Storage Locations Up 60%! Panasonic Achieves an Intelligent Upgrade of an Old Warehouse with ATOMIX Four-Way Shuttles
Panasonic Group is a Fortune Global 500 company with a 105-year history. Every day, about 1 billion users around the world use Panasonic Group products. In recent years, as production capacity grew at the Panasonic factory in Shanghai, the supporting warehouse faced a shortage of storage locations. Land costs in first-tier cities are high, the truck transfer and logistics costs between the factory and an externally leased warehouse are high, and production coordination responds slowly — so leasing an external warehouse was not a long-term solution. Panasonic therefore decided to take the warehouse further toward automation and intelligence.
This warehouse is a 5 °C cold store that mainly holds materials required by a key domestic industry, and it must be kept at constant temperature and humidity. The warehouse is 9 m high, so to achieve maximum space utilization, the Pallet Shuttle solution — "four-way shuttle" for short — was the best choice. ATOMIX's strengths in software scheduling algorithms and its strong working relationship with Panasonic Information Systems led the Panasonic factory to ultimately select ATOMIX's intelligent pallet shuttle system.
The project uses Panasonic Information Systems' own MES product for overall control. The ATOMIX TES system receives all tasks issued by the host system and coordinates ATOMIX-branded four-way shuttles, lifts, dimension inspection devices, code reader devices, safety door locks and PLCs, which work together automatically to meet the customer's business requirements.
With the joint efforts of the Panasonic factory, Panasonic Information Systems and ATOMIX, the project is now officially in operation. Compared with the forklift-based flat warehouse before the upgrade, the upgraded intelligent high-density warehouse delivers the following:
1. Storage locations increased by more than 60%, meeting business needs with no need to lease an external warehouse.
2. An intelligent, unmanned warehouse with systematic control and scheduling across the entire process.
3. Automatic connection to the host MES and ERP systems, avoiding duplicate data entry and saving labor.
4. Processes execute automatically, making operations more convenient and faster.
5. More precise inventory management and higher shipping accuracy. Moving from manual operations to system-recorded information and system-managed workflows brings greater accuracy.
6. Higher operational safety.
Only 2 Months! Panasonic Information Systems and ATOMIX Pursue Excellence to Set a Benchmark for Old-Warehouse Retrofits
To maximize space utilization, Panasonic Information Systems and ATOMIX pursued excellence and refined management in both solution design and delivery. The warehouse in this retrofit project had cramped space and a small entrance doorway, which made it difficult to bring racks and equipment in and to align the warehouse door with the inbound and outbound openings of the high-density warehouse.
Faced with this challenge, the ATOMIX team went to the project site several times and refined a retrofit plan that required no removal of the original warehouse door. Beyond that, for different types of stored goods, the two sides designed different level heights in the high-density warehouse, so that even spaces fitted with exhaust ducts could achieve maximum space utilization.
Panasonic attaches great importance to on-site operational safety. For this reason, the project installed personnel and equipment maintenance safety doors at the inbound and outbound openings and on the inner side of the insulated doors. When personnel enter the high-density warehouse, the four-way shuttles, lifts and other equipment inside stop running and resume normal operation only after personnel leave, greatly protecting the safety of operating personnel and meeting Panasonic's strict management requirements for safe production.
It is worth noting that the stability, reliability, flexibility and fast delivery of ATOMIX's four-way shuttle system were well proven in this project. From the arrival of racks and equipment on site and the commissioning of hardware and software such as four-way shuttles, lifts and safety doors to the final go-live, the project took only 2 months. For companies that intend to automate and intelligently upgrade an old warehouse but worry about high costs and long lead times, this is undoubtedly a major benefit.