60 seconds with Ed Romaine, AS/RS Product Section Group at MHI

Ed Romaine
Title/Company: Chairman of AS/RS Product Section Group at MHI; vice president of sales and marketing for SI Systems
Location: Charlotte, N.C.; Easton, Pa.
Experience: More than 30 years of experience developing solutions for warehouses, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers.
Primary Focus: The MHI product section represents the leading manufacturers of AS/RS technology and focuses on improving end user experiences and results by implementing AS/RS solutions.

Modern: The last few years have been very good to materials handling automation in general. Has the industry group seen a spike in the implementation of automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS)?
Romaine: Our group hasn’t published our numbers, in part because we are still waiting for numbers from some members, so I can’t give you a precise figure. However, we know that sales are up and that growth has been across the board. That said, we are seeing the most significant growth in shuttle technologies and vertical lift modules, or VLMs. There have also been several large horizontal carousel projects this year, so when all the numbers are in, we expect to see real growth in that segment of the market as well.

Modern: E-commerce and more complex picking requirements have been driving a lot of automation. What are the most important factors in the AS/RS market?
Romaine: Right now, there’s a good business case for automated storage. Historically, AS/RS saved floor space, reduced labor, increased accuracy and allowed for greater throughput. There are other factors today. For instance, if you’re implementing a goods-to-person solution, you need AS/RS technology and software to store and sequence product to the goods-to-person station. That can be a pallet, a carton or a tote. We’re seeing an emphasis on shuttles, VLMs and horizontal carousels in omni-channel solutions. They can simply work faster than a person.

Modern: For years, people justified automated storage by taking advantage of the cube of the facility and building 60 feet or 90 feet up. But as the cost of the systems has come down, are companies thinking differently about how to apply AS/RS today?
Romaine: Well, it’s not your dad’s AS/RS any more. Costs have come down and systems are much more reliable than in the past. The big change, however, is that companies are no longer viewing warehouses—or the AS/RS systems inside them—strictly as overhead, but as an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.

Modern: What do you expect to see in the future for AS/RS?
Romaine: You’re going to see greater flexibility. You’re going to see systems that are more scalable. And, systems that can grip, store and place a wider range of materials than today. At some point, they’re going to be a lot more like robots, which will have greater speed and efficiency.