The Business Case for SLAM Automation
When the markets face uncertainty, automating your SLAM line is a good way to make up the difference.
If you’ve recently implemented automation, you’re likely reaping the benefits of improved productivity. Most often, this is occurring in your upstream operations areas, like picking, and may involve several pieces of equipment, including the newest wave of robotics. While all of that is good, there is the unfortunate potential of downstream bottlenecks, especially at your packing stations.
By adding SLAM automation in the last 100 feet of your distribution center, you can eliminate multiple manual packing stations and reallocate those team members to higher-value tasks elsewhere in the facility. Manually packing a carton can take up two to four minutes per order, while packing into a bag can take over 30 seconds. An automated SLAM line performs scan, weigh, dimension, label, and manifest in just seconds. That efficiency translates directly into labor savings because fewer people are required to achieve a higher throughput, allowing you to handle spikes in order volume without adding headcount. Over time, those minutes saved per order compound into thousands of labor hours, turning what was once a manual bottleneck into a highly efficient, cost saving operation.
The SLAM line (scan, label, apply, manifest) is your final 100 feet of operations. When your end of line operations are not automated and the upstream processes are, you may find yourself in the scenario where you’ve got a sudden volume increase that hits a major speed bump once it reaches the SLAM tasks. This added pressure at pack stations makes it hard for packing associates to keep up, leading them to make packing errors or choose boxes that are too large and use excess packaging materials, resulting in underfilled boxes that drive up operational costs.
Still, you will need to make a business case for automating the SLAM line. When companies face great uncertainty, they tend to tighten budgets and avoid big capital expenditures. SLAM is one of the lowest cost pieces of warehousing automation, however, and you should view it as an easy place to recoup some of the money going to support other areas of rising costs. But first you must demonstrate how SLAM can do this, considering so many other circumstances.
Most companies are facing rising transportation costs from multiple sources. In the past, companies only looked out for general rate increases across the board. Today, there are constant and unpredictable increases in pricing. Take the recent announcement that small parcel carriers are rounding up dimensions to the nearest inch, a costly change and one that many shippers may not understand until the bills hit.
Tariffs are another area of uncertainty and potential rising costs, as are packaging costs. These materials costs continue to rise and there’s uncertainty surrounding exactly how much. Minimizing materials is a mandate today, not a “nice to have” action. Your stakeholders are demanding more sustainable processes, and you must meet those demands.
While these are areas of cost that are largely out of control, automating the SLAM line is not. If you need to reclaim some of your lost margins due to carrier surcharges, tariffs, or other evolving changes, SLAM is an easy, lower-cost automation project that you can put in place.
When you implement an automated SLAM line, you can reduce labor costs by replacing manual packing stations with high-speed, automated scan weigh dimension and labeling technology. You also increase throughput, shipping more orders per shift without adding headcount, and reduce carrier chargebacks from mislabels and dim errors.
The result is a fast ROI, often within the first year. The labor savings, packaging materials, and parcel shipping quickly offset the investment in SLAM automation. For operations who have already invested in upstream automation, closing the loop with a SLAM line ensures that your final 100 feet are as efficient and profitable as the rest of your operation. An important consideration when the labor pool is shrinking and wages must get higher to compete. Put together, and the business case for SLAM is an easy one to make, when presented the right way.
To learn more about MHI’s SLAM industry group: www.mhi.org/slam
More information about Scanning, Labeling, Applying, Manifesting:
Maintaining Your SLAM Equipment
Change Management on the SLAM Line
Monitoring Sensors on the SLAM Line for Trouble
SLAM Solutions in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Order Personalization with SLAM
