Huge demand in warehousing, food and beverage, and other interior logistics (intralogistics) applications expand variable frequency drive flexibility and features.
Learning Objectives
- Intralogistics markets are accelerating automation investments.
- Automation vendors are making variable frequency drive systems easier to implement and use.
- ProMatDX online digital show is April 12-16 and organized by MHI, the material handling, logistics and supply chain association.
Prior to the pandemic, warehouse automation had been growing at about 8% annual growth rate, but COVID-19’s demands for home deliveries increased that investment to 12%. 2020 was the largest year of shipments to date and the total market is expected to double in size from 2020 to 2026, said Craig Henry, Siemens intralogistics industry manager.
In response, automation vendors have made products more flexible, easier to install and use, faster and enabled with Industry 4.0 technologies, such as advanced variable frequency drive (VFD) systems. Intralogistics is the transportation of materials inside buildings or at a location. Modern technologies move and track products and deliver information along the way, Henry said.
Henry made his comments with other experts in an April 7 press briefing in advance of the ProMatDX online digital show, April 12-16, organized by MHI, the material handling, logistics and supply chain association.
Motion control logistics applications
Generally, motion control for interior logistics applications has a 10-year lifecycle and apply to conveyers, automatic storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), and vertical lifts: scissor lifts and other lifters. Market drivers for enabling automation include global markets, push for single source provider to decrease integration and inventory, shorten delivery times, apply to varied electrical grid conditions, include seamless hardware and software, easy use over the product’s lifetime and reliability in harsh conditions.
Intralogistics market includes automated guided vehicles (AGV), ASRS, conveyors, picking, palletizing, and services, and key end users are Amazon logistics and fulfillment businesses, parcels (DHL, FedEx, UPS and USPS), food and beverage and consumer package goods (CPG) including Walmart, Target and Kroger.
In addition to the e-commerce boom, there’s a shortage of transport space, rising energy prices, lack of qualified staff and the need for speed, Henry said.
Intralogistics markets are accelerating automation investments more quickly than manufacturing, Henry said, which is making incremental improvements along the way. Logistics applications are ahead in digital twin use, he said.
Sandi Hirschlein, marketing manager, low voltage drives, gave a preview of the Siemens online booth at ProMatDX. John Meyer, Siemens marketing communication manager, served as moderator for the media preview event.
Mark T. Hoske is content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, [email protected].
KEYWORDS: Intralogistics, motion control, variable frequency drives, VFD
CONSIDER THIS
How are motion control investments accelerating your markets?
