the role of warehouse loading automation in sustainability

One of the best things about warehouses when it comes to operating in a more sustainable way is that there are so many opportunities to achieve it. Here are a few measures to consider:

To operate your warehouse, it’s highly likely you’ll be using equipment that runs on electricity or petrol. As you have to replace equipment, try to do so with more energy-efficient equipment or machinery. Look at factors such as how many gallons per hour, miles per gallon or watts per hour the equipment consumes. When you upgrade, check the equipment operates as you need it to, and perform regular maintenance on it to preserve its efficiency. Keeping on top of maintenance helps to extend the lifespan of items and reduces the waste caused by having to upgrade frequently.

As your warehouse grows, think about implementing practices and employing equipment that allows you to build vertically instead of horizontally. This takes up less horizontal space and can spare you the need to move to a larger warehouse. You can also get the most out of your warehouse space.

Lousy insulation allows warm and cool air to escape from the building, which drives up heating and cooling bills and exerts an impact on the environment. Insulate your warehouse properly to contain climate-cooled air in the space it belongs. This will trim down your energy bills and lessen wear and tear on your heating and cooling systems.

Automated warehousing can have a range of sustainable benefits. Here are some of the main ones:

Loading automation makes operations much safer because the machinery takes care of transferring the heavy goods from the loading bay to the trailer and vice versa. Often, pallets and other cargo are heavy, and anyone who must unload them is at risk of the cargo falling on top of them when they enter a trailer because cargo moves move around slightly during transportation. Loading automation lowers this risk.

Another risk loading automation heavily diminishes is the risk of loading bay accidents involving forklift trucks. Our automated loading solutions stop forklift trucks from having to enter trailers to deposit or collect cargo from them. This reduces the risk of accidents caused by:

• trailer creep, in which the impact of the repeated entry into the trailer and exit from it causes the trailer to edge away from the dock;
• early drive-off, in which the truck driver drives away mistakenly while a forklift truck is still inside the trailer, entering it or leaving it;
• and trailer pop-up or trailer up-ending, in which during loading and unloading, the weight of the forklift and the cargo in the trailer cause the end of the trailer or the nose to shift.

Sustainable warehouse management is an important step for a business to take. Observation of sustainable business practices is sometimes the decisive factor in a customer’s decision of whether to purchase from you. Operating in an environmentally responsible way shows you’re trying to be a good corporate citizen by taking steps to reduce your carbon footprint and wastage and care for the planet. The safer operation of the warehouse by implementing sustainable practices also demonstrates care for the wellbeing of your employees.

When you become more sustainable by applying loading automation and other warehouse automation, you increase productivity in your warehouse. The equipment takes care of the gruelling tasks, freeing employees up to perform other tasks.

At the same time as boosting productivity and helping to make the business more competitive, the loading automation will help you to cut some of your operational costs. This places you within closer reach of your financial objectives.

If you’re interested in investing in one of our automated loading solutions to increase the sustainability of your business and enjoy the other benefits these solutions offer, feel free to get in touch with us. We’ll be happy to advise you on the best system for your warehouse and how it can improve your business.