WMS & Pallet Shuttle Integration

WMS and shuttle management in one device

What should you do when you have run out of warehouse space? The shortage of logistics floor space nowadays means that many businesses require high-density storage solutions to increase the space they use to deposit goods.

With the aim of modernizing their facilities and storage methods, logistics centers are gradually incorporating warehouse management systems and semi-automated solutions to ensure efficiency in their processes.

As a provider of comprehensive storage solutions, Interlake Mecalux offers multiple options for making the most of a facility’s surface area. For companies that are in the beginning stages of modernizing their warehouses, combining the Pallet Shuttle with the WMS is an ideal option.

WMS & Pallet Shuttle Integration is the advanced Easy WMS feature that streamlines and simplifies shuttle operators’ tasks in the warehouse. By consolidating the shuttle management application and Easy WMS software in the same tablet, operators can receive detailed instructions from the WMS and, at the same time, control the Pallet Shuttle movements: depositing and extracting goods, counting containers, and storing pallets in a compact way, among others.

Streamline Pallet Shuttle operator tasks

Optimize Pallet Shuttle operations

The Pallet Shuttle is a high-density storage system that maximizes storage capacity and speeds up pallet entry and exit cycles in the warehouse. This semi-automatic system consists of a motorized shuttle that enters the storage channels to load and unload palletized goods.

The electric shuttle is integrated with the high-density racking, which leverages warehouse space by eliminating aisles. Moreover, these structures adapt to LIFO (last in, first out) and FIFO (first in, first out) slotting and extraction criteria as needed. This system is especially useful in businesses with a high number of pallets per SKU (such as production companies and large wholesalers).

The implementation of Interlake Mecalux’s WMS & Pallet Shuttle Integration significantly facilitates operator tasks, thanks to its single, user-friendly interface. In this way, operators receive step-by-step instructions from the WMS on performing their tasks; simultaneously, they can control the Pallet Shuttle and view its status indicators (shuttle battery, automatic/manual mode, and location method applied).

This advanced functionality also facilitates the integration of the Pallet Shuttle system with automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) . In these scenarios, Easy WMS assumes total control over storage system operations, issuing tasks to both the AGV or AMR and the motor-driven shuttle. As a result, the different devices are perfectly synchronized. This solution fully automates pallet storage and retrieval in addition to the repositioning of the motorized shuttle.

Limit unnecessary movements in the warehouse

Features of WMS & Pallet Shuttle Integration

• Facilitates management of the motorized shuttle and of the WMS from the same interface
• Controls the Pallet Shuttle and Easy WMS via the warehouse’s Wi-Fi network
• Notifies shuttle operators of their tasks
• Compacts the storage of goods inside the channels

We’re thrilled with the Pallet Shuttle system, with the software that runs the automatic shuttles, and with Easy WMS from Mecalux. Since its installation, the warehouse has turned out excellent results. Giving exact figures is hard, but, between February and August 2018, we stepped up our sales volume by around 8%.