Kardex Holding AG has expanded its systems to enhance the performance of automated storage and retrieval systems, or ASRS, from AutoStore. The company last month launched PortScale, which it designed to measure weight changes during picking and putaway.
PortScale is integrated with AutoStore‘s grid storage and Kardex’s own Intuitive Picking Assistant (IPA). It can improve inventory accuracy, instantly detect picking errors, and accelerate warehouse workflows, claimed the company.
“By combining precise weight measurement with intelligent system integration, we enable real-time verification of inventory movements and create the foundation for more reliable and automated warehouse processes,” stated Marco Pfendsack, director of technology in Kardex’s automated storage systems business unit.
Zurich-based Kardex offers flexible and modular storage and order-fulfillment systems. The company, which has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1989, employs about 2,500 people in more than 30 countries. It claimed that it is the fastest-growing AutoStore integrator globally.
PortScale processes data to improve ASRS efficiency
PortScale is part of the Kardex AutoStore SmartWorkStation. The workstation combines technologies including Kardex IPA, barcode scanning, computer vision, data capturing for track and trace, and weight-based verification to support accurate and efficient picking processes.
PortScale uses multiple sensors to capture and process data in real time, providing exact weight, count, and even location information to the warehouse management system (WMS).
Kardex touted benefits such as detection of picking errors or unintended double picks, real-time item counting for picking and replenishment, and support for cycle-counting processes. It said PortScale can lead to improved SKU master data, reduced shrinkage rates, and more.
“The system is ideal for high-throughput warehouses where accuracy, speed, and process reliability are critical,” asserted Kardex.
Kardex shows features for ease of integration, use
At MODEX last month, Kardex also exhibited its Kardex ONE software for the first time in the U.S. and the new Kardex BinInductAI automation.
The Kardex ONE ecosystem is intended to enable easy integration of applications, such as WMS, monitoring systems, and performance insights to improve warehouse operations.
BinInductAI uses AI to provide greater consistency, fewer manual steps, and more uptime. With enhanced error detection and quality control, the platform reduces the time to install an AutoStore ASRS by up to 30%, said Kardex.
The company also showed a fully operational AutoStore grid with Kardex IPA, which now features barcode tracking and support for Kardex PortScale. IPA is compatible with a wide array of ASRS ports, ergonomically designed, and projects relevant information to guide the operator through the picking process to streamline workflows and minimize errors.
“Goods to person [G2P automation] has taken off,” Fred Fox, president of Kardex Solutions, told Automated Warehouse. “With PortScale’s integrated weighing and IPA’s scanning and projection interface, we provide intuitive innovation and accelerated warehouse workflows.”
“We’ve seen less interest in micro-fulfillment centers but more from existing facilities,” he added. “We got a lot of interest from bigger companies at MODEX.”