Breakthrough flexible + affordable warehouse automations by Mantis, defining the Covid-19 era
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the need for warehouse automation, especially when combined with e-commerce.
With the growth in piece ("eaches") picking and in inner / master carton picking in many distribution centers (as a result of e-commerce) and other factors driving the evolution of order profiles, companies look for warehouse automation solutions to speed-up picking while at the same time reducing costs, minimizing errors and improving traceability.
However, the era of the warehouse automation dinosaurs, that is the rigid solutions that cover most of the distribution center, cost a fortune and take "forever" to install / implement, has passed without return.
Companies are now looking for warehouse automations of reasonable pricing that can be implemented quickly and are flexible enough to grow with them such as Voice Picking, Pick-to-Light, Put-Walls / Sort-to-Light, Smart Pick Carts, Smart Glasses, RFID, Mobile Robots, etc.
But in most cases, those systems and technologies come with their own control software, which brings several serious disadvantages such as:
- Requiring initial and on-going integration between the automations’ control software and the WMS / WES;
- Turning cheap commodity hardware to expensive propriety systems; and
- Such integration is usually not comprehensive, real-time and tight, resulting in poor optimization of the complete picking / replenishment process as well as in serious limitations in the traceability and the (near) real-time slotting, decision-making, and handling of exceptions.
Mantis WMS, and in particular its embedded WCS, overcome all these disadvantages by directly controlling all such systems and technologies, thus eliminating the need for the 3rd party control software and integration with the WMS / WES. As a result, Mantis’ customers can use cheap commodity hardware and at the same time optimize the complete picking / replenishment process and improve the overall picking performance and traceability. Furthermore, the fact that there is no need to integrate such technologies with the WMS / WES, drastically lowers the timeframes, cost and complexity of system implementations and deployments.
Mantis has been innovating in warehouse automation for more than 13 years now. Especially for the light-directed automations, Mantis has designed a single multi-threaded highly configurable platform (LVS - WCS Lights Server) supporting all automation technologies and systems in any combination (Pick-to-Light, Sort-to-Light / Put-Walls, Smart Pick Carts). It is tightly integrated with Mantis’ embedded LVS - Warehouse Execution System (WES) to utilize advanced put-away, replenishment, pre-cubing, picking, sorting and other algorithms.
Many Mantis customers from various industries (ICT, Pharma, Tobacco, Grocery, etc.) are enjoying the benefits of such light-directed automations for several years now.
The LVS - WCS Lights Server, since its announcement in 2007, is being continuously enhanced incorporating the customers’ best practices. As a result, it has evolved in a very advanced and mature solution including features that are a "must" for advanced B2B and B2C e-commerce environments but at the same time are very hard to find in other light-directed solutions such as:
- 2 pack type levels within the same bin e.g. piece and inner carton,
- Picking of specific LOT due to traceability and inventory rotation reasons,
- Supporting light devices of different colors in the same Pick-to-Light zone enabling concurrent picking for different orders, etc.
Mantis complements its light-directed solutions with consulting services to customize these solutions to each customer’s needs.
Video case study:
Aquila - Pick-To-Light (3PL)
AMHS are supported by Mantis WMS through its own advanced LVS - WCS AMHS Server since 2013.
AMHS types supported:
- Goods-to-Person picking enabled by automated storage / conveyor / robotics technologies (Shuttles, Carousels, Mini-Loads, Mobile Selves & AGV - like robotics, etc.),
- Sorters,
- Packing line systems,
- RFID-Gates,
- Cutting machines, etc.
Successful integrations:
Like the rest of its servers, LVS - WCS AMHS Server is also configurable and of a multi-threading design used for driving multiple automation types on a single instance. It communicates with AMHS and 3rd party WCS using a multitude of real and near-real time communication protocols. It is tightly integrated with Mantis’ embedded LVS - WES to utilize advanced put-away, replenishment, pre-cubing, picking, sorting and other algorithms.
LVS - WCS AMHS Server is being successfully implemented and proven for several years in prestigious Mantis customers with sophisticated operations in various industries (ICT, Pharma, H&B, Spare Parts & Accessories, Apparel & Footwear, etc).
Video case studies:
3LP Case Study (Electrotechnical Materials)
x-kom Case Study (Appliances & Electronics)
No Limit Case Study (Apparel & Footwear Logistics)
Mantis complements its warehouse automation solutions with its feature-rich Touch-Screen Packing + Checking + Weighting Station application that comes integrated with its Put-Wall solutions as well as with a multitude of scale types, carton / parcel dimensioners, scanners, etc.
This application, since its announcement in 2009, has been installed in a plethora of customers and is being continuously enhanced since then incorporating the customers’ best practices. As a result, it has evolved in one of the most advanced and mature solutions of this kind in the international market.
The company offers its own Voice Picking / Cross-Docking software and solutions based on Honeywell’s Vocollect technologies which have been tightly integrated to Mantis WMS / WES through own proprietary software.
It is a feature-rich high-performance solution providing functionality that is hard to find in other Voice-directed solutions such as:
- Cross-Docking (BBxD, etc.) in addition to typical picking
- Real-time integration with Mantis WMS / WES allowing:
- On-line replenishment of picking locations while the voice picking is in progress
- Concurrent access to the same picking locations by pickers using different technologies (Voice, RF, Smart Glasses, etc.)
- Multiple pack type levels within the same location e.g. piece, inner carton, master carton
- Picking of specific LOT due to traceability and inventory rotation reasons
Video case study:
Metro Group Logistics Case Study (3PL & Supermarkets)
Finally, Mantis recently (January 2020) announced its VVR (Vision-Voice-RFID) picking solution that is probably the first real-life Vision Picking solution in the world.
VVR, that relies on Smart Glasses with advanced voice recognition capabilities and wearable RFID devices, revolutionizes Piece Picking / Pick-to-Cart, Case Picking & Sorting / Put-Walls that have been supported by traditional RF / Light / Voice - directed applications.
Video presentation: