Sensors can help you prevent issues before they lead to downtime—essential when peak season is on the way.

We don’t have to tell you how critical peak season is to your operations. Whether you’re just coming off the holiday peak season, or face a spring busy season, ensuring your operations are running at its very best is essential for your overall bottom line. That means preventing downtime in every area of the warehouse.

Part of that prevention should be focused on the final 100 feet of your warehouse—the scanning, labeling, applying and manifesting operations—key to getting your orders out the door on the right trucks and to the right customers. Ideally, you’re on top of your maintenance and condition monitoring well before peak season to keep everything flowing at its best.

In general, your best friend when it comes to monitoring is the sensor—devices that either come with your SLAM equipment or can be added on after installation. These monitors generally look for early detection of issues through ultrasound, vibration, noise, and temperature. If you’ve reached a point where the temperature is too high, for instance, you might be smelling smoke. That’s too late and you should use your sensors to prevent that point of no return.

Sensors learn as they go. If they’re monitoring vibration, for instance, they will learn what is the right amount for optimal operations. These issues are often caused by things like loose bolts or a lack of lubrication for the machine’s parts. When vibrations exceed established limits, the sensors can alert you to trouble, and you can tend to the issue. Over a few weeks, sensors have the expected norm down and can then alert well in advance. Because of this learning curve, having sensors in place well before peak season is key, so that you’re heading off trouble before it begins.

Other sensors stay on top of temperature. If your equipment motors are running hot, the sensors can let you know that long before any damage occurs. There are also sensors that measure currents—if they are facing any resistance, they cannot operate normally. A sensor can pick up on that with time to spare. Audio measurement is another method for determining the health of your equipment. If the automation begins to make high-pitched sounds outside of a determined range, there could be issues ahead.

All the sensors, no matter what they’re measuring, operate by developing an algorithm for measurement. Once established, the sensors know the correct parameters and safeguard your equipment against damage should parts move outside the established bounds.

While there are many sensors available, you don’t need to implement them all. If budget is an issue, monitoring vibrations is at the top of the list for cutting off trouble before it starts—sometimes as much as a month in advance.

Don’t risk your peak season with broken SLAM equipment. Consider sensors wherever possible and keep your operations flowing smoothly.