Warehouse and supply chain management can be a complicated process that requires streamlined operations to ensure smooth functioning. Every aspect of warehousing, such as sorting, picking, packing, and shipping, must be planned meticulously to meet the customer’s requirements and satisfy their preferences. When it comes to the garment industry, where multiple SKUs and sizes need to be managed under different brands, a proper sorting system is paramount. With over 50 years of experience in garment-on-hanger solutions, we have seen both the challenges and the advantages that can be presented. This blog post will discuss the garment-on-hanger sortation system, its advantages, and how it can be implemented to maximize efficiency and save costs.
What is a Garment On Hanger Sortation System?
A Garment On Hanger (GOH) sortation system is an automated method of sorting, storing, and transporting garments. The system uses specialized equipment, such as overhead rail systems, conveyors, and sorters, to handle different types of clothes, hangers, and packaging. GOH systems increase productivity, reduce labor costs, and offer higher efficiency compared to traditional garment handling methods.
Advantages of a GOH Sortation System
Increased efficiency – The GOH sortation system is an automated process that can handle a high volume of garments quickly and efficiently. The system can sort, store, and transport the garments in a structured manner, eliminating chances of error and reducing handling time.
Better inventory management – The GOH system offers precise tracking and monitoring of garments, which helps the management team maintain an accurate inventory count. The system can also store garments in a designated location, making it easier for the team to locate and pick the desired garment quickly.
Higher storage capacity – With a GOH sorting system, there is less risk of damage and wastage of clothing, ensuring that the garments remain in good condition for longer. The system also offers higher storage capacity than conventional garment sorting methods, making it ideal for warehouses with limited space.
Sustainable operations – GOH systems help reduce the use of packaging materials, such as boxes and plastic bags, which contribute to environmental pollution. The system also offers more sustainable operations by increasing the lifespan of clothing, reducing carbon footprint, and promoting a circular economy.
Implementation of a GOH Sortation System
Implementing the GOH sortation system requires proper planning, assessment, and execution. Here are some steps to consider when implementing the system:
Assessment of the warehouse layout – warehouses should have adequate space with overhead rails and conveyor systems to ensure the system can function effectively. It is advisable to conduct a feasibility study to identify the ideal areas where the system can be installed.
Integration of the system – the GOH sortation system should integrate with existing warehouse management systems to ensure seamless operations. This will require software development and hardware installation to ensure that the system can integrate into the existing environment.
Training and support – with any new technology implementation, there is often a need for training and support for the warehouse teams. The teams will need to understand how the system works, how to operate the equipment, and how to maintain it.
ABCO Systems is a premier provider of GOH sortation and storage solutions. We have been installing GOH solutions for numerous apparel brands for over 50 years and bring this experience to all customers to provide the best solution to meet each customer’s unique needs.
The Garment on Hanger (GOH) sortation system is an automated method of sorting, storing, and transporting garments, increasing productivity and reducing labor costs.
Benefits of the system include increased efficiency, better inventory management, higher storage capacity, and sustainable operations.
Implementation of the GOH sortation system requires assessment of the warehouse layout, integration with existing systems, and training for the warehouse team.
Integrating a GOH sortation system can help maximize efficiency and save costs in garment warehouses.
Conveyor systems are important pieces of equipment used in many industries. Whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, maintaining your conveyor system is essential to running a successful business. Regular maintenance helps to ensure that your conveyor system runs smoothly and efficiently, saving you time and money in the long run. Knowing what to look for and how to address any issues that arise is key to keeping your conveyor system in top shape. In this article, we will discuss tips for conveyor maintenance, so you can keep your conveyor system running in peak condition.
What are common issues with conveyor systems?
Conveyor systems often experience wear and tear over time. While they are designed to last for many years, the frequency of use, the amount of weight they are designed to carry, and the overall condition of the system all play a role in how long they will last.
As a machine operator, you are also responsible for inspecting the conveyor system periodically. Depending on your industry and the type of conveyor system you have, you may not need to inspect the system as often as other operators. However, it is important to inspect the system periodically to make sure there are no issues or potential problems that need to be addressed immediately. Inspecting your conveyor system can also be a good way to spot any issues that need maintenance before they become larger problems.
What safety measures should be taken when performing conveyor maintenance?
Before you begin any maintenance work on a conveyor system, make sure you are familiar with the system and the potential hazards. For example, the system may include moving parts that could cause you injury if you are not careful. When working on older systems, you may also need to wear breathing equipment to protect you from harmful fumes. You should also be familiar with the location of any shutoff valves or emergency stop buttons to make sure you can stop the system if needed. If you are unsure about the proper procedures or safety precautions to take when working on a conveyor system, contact your supervisor or the person responsible for maintaining the system for instructions.
What should you look for when inspecting conveyor systems?
During your conveyor system inspection, you should look for problems with the system, such as wear and tear. You can also perform a preventive maintenance checklist, which is a good way to address certain issues before they become more serious. The ABCO Systems Maintenance and Service team uses checklists to ensure they address all aspects of your systems. You can find a checklist online and customize it to suit your system. There are also online tools available that allow you to enter information about your system and generate a checklist customized to your specific equipment. When performing your inspection, keep an eye out for any of the following issues: – Excessive noise – This could indicate a problem with the bearings or other system components. – Oil leaks – These can indicate wear or damage in the system. They can also pose a fire hazard if the oil drips near hot components. – Poor lubrication – This can cause friction and overheat the system. – Excessive vibration – This can be an indication that parts are loose and need to be replaced.
How often should you inspect the conveyor system?
Depending on your industry and the type of conveyor system you have, you may need to inspect the system regularly. Manufacturers will often provide recommendations for the best maintenance practices for your system. You should also follow the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance intervals to avoid costly breakdowns and repairs. If you do experience a breakdown, it is important to troubleshoot and repair the system as quickly as possible. A minor issue that goes unaddressed can become a major problem quickly. If you schedule regular inspections, you can spot potential issues before they become serious.
How can you prevent conveyor system breakdowns?
A regular maintenance schedule is essential to prolonging the life of your conveyor system and preventing breakdowns. Periodic inspections can help you identify wear and tear before it becomes a serious problem that requires extensive repairs. You should also make sure to use the system within the manufacturer’s guidelines. If you overload the conveyor system by exceeding the weight capacity or attempting to move more products through the system than it is designed for, you greatly increase the risk of breakdowns and other problems. You can also help to prevent breakdowns by following these tips: – Maintain proper speed, load, and tension settings. – Clean the system regularly to reduce the risk of corrosion and contamination. – Use lubricants to reduce friction in moving parts. – Replace worn or damaged parts promptly.
What should you do if you experience a breakdown?
If your conveyor system breaks down, you should first attempt to identify the cause of the issue. If you are not able to identify the problem, you may want to call a professional to help troubleshoot the issue. Some common issues and their causes include: – Excessive noise – A problem with the bearings, belts, pulleys, or other system components. – Oil leaks – Damage to seals, gaskets, or other system components that allow oil to leak. – Poor lubrication – Parts moving against each other without sufficient lubrication. – Excessive vibration – Worn or damaged parts that are loose and may cause excessive vibration. – Overloaded system – Exceeding the weight capacity or moving too many items through the conveyor system.
What are the benefits of regular maintenance?
Regular maintenance is essential to keeping your conveyor system in working order. Even if you have a brand-new system, regular maintenance will help prolong the life of the system. A well-maintained system will operate more smoothly, efficiently, and safely compared to systems that are neglected. You can also expect to see a reduction in breakdowns and repairs if you perform regular maintenance on your system. This can save you time and money in the long run. A well-maintained system will also be safer to operate, which is important when working with heavy machinery. A poorly maintained system can lead to accidents and injuries, which is why it is so important to follow best practices for conveyor maintenance.
What are the top conveyor maintenance services in New Jersey?
While you may be able to perform some of the maintenance work on your conveyor system yourself, you can ensure your equipment is always up and running by having a preventative maintenance contract in place. ABCO Systems can perform a regular inspection of the system, replace worn or damaged parts, apply lubrication as needed, adjust tension and speed settings, and perform any other regular maintenance tasks. It is important to choose a service that is certified and follows manufacturer recommendations when working on your equipment to help ensure they perform the work correctly.
Why choose ABCO Systems for your conveyor maintenance?
