Inside the benefits of robotics for mixed case palletizing

If you’re relying solely on manual processes in your warehouse or distribution center, you’re falling behind your competition.

While certain manual processes still have their place in the warehouse, their advantages are increasingly overshadowed by automated systems that can enhance productivity and profits. For instance, manual processes are slow and prone to human errors.

In addition, while the human element of such processes can offer a personal touch, warehouse managers are also challenged with labor shortages and staffing difficulties in these environments.

While there’s an upfront investment in robotic technologies, the benefits often pay for themselves over time. This happens in increased productivity, better efficiency and accuracy, and the ability to scale systems to meet evolving needs.

What’s more, there’s a significant safety element involved in robotics. They eliminate the need for human laborers to work in dangerous settings or manage hazardous tasks.

On this note, robotics is becoming increasingly common in warehouse settings. Mixed-case palletizing is just one application. Because creating pallets that contain a variety of SKUs can be time-consuming and laborious, warehouse managers are turning to more automated systems to handle their complexity.

In this post, Daifuku Intralogistics explains the rise in robotics for mixed-case palletizing.

When robotic palletizing makes sense

So, when do robots make sense in the warehouse environment? As we said earlier, humans will never be completely replaced in these settings.

However, introducing robotics to manage certain tasks can have notable productivity benefits. Here’s a look at some of the common scenarios where implementing robotics makes sense.

• Task complexity: Robots can handle highly repetitive tasks with ease.
• Cost savings: Increased efficiency and reduced errors can represent significant long-term savings. Robotics can also remove humans from certain tasks. This frees them up to work on other things they’re perhaps better suited for.
• Scalability: Your warehouse’s needs will likely fluctuate with seasonality. Rather than hiring seasonal staffers, robotics can help operations scale up and scale down accordingly.
• Safety concerns: Robots are ideal for working in situations where human safety is at risk.
• Consistency and quality: Once programmed to perform a task, robots can work consistently and uniformly. This helps improve quality and minimize the likelihood of errors. What’s more, robots can work around the clock without breaks, fatigue, or the need for rest. In addition to consistency and quality improvements, there’s faster throughput and better turnaround times.
• Offsetting labor shortages: Here’s a well-documented shortage of qualified workers in today’s warehouse and distribution environments. Humans will always have a place in these facilities. However, managers are increasingly tasked with finding and adopting innovations to help offset these challenges. Robots represent a big possibility.

Considering all this, incorporating robotics into your warehouse for mixed-case palletizing offers significant short- and long-term benefits. Their efficiency, accuracy, safety advantages, and flexibility largely outweigh the upfront cost of acquiring and implementing them in the setting.

Robots are revolutionizing warehousing and logistics operations, and mixed-case palletizing is just one way in which they’re doing it.

Mixed case robotic palletizing: What you need to know

Unlike single-SKU case palletizing, which typically involves bulk shipment of identical products, mixed-case palletizing involves assembling pallets with a variety of stock-keeping units. Also, mixed-case palletizing requires more advanced processes to handle the various shapes, sizes, and weights of the products being processed.

Mixed SKU palletizing can involve a combination of single-SKU layer picks and mixed-SKU case picks. This is where a solution with advanced automation, including shuttles, sorters, and layer/case handling robotics, can play a significant role.

Mixed-case robotic palletizing is also becoming increasingly essential in today’s warehouses and distribution centers. This underscores the importance of incorporating such a capability as you modernize your facilities.

For example, Daifuku’s technologies include automated systems. This includes case automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRSs), sortation equipment, and case-handling robots picking products from various inventory pallets and stacking them onto shipping pallets in mixed SKU configurations.

Advanced software guides processes that calculate the optimal stacking pattern to ensure stability and the most efficient use of space. Daifuku’s robots can process up to 600 cases per hour, which can significantly increase productivity and operational efficiency when compared to a manual option.

The company said its robotic solutions are also highly flexible and can be configured and tailored to meet specific customer outbound requirements.  These automated solutions typically support both sequenced and destination-sorted loading, making complex order fulfillment simple and error-free.

Daifuku said its solutions are as versatile as they are flexible, especially applicable in a variety of markets such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, electronics, retail, cold chain logistics, e-commerce, and more.

Choosing to invest in robotics simply makes sense for mixed-case palletizing. Strong financial and intangible benefits provide managers and engineers with a clear path to recommend mixed-case robotic palletizing for their facilities. 

Incorporating AI and other advanced solutions

Robotics continues to evolve and improve with time, and solutions from Daifuku are no exception. The company asserted that today’s offerings are outfitted with next-generation vision systems and automation capabilities to work smarter and better than previous products.

Future initiatives and optimizations utilizing AI-driven software will help do more than just select the right products to place on the pallet. It can also optimize placement by considering the weight, size, and shape of the product, reducing product damage and leading to more satisfied customers throughout the supply chain.

Mixed-use palletizing robots can also integrate with warehouse management systems (WMS) and other enterprise software to automate more than just one task and contribute to the automation of the entire facility. When you combine these capabilities with real-time data analytics and optimization, it all contributes to a smarter, better-operating facility overall.

Managers have key insights at their fingertips on how to further enhance productivity and lead their operations in smarter and more responsible ways.

Another key benefit: Sustainability

As consumers become more conscious of the impact their activities have on the environment, they are also looking to improve sustainability downstream.

That’s one other key benefit of automating mixed-case palletizing with robotics. Robots are designed to optimize space utilization on pallets, which can reduce the number of pallets and shipments that are required.

This can all help protect the environment, resulting in fewer truckloads of product, which thereby leads to reduced emissions. Robotics can also help minimize waste, thanks to the accuracy of their operations and how their actions work in a way that minimizes the chance of product damage.

About the author

Cécile Dick-Calmès is a strategic content marketing leader with over a decade of experience in B2B and B2C digital marketing. She currently serves as marketing manager at Daifuku Intralogistics America, where she drives brand growth through content strategy, web development, thought leadership, and social media.

Dick-Calmès’ career spans industries from transportation to aerospace, including past roles at The Boeing Co. and Hainan Airlines. A data-driven storyteller, she is passionate about building meaningful connections, amplifying diverse voices, and delivering measurable results.

A dual citizen of France and the U.S., Cecile holds master’s degrees in marketing and communications from ISCOM and INSEEC (Paris), along with executive certificates from Northwestern University–Kellogg, LSE, and USF’s DEI program. She actively volunteers with organizations such as the AMA Chicago and Impact Sierra Leone, and she is a former board liaison and community leader in Chicago.