floor.

“There are already a lot of assistive products and add-ons that help associates pick up heavy items, and that can translate into the big-and-bulky realm,” says Franco.

Do the math

When companies put time and effort into improving non-conveyables management, the results begin to surface pretty quickly. According to Franco, some of the wins include increases in efficiency and productivity; decreased training time; and fewer mispicks and other types of picking errors. By adding automation to the equation, companies can also expect benefits like less product damage and improved employee safety.

David Griffin, chief sales officer at Seegrid, says companies that want to get a handle on their non-conveyables should start by assessing just how impactful these items are to their overall operations. Then, count the minimum number of “touches” required to move the big and bulky items from inbound receiving to a storage location, and then from that storage location to picking to the outbound location.

Knowing that the placement, storage and picking of the items requires the most labor, focus on maximizing the percentage of labor used in those highest value touch areas while minimizing the labor in areas like transport.

“The more you can keep pickers focused on picking, and the more you can eliminate the need for people handling the transport and deadheading, the better off you’re going to be,” says Griffin.

Automated tow tractors, lift trucks and other vehicles can then take over and handle the path from the picking location to the outbound shipping area. This removes manual labor from some of the most time-consuming stages of non-conveyable management. Seegrid works with two different large customers whose pickers spend at least 90% of their time in the aisles picking orders.

“Then the minute those picking tasks are completed, they bring the orders just outside the aisle to a known location for the automated transport to pick up,” Griffin explains.

“We can automate the long hauls out of the pick zones toward the outbound staging areas, and then the automated equipment returns the empties. So, there’s no deadheading involved,” Griffin continues. This also eliminates the use of high-value labor for low-value-added activities, namely transport, and creates an ROI in as little as seven to eight months.

“If you’re running at least a two-shift operation, you’re almost guaranteed to get your return in a maximum of 18 months,” says Griffin. “By not requiring low-value-added transport labor across multiple shifts to manage their non-conveyables, companies are saving significant money and improving this specialized aspect of their operations.”