Janis's Reflection

While on my way to the Army Logistics Base(ALB), my thinking went “What will I learn today”? It is because I studied Logistics Management in ITE before entering Temasek Polytechnic. I thought it was about the same as other field trips I attended.

We went through the warehouse operations from the Inbound operations to the Outbound operations. The Height of warehousing floor of ALB Building is 30metres equivalent to a 10-Storey building.

At there, I saw the following storage equipments: Pallet Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems(AS/RS), Vertical carousel, Bin AS/RS, etc. Different storage equipments have different purposes. For example, small items are suitable for carousel and long-shelf items are suitable for mobile storage system.

Vertical Carousel System

They use Vertical Carousel System at medical supplies room for medical supplies. It is a mechanical device that stores and rotates small items for order picking.

The Material Handling Equipments used there are Pallet AS/RS, VNA(Very Narrow Aisle)Forklift, Auto palletized system etc.

Laser Guided Vehicle

I also learn about Laser Guided Vehicle. It operates on batteries without driver on the vehicle. It does pick and pack and move around the same level of the building on itself. The benefits of using the vehicle are low handling costs and reduced product damage, improved safety and reliability.

"Through" Flow Layout

I saw that the ALB is using the “Through” Flow Layout for the operations because we learnt two types of layout design for DCM namely “U” Flow and “Through” Flow. In the “Through” flow, the items are moved within the building from one side to the other side of the building.

In the overall, I learnt the different Material Handling equipments and storage systems and their purposes. I was most impressed by Laser guided vehicle because it operates fully without a help of a driver and able to do functions of a order-picker.