Conveyor maintenance is an important part of running an efficient business. ABCO Systems, LLC provides its customers with best-in-class installation of some of the most technologically advanced material handling products on the market. To be compliant with manufacturers’ requirements for warranty, the systems must be properly maintained as part of a comprehensive pre-scheduled maintenance program. Headed by Heather Castro as Service Department Manager, ABCO Systems technicians and service staff are highly qualified to perform these required services. If you want to keep your systems running, run with the WolfPack and ABCO Systems Maintenance and Service Team.
As we enter December, you may be thinking about automation, but is it too late to implement automation in time for the upcoming Holiday Season? We all want to be able to meet and exceed the needs of our customers as well as make the best use of our labor force but think that implementing automation at this stage would be way too difficult and costly. Think again.
ABCO Systems offers you an early holiday gift with our new white paper on 4 Easy Ways to Automate. Click the box below to download and learn how you can easily implement an automation solution now that is scalable for future growth.
To most people, the idea of automated labor seems like something out of the realm of sci-fi. With visions of Rosie the Robot dancing in our heads, it’s hard to believe we’re living in the future that so long seemed restricted to the realm of fiction.
And yet, these days, automated labor has become more common, and more practical, than ever before—and nowhere is this truer than within the distribution and fulfillment industries. Automation investment can make sure that your distribution center is prepared for the challenges of operating at peak profitability in the current market landscape.
As employers face issues of employee unreliability, high turnover, and increasing labor shortages through the distribution space, automation is more than just a future fantasy. It’s quickly becoming vital to commercial success in the here and now.
A closer look at labor scarcity
According to a recent report published by The Washington Post, over 43 million Americans quit their jobs over the course of 2021. Commonly called the “great resignation,” this wave of employee departures shows no sign of slowing. In fact, some employers report that resignation is currently at an all-time high.
So what’s the future of the great resignation? Expert predictions vary, with some stating that the trend will continue into 2023 and beyond. Other experts predict that more Americans are getting back to work—but that the attitude towards labor and willingness to walk away from a job that no longer feels rewarding will likely stay the same.
As demand for online shopping surges and e-commerce sales continue to become a preferred retail method for Americans throughout the United States, employees face increased hours and higher stress levels as they try to keep up with the growing demand.
The result? An increasingly unstable labor market that shows no signs of self-correcting, leaving employers facing higher costs and worse results. In fact, according to one study, as many as 73% of warehouse operators struggled to find adequate labor.
We need to face the facts: what was once a trend is quickly becoming a labor market norm, one that disproportionately impacts operators of distribution centers, warehouses, and other third-party logistics professionals, where staffing shortages are worsened by increasingly high turnover rates.
Automation: the wave of the future Automation may once have seemed like a sci-fi solution to the sector’s labor woes, but these technologies have increasingly become a critical aspect of the manufacturing and logistics world’s real-world operations. In fact, a study published in the Harvard Business Review indicated that within the next four years, the global warehouse automation market can be expected to double in value, with supply chain leaders describing warehouse automation as, …” One of their top three priorities for digital investment.” Workers cited by the study also expressed optimism, with many sharing their excitement for the potential of automation technologies to improve safety, increase speed and efficiency, and allow them to produce higher-quality work. The advantages of automating processes that were once performed by human labor is clear to employers who have struggled to maintain adequate staffing within their warehouses. Automation cuts down on your need to hire, making it easier to increase order accuracy, and productivity, and focus on reducing workplace injury for warehouse employees. Not only does automation reduce the need for labor, but it also makes work less demanding, reducing the turnover rate and leading to lower stress levels and a more positive work environment that encourages employees to stick around. These days, there are many forms of warehouse automation in common use. Companies use warehouse management systems to automate manual processes, inventory control, and data capture, supporting data analysis. Using this software in conjunction with technology such as sensors and robotics helps minimize the need for human labor, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Making automation practical It’s no secret that warehouses and the fulfillment industry as a whole continue to be major drivers of change within the American economy. Around 1.5 million American workers are employed in the warehouse and storage sector, many of whom are ambivalent about the impact that the coming automation revolution may have on their careers. However, when approached correctly, automation can actually be a critical asset in supporting the fulfillment sector for both workers and employers alike. The key to making automation an asset? Communication and training at every step of the way. Automation can do a lot, but it still requires human intelligence and discernment to perform at its most effective level. Instead of framing automation as a threat to employees, employers should share the way that automation can make their lives better, and their jobs easier. Done correctly, automation takes the pressure off, handling all the most dangerous, difficult, and repetitively dull tasks, leaving workers free to think more creatively and focus on building their skill sets on a higher operational level. This need for training is apparent even to workers who are otherwise enthusiastic about the potential automation brings to their workspaces. As 35% of the warehouse workers interviewed in the Harvard study reported, workers fear that inadequate training resources will make it difficult for employees used to the old way of doing things to succeed in the new digitized, automated workspaces of the future. “I think the more the warehouse is automated, the better we’ll all perform,” said one warehouse supervisor cited by the study. “Robots will greatly diminish our workloads, reduce risks, and increase productivity. But if we don’t know how to handle them, they’re hardly going to do any good.” To assuage these fears, employers in the distribution and fulfillment space need to place a priority on training, communication, and open conversations with employees as they move forward into the coming automation revolution. Emphasizing the potential career growth possibilities moving towards automation offers will allow workers to envision their longer term prospects working within the fulfillment sector, helping get them on board to perform the tasks necessary for accessing the full potential of automation technology. As warehouse work continues to be a mainstay of the global economy, automation technologies can make a major positive impact. When human capital combines with the power of automation, anything is possible.
When it comes to supply chain, every business has its own way of doing things. Old habits – like completing inventory counts, picking, packing, and doing things manually – die hard. As businesses struggle to keep up with companies like Amazon, they may be wondering how supply chain automation – the process of replacing repetitive tasks with automated systems – is affecting an industry that is changing before its eyes. At ABCO Systems, we want to share our knowledge on how supply chain automation is affecting the warehouse, distribution, and fulfillment center industry.
Lowering costs and increasing productivity
For those who work in the warehouse arena, automation is what’s on everyone’s minds. With the current labor shortages, automation is a way to subvert those challenges and meet them head-on. Currently, over 80% of warehouses have no automation at all[1]. That doesn’t mean everything is by hand, it just means that while 15% of warehouses are being mechanized, only 5% use sophisticated automation equipment.
As labor shortages continue, warehouse operators are looking for ways to use automation technology to increase efficiency and reduce the human labor needed to keep a warehouse running smoothly. According to a study, a warehouse spends around 50% to 70% of its warehousing budget on labor. By moving from human labor to automation, experts expect over the next three years to see an increase in productivity by between 25% and 70% and a reduction in logistics costs between 20% and 40%[2].
As warehouses decide to adopt automation systems, they can rest easy knowing that many of these systems are already proven. ABCO Systems believes in the use of conveyors to facilitate most of the operations associated with manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing facilities. Learn more about our Automation systems here.
2. Eliminating safety risks
Keeping warehouse employees safe is an important task for any company. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an average of 16 fatalities every year and a reported injury and illness rate of 5 out of every 100 warehouse and storage workers[3]. Additionally, worker injuries cost businesses billions of dollars every year.
With the labor shortages, workers can find themselves in even more dangerous situations since teams have to work harder to make up for the job vacancies. Automation can help reduce safety hazards including lifting injuries, falls, and fatigue. The longer a worker is on duty, the larger their risk of injury[4]. Implementing automation techniques that allow workers to take longer breaks or work shorter hours will also help to reduce the number of injuries.
Having machinery do the heavier lifting keeps workers away from some of the more dangerous tasks and also away from the more repetitive tasks that can lead to chronic back or shoulder problems. According to OSHA and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019 tools and equipment caused 186,100 injuries that required workers to take days off to recover[5]. Implementing proper systems and technology helps achieve safety goals while also increasing efficiency.
3. Higher customer satisfaction
In the end, companies want happy customers. Achieving that goal means getting the correct products out the door as quickly as possible and to the correct person.
Improved productivity with fewer errors helps keep warehouses competitive. An automated warehouse is more efficient and productive. According to a study by Deloitte which surveyed more than 400 executives in manufacturing, “79 percent of organizations with superior supply chain capabilities achieve revenue growth that is significantly above average”. Implementing automation can help drive down costs and reduce processing times giving businesses an edge against their competitors by delivering faster, more accurate service.
Contact us to see how ABCO Systems can help you increase efficiency in your space and processes with warehouse automation solutions.
