SUSTAINABILITY has become a top priority for businesses, especially in an era when consumers are beginning to seek out brands that are environmentally conscious. This also encourages companies in Asia Pacific to explore sustainability initiatives in order to reduce environmental harm.
Warehouses, according to AutoStore's vice president of business development for APAC, Philipp Schitter, are intended for human workers. He did, however, list four ways in which Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) assist logistics facilities in operating in a sustainable manner:
1. Cost saving
Warehouses typically require heating, cooling, and lighting, resulting in high electrical consumption within the facilities and increasing the costs associated with warehouse operations. ASRS leverages software and robots, and because robots do not require conducive environmental settings to maintain productivity and efficiency, there will be significant electricity and emission savings, as well as naturally lower operation costs.
2. Low energy consumption
Robots can now regenerate energy in the same way that an electric car can. Robots, for example, can return power to the battery every time they lower a bin or slow down. In fact, one robot consumes 100 watts of energy; a team of ten robots consumes the same amount of energy as a refrigerator or a hair dryer.
3. Renewable energy
Around the world, many logistics facilities are using solar energy to power their warehouses. As one of the foremost names in the global furniture market, Ikea strives towards renewable energy throughout the entire value chain. Recently, Ikea Japan announced the implementation of AutoStore and since the branch has been using 100 per cent renewable electricity in its operations since 2008, AutoStore will follow suit. The installation of AutoStore to automatically pick up delivery items has replaced the manual work previously done by human workers, yielding an eight-fold increase in efficiency.
4. Reduce warehouse footprint
Approximately 3.73 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted annually from the construction of new buildings. Saving energy is just one aspect of reducing carbon footprint; there is also a need to lessen physical footprint. While businesses start implementing warehouse automation, it's crucial to make sure that this automation also lowers carbon footprint.
Automated storage and retrieval systems will be a path to warehouse sustainability as supply chains continue to change in the face of unstable economies. Long term, warehouse automation will help businesses achieve financial and environmental sustainability, particularly as many countries start to consider taxing emissions.