AUTOMATION
Is Becoming New Zealand's Most Valuable Warehouse Asset
Kardex pushes AutoStore™ further with innovations designed for real warehouse challenges
From picking accuracy to uptime and operator experience, Kardex is developing technologies that extend what AutoStore can deliver for businesses across Australia and New Zealand.
Warehouse automation may be advancing rapidly, but for businesses investing in it, the questions remain practical: Will it improve accuracy? Can our people operate it easily? Will it perform reliably? And will it continue delivering value as the business grows?
These are the questions driving Kardex’s approach to unique innovation for AutoStore.
Five years after becoming a global AutoStore integrator, Kardex has now introduced its tenth proprietary innovation for the ultra-high-density automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). Its latest, PortScale, was unveiled to the Australian and New Zealand market at CeMAT Australia in Melbourne.
PortScale brings precision weighing directly into the AutoStore port, allowing the system to verify picks by weight in real time. Multiple sensors integrated into the port shelf continuously measure bin weight, with Kardex ScaleManager using that information to identify discrepancies immediately.
For high-throughput operations, where even small picking errors can multiply quickly, that creates an important additional layer of verification without adding another manual process.
Making accuracy simpler
PortScale forms part of Kardex’s new Smart Workstation, which brings together several technologies around the operator.
It can combine weight-based verification with barcode scanning, computer vision, track-and-trace data capture and the Kardex Intuitive Picking Assistant (IPA), which visually guides operators through the picking process.
Together, these technologies are designed to make picking more intuitive while improving accuracy and reducing manual intervention.
The thinking behind them is straightforward: sophisticated automation should make work simpler for the people using it.
Reducing errors also has implications beyond the warehouse. Incorrect orders create additional handling, returns and customer service costs, while inaccurate inventory can undermine confidence throughout the fulfilment operation. Detecting discrepancies at the point of pick helps address the problem before it travels further through the supply chain.
Five years of continuous development
PortScale joins a growing portfolio of Kardex technologies developed specifically around