![[Translate to North America:] warehouse logistics for spare parts](/fileadmin/_processed_/2/b/csm_Warehouse_Logistics_for_Spare_Parts_Header_a288015301.png)
Mastering Warehouse Logistics for Spare Parts Fulfillment Beyond Automotive
Think about it: The world runs on spare parts, and many key industries rely on the right product being available and delivered yesterday to keep the gears turning. This presents a significant (but not insurmountable!) challenge to spare parts distribution centers, which must hold a wide variety of goods stocked, deal with irregular demand, and quickly fulfill even the most obscure orders. Warehouse automation is essential here, as issues with inaccurate picking, poor inventory tracking, and inadequate stock can be avoided with little planning and the right technology.
Maintenance subscription services that alert consumers to necessary upgrades and ecommerce companies with overnight delivery have trained consumers to bank on immediate fulfillment. But it’s not just end consumers who’ve become accustomed to speedy delivery of their purchased items—even in the industrial sector, the expectation is that orders will be received within days, if not sooner. Spare parts providers rely on warehouse logistics to keep the receiving, storing, picking, packing, and shipping processes running swiftly and without error, even with the unique hurdles spare parts fulfillment presents.
Lessons From Automotive Parts Logistics
Other industries can look to the automotive spare parts industry, which is leading the way, to see that it can be done. Warehouse logistics have allowed automotive spare parts distribution centers to improve operations overall and address potential pain points specific to such specialized order fulfillment. With ultra-dense storage solutions, warehouses can keep a wide range of parts on hand instead of relying on backorders. Automated picking and retrieving enable increased throughput with fewer opportunities for human error.
Automotive is not the only realm in which readily available and swiftly delivered highly specific parts are essential to industry success. By adopting similar solutions, companies in healthcare, maintenance/repair/operations (MRO), aerospace, farming equipment, and home appliances can also see increased throughput, improved accuracy, and reduced labor costs. Let’s examine how these best practices can be adapted to other industries through automation.
![[Translate to North America:] warehouse logistics for spare parts](/fileadmin/_processed_/9/c/csm_Warehouse_Logistics_for_Spare_Parts_Inner_1_270420ce15.png)
Core Automation Solutions for Spare Parts Fulfillment
TGW Logistics offers spare parts warehouse automation solutions that will revolutionize your distribution center's operation, limiting errors, increasing storage capabilities, and slashing fulfillment times.
Goods-to-Person
Nothing eats up time in a warehouse like individual workers having to physically locate and retrieve every product in a particular order, especially when the warehouse has many distinct (and similar) goods on its shelves. Goods-to-person automation systems retrieve products for the picker, using automated robotics and conveyors to deliver those items straight to a picking station in totes or cartons. The picker selects the correct item or items from the receptacle and proceeds to pack the order. The conveyor then returns the tote or carton to its origin point.
This warehouse logistics solution reduces reliance on labor and optimizes your workforce by focusing workers on tasks that require hands-on human intervention. It also increases speed, eliminates human error, and decreases the risk of product breakage and personal injury. These improvements critically decrease overall warehouse costs.
Automated storage and retrieval systems
Optimizing storage space and accommodating more SKUs is essential to successful warehouse operations in any realm of spare parts fulfillment. In these industries, the need for storage space is constantly growing as more new parts are produced, and distribution centers must also keep a cache of past models. Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) use automated programming to intelligently receive and store all the goods your clients need to keep their industry moving and consumers happy, no matter how inconsistent the demand for each item.
TGW Logistics’ Stingray shuttle system utilizes self-healing, self-positioning load carriers that seamlessly store and retrieve goods. The plug-and-play solution requires little human intervention, is easily re-programmable, and has resulted in a 25% increase in speed for our clients.
Conveyors & Robotics
Warehouses dealing with spare parts must be able to efficiently handle items of irregular shape and size and store them. Robotics and conveyor systems are two elements of warehouse automation that assist in these endeavors. TGW Logistics’ autonomous mobile robots (AMR), automated guided vehicles (AGV), and automated forklifts can all be integrated into a multi-faceted spare parts logistics solution, enabling frequent reprogramming and easy entry into otherwise inaccessible spaces. Robotics solutions also enhance workplace safety by eliminating the need for workers to access potentially dangerous spaces and personally handle bulky, irregular items.
Integrating WMS/WES in Industrial Logistics
TGW Logistics’ automation equipment seamlessly integrates with our software, making warehouse management and execution as simple as introducing a new command. Warehouse management systems (WMS) are vital for optimizing inventory tracking, which is of particular concern in spare parts fulfillment with a wide variety of SKUs. Managers need to know precisely what they have available and when to replenish stock to satisfy clients.
Inventory tracking also plays a central role in speed order routing. Now, order management systems can easily determine with artificial intelligence which fulfillment center can fill a received order the fastest, whether that’s a store, distribution center, or other source. Additionally, automation makes order tracking a breeze, keeping clients informed of where their product is in the fulfillment process and alerting distribution centers of any issues.
When equipment is integrated with your warehouse execution system (WES), you can maximize your workforce and seamlessly implement efficiency-increasing process changes. Standardizing workflow increases worker confidence and reduces the risk of error. When everyone knows exactly what they’re doing, employee satisfaction grows and operations run more smoothly.
![[Translate to North America:] warehouse logistics for spare parts](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/c/csm_Warehouse_Logistics_for_Spare_Parts_Inner_2_40660c9f58.png)
Cross-Industry Applications of Warehouse Logistics
Specialized warehouse logistics solutions geared towards spare parts fulfillment are making a massive difference across various industries.
- Industrial & MRO: Easily handle complex inventory for maintenance operations and industrial services.
- Healthcare Logistics: Support critical and time-sensitive deliveries that can be life-saving.
- Aerospace and farming equipment: Quickly serve industries with niche parts needs, often requiring deliveries to more remote areas.
- Home appliance: Meet the consumer expectations enhanced by Amazon and maintenance subscription services for fast, accurate parts delivery.
TGW Logistics Advantage in Spare Parts Automation
TGW Logistics is setting a new standard for spare parts logistics. Every TGW Logistics solution is modular and scalable, ready to be custom-fitted to fill your industry-specific needs and to grow along with your business and consumer demand. Industrial logistics is an advancing field responding to game-changing developments such as smart supply chains and maintenance subscription services. Now, more than ever, consumers are aware of their spare parts needs, and industries can use AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other smart solutions to satisfy those expectations.
Other industries can look to the success of automotive aftermarket fulfillment to maximize their spare parts operations. Whether you’re delivering a necessary spare part to an industrial client or an end consumer, they’re relying on you to keep their business running or their household moving. Automation solutions such as goods-to-person, integrated WMS/WES, robotics, and ASRS can bring your warehouse into the future and ease the pressures of increasing and variable demand.
Ready to optimize spare parts fulfillment beyond automotive? Contact TGW Logistics for an automation strategy tailored to your industry.