The corporate’s modernized LCS eliminates the necessity for employees to stroll round a number of warehouses to find components and place them in right bins. Its progressive manufacturing unit automation, RFID scanning, and consolidation of seven warehouses into one constructing has vastly improved the effectivity of parts distribution and has sped up supply to the corporate’s manufacturing division.
Amongst LCS’ main improvements is its Items to Particular person (GTP) functionality, additionally recognized as the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS). The system makes use of robotics know-how to enhance scalability and cycle instances for materials supply to manufacturing. Seamlessly integrating GTP with customized SAP software program, which supplies the spine of Applied Materials’ venture, ensures correct and up-to-date info on stock ranges, inventory actions, and order success, says Hari Lakshminarayanan, who, as managing director of IT options administration at Applied Materials, led the LCS venture.
Automating warehouse operations
The robots concerned with LCS don’t manufacture parts; as a substitute, their job is transporting bins and totes that comprise quite a lot of components, stacking them in a neat, logical manner based mostly on how typically they’re wanted. This manner, the robots can simply choose and ship probably the most in-demand totes to the workstation, the place human employees choose or put away the components from a single work port, the corporate explains.