Automation Solutions You Need for Your Cold Storage Facility

This December, as the weather starts cooling down outside and snow might even start falling, the idea of cold storage comes into play. While the cold winter weather comes in December for most of us, some warehouses need to maintain a cool temperature year-round, adhering to the cold storage standards set forth by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Whether you store food and beverages or pharmaceutical items, if you are in need of maintaining a certain temperature for your products, check out some great automation solutions below to help keep your warehouse running quickly and smoothly.

Solution - Vertical Conveying Solution: this material handling solution is designed to run in cold environments and can endure temperatures of -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Benefits - Ryson Spiral Conveyors are great for keeping energy consumption down by using efficient motors. Additionally, the use of special resin and lubricants ensures efficiency and the ability to operate with minimal maintenance in cold environments for many years. This material handling solution is built as a long-term solution, meaning it has a long-life span. The design of this solution also saves valuable floor space as it uses vertical space.

Especially when handling inventory that needs to maintain a certain temperature for safety reasons, moving these items off the shelf to their next destination needs to be done quickly. With a high throughput, this vertical conveying solution is great for moving inventory at a fast pace and ensures a continuous flow of product throughout the facility, which reduces bottlenecks.

Solution - AS/RS Solutions: these automation solutions can be made to store and retrieve items in cold storage warehouses.

Benefits - This automation solution allows you to easily store items in the cold environment while having a system that can retrieve the items quickly. One concern with cold storage facilities is the risk of harm to warehouse workers. If your workers are spending a lot of time in cold conditions, they could suffer from hypothermia or slip on icy floors. With an AS/RS Solution, workers spend less time retrieving items in the cold temperatures, taking them away from the cold conditions. Independent of the temperature of the operating environment, AS/RS will also speed up nearly every aspect of the picking/replenishment process.

Solution - Shuttles: this material handling solution is made to withstand cold storage facilities and has similar benefits as AS/RS Solutions while being more approachable, affordable, and less technically robust.

Benefits - Shuttles are a great way to replace tedious tasks that warehouse workers would typically perform in a FIFO or First Frozen First Out cold facility. Shuttles can store and retrieve pallets in warehouses, making this task a lot quicker and taking this tedious task away from workers. This is especially great for cold storage items as once they are taken off the shelf, they need to be moved quickly to maintain their cold temperature. If items such as food are not moved quickly enough, they could become unsafe for the end user if the temperature goes up enough.

Solution - Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV): these automation solutions are efficient as they improve upon speed, safety, and accuracy.

Benefits - AGVs can be made to withstand cold temperatures, significantly helping with the efficiency of your operations. Instead of having warehouse workers complete repetitive tasks in a cold environment, an AGV can take over these tasks. An AGV takes up minimal floor space and can perform repetitive product movement tasks that might otherwise fatigue warehouse workers. These adaptable solutions can greatly improve safety, accuracy, and efficiency.

Does your facility store cold inventory? Let us know where your bottlenecks are, and we’ll be able to recommend a material handling solution for you. Reach out to us here to get started!