Ecommerce fulfillment is challenging not just because ecommerce customers have come to expect lightning fast delivery, but also because of the highly unpredictable nature of ecommerce consumer ordering patterns.
Widely varying ordering patterns mean that at any point throughout the day, the items (SKUs and associated quantities) required to fulfill ecommerce orders are likely different than they were just moments before.
For high volume ecommerce operations, such minute-to-minute shifts in inventory demands can severely slow the order fulfillment process.
So how do you prevent order fluctuations from bogging down order fulfillment?
For MSI Automate clients, the answer lies in a dynamic, multifaceted approach to order fulfillment and inventory management that relies on the right combination of technology and strategic processing capabilities.
ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY
The MSI Automate Robotic Shuttle Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS)
The centerpiece of an MSI Automate fulfillment strategy for high transaction ecommerce environments begins with an MSI Automate Robotic Shuttle Automated Storage and Retrieval System. Comprised of multiple tiers of SKU storage manned by roaming robotic shuttles, an MSI Automate ASRS enables high density storage combined with highly accurate and efficient inventory management capabilities.
Cutting labor demand required for picking, replenishment, and stock control by up to two-thirds, the MSI Automate Shuttle ASRS provides quick access to every SKU in a fulfillment system.
And unlike other automated storage and retrieval systems an MSI Automate ASRS can provide this access with a smaller number of the robotic shuttles that escalate the capital investment costs associated with most ASRS technology.
The reason? Roaming shuttles…
Roaming Robotic Shuttles
The MSI Automate Robotic Shuttle ASRS is unique in that the shuttles on any level are not captive to that level.
End-aisle lifts are built into the MSI Automate ASRS to transport shuttles between levels as needed to access required SKUs, allowing the entire population of shuttles to roam across all vertical storage levels.
By enabling shuttles to roam, MSI Automate empowers customers to scale their inventory management capabilities as needed. ASRS racking systems can be built for maximum future SKU storage capacity, but manned by only as many shuttles as needed to meet current ecommerce demand. As demand grows, more shuttles can be added to a system until all tiers are fully populated.
As a key component of our multi-pronged approach to strategic order fulfillment and inventory management, roaming ASRS shuttles enable MSI Automate clients to:
- Dive deep into their SKU base while servicing high transaction volumes of their core products.
- Achieve better operational balance and high utilization of equipment.
- Grow at their own pace.
STRATEGIC PROCESSING CAPABILITIES
To enhance the already highly efficient performance of our robotic technology, we employ a series of strategic processing capabilities through our Automate Software Platform that will further optimize our clients’ ecommerce operations.
Predictive Slotting
Used to optimize MSI Automate ASRS storage locations, Predictive Slotting continuously reorganizes inventory within ASRS storage bays so that fast moving SKUs are positioned in the most desirable/accessible positions.
Reorganization of SKUs is done using excess cycles or as part of the put-away process.
Intelligent Inventory Management
This processing strategy uses the redundant positioning of SKUs within the ASRS system to ensure flexibility in accessing SKUs.
By replicating the same SKU in different storage locations across storage aisles, Intelligent Inventory Management ensures that any SKU can be retrieved from multiple locations. This provides the operational discretion needed to improve efficiencies as it decreases dependency on the ability of any single ASRS Shuttle to execute a task.
It also provides the redundancy required to ensure access to all SKUs in the event of an equipment failure for a shuttle or tote lift.
Dynamic Order Management
The key to optimizing the order fulfillment process, Dynamic Order Management covers a wide spectrum of processing strategies that are focused on maximizing fulfillment efficiency.
Among them is an ASRS aisle/level balancing strategy that minimizes requests for multiple products in the same aisle at the same time, or from an aisle that doesn’t have an active shuttle.
But the cornerstone of the strategy is a waveless approach to order processing that uses last minute decisions to capitalize on fulfillment opportunities as they arise.
By postponing inventory allocation decisions until the last possible moment, Dynamic Order Management allows MSI Automate customers to manage fluctuations in order demands as they occur and thereby take advantage of processing opportunities that may not have been evident when an order or set of orders was first pulled into the system.
The Right Mix of Technology and Strategic Processing
To be successful, high volume ecommerce order fulfillment operations have to overcome the industry’s most rigorous production requirements.
But with the right combination of technology and strategic processing capabilities, they can not only satisfy customer demand, but gain a strategic edge in the marketplace through greater customer loyalty and repeat business.
Walter High is VP Marketing at MSI Automate, where he has worked since 2012.