Zemic Europe B.V. (Netherlands) - Zemic force sensors are used more and more in Smart Warehouse Management Systems.

Customers expect faster delivery times and technology is developing at a rapid pace. To keep up more companies make use of Smart Warehouse Management Systems. A Smart Warehouse Management System (WMS) is an innovative technology for automated, intelligent management of warehouses. These systems combine all critical warehouse data in one platform and aim to optimize the supply chain management. They provide more insight into the flow of goods and stock levels and lead to improved productivity, efficiency, and accuracy. 3PL (third party logistics) started with innovating the business. We see now a spin off to all kind of warehouses to obtain the same benefits. 

In warehouse applications an important feature is to prevent  running out of stock. This is called inventory or storage control. The new WMS are designed in such a way, that empty shelves can be prevented in most cases. When our customers can control this, they directly save costs and make more profit.

Another advantage of these solutions is that fewer or no staff is needed in warehouses. There are a lot of sensors involved to make an unmanned warehouse work. Full storage and picking solutions are being developed. One type of sensor which is  crucial for stock management, in- and outbound control, storage buffering and order handling, are force sensors. These sensors are used, for example, to weigh the stock of goods on a shelf. Overload control is also one of the key issues when looking at unmanned vehicles.

In many of these applications we see the use of our shear beam load cells and object identification systems. We are happy to contribute with our products to these solutions that provide efficiency to our customers. This fits with  our Zemic slogan “We believe we make you stronger”.

Zemic Europe & Smart Warehousing:

• Leading partner of force measurement solutions in WMS
• Weighing expertise, more than 36 years of experience in the field
• European partner with over 60.000 load cells in stock
• Large engineering department for custom solutions for inventory control

How Zemic Europe advise WMS companies:

Zemic Europe is proud to be a partner for many companies active in warehouse management systems. Our sensors are contributing to a high efficiency level throughout the entire supply chain. We can help the R&D engineering departments in many ways if we talk about force measurement.

Our experts can think along with you about how forces and weight can be measured in an (new) application. We have a wide range of products. In addition, we can develop customized products, together with our engineering colleagues. 

Our Zemic load cells can be used for the following logistics applications:

• Intralogistics solutions such as weighing the stock on a shelf, in a container, etc.
• Weighing function within warehouse robots, for example in Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) or Autonomous Case-handling Robots (ACR). AMR and ACR are driven by artificial intelligence. They facilitate the work of operators in different logistic environments.
• Onboard weighing in trucks; data coming from shipping vehicles and the warehouse can be combined to reduce spoilage. Shipments can be controlled by in- and outbound management.
• Conveyor weighing for small loads.

More about the use of weighing components in Smart Warehouse Management Systems?

The use of force sensors ensures optimal stock management. The real time stock inventory can improve the order scheduling. Also production stops by a low inventory can be prevented. Besides this, the labour costs can be lowered by savings on manual counting of inventories. When robots are used warehouses are always operating at peak capacity and efficiency. Smart warehouses solutions allow all kind of businesses to increase their storage density and reach operational efficiency.

Our load cells are also used for hard-to-measure goods, like liquids or granulates. When containers are placed on load cells, it gives a very accurate measurement of your stock. 3PL (third party logistics) also use load cells in their warehouses. For example for controlling postage packages, monitoring pallet stacking and also the prevention of overload/imbalance situations in trucks. By using load cells you can get an optimized and complete insight into your inbound and outbound logistics.

Which  Zemic components are used for Smart Warehouse Management Systems:

In many warehouse applications the installation height for the sensor should be as low as possible. We supply sensors in different sizes, including miniature sensors. Depending on the type of product to be weighed, different load cells are available with different capacities and accuracies. Zemic Europe delivers many shear beam load cells to this branch. Each application has its own requirement. The two most common load cells are the H8C due to its range and accuracy and the H8Q due to its low  installation height.

Characteristics of our shear beam load cells:

• Available in stainless steel and alloy steel.
• C3, C4, C5 and C6 OIML accuracy classes available for legal for trade applications.
• Our high quality standards enable high stability, repeatability and reliability.
• Digital outputs available upon request.

We also offer complete object identification systems. We offer a bar model and a cross model. All kind of load cells can be integrated, depending on your needs. You can read more about these systems.