There likely isn’t a single business in the modern era that doesn’t need to improve its approach to sustainability. It isn’t that the majority of businesses actively chose to carry out unsustainable practices, but rather that they adopted them as the most commonly available option at the time.
Luckily, there is now a multitude of different ways that we can decrease our environmental impact and improve sustainability overall. Today, we take a closer look at automated loading solutions, and how they can have a positive effect on both social and environmental sustainability in a range of scenarios.
What are automated loading solutions?
Automated loading solutions are pretty much what you’d expect them to be. Custom-designed by companies such as Joloda Hydraroll for specific loading environments, typically some sort of warehouse, they aim to optimise the efficiency of the entire loading process.
By using a complex system of belts and other technologies, automated loading solutions can massively improve the loading process in a number of ways, generally resulting in a surprisingly rapid return on investment. The result is also typically a system that uses less energy and requires fewer workers, leading to an improvement in both social and environmental sustainability.
What are their main benefits?
While automated loading systems will benefit different businesses in different ways, these benefits can generally be lumped into the following categories.
Efficient loading
The main benefit is a significant improvement in loading efficiency. Due to the fact that as many of the different areas of the warehouses will be integrated as a result of intentional design, rather than just being thrown together, the whole packing and loading process will tend to flow in a way that it simply won’t be able to if you’re using older practices such as forklift trucks.
One of the results of this will be that you require far fewer loading docks, as each vehicle might take a fraction of the amount of time it would normally take to load it up.
Optimised use of space
Automated loading solutions also result in an optimised use of space. Forklift trucks require significant amounts of space to manoeuvre and carry large items through the warehouse environment, whereas automated solutions can often significantly decrease the occurrence of these ‘dead’ spaces. In many cases, this means lower warehouse rents, lower heating costs, and a lower environmental impact overall.
Socially sustainable work environments
Lastly, tackling sustainability isn’t just about reducing emissions. From a more social perspective, it also necessitates creating a work environment in which people can feel safe and supported. Automated loading solutions can have a dramatically positive effect in this regard, improving safety while reducing the need for roles consisting of heavy lifting and monotonous manual labour.
While sustainability is often seen as an annoying additional cost, in many contexts – such as with automated loading solutions – it should in fact be seen as an opportunity to improve. As a result of decreased labour costs and increased efficiency, these kinds of systems will pay for themselves in just a few years, something that must be factored into assessing whether or not they’re worth it.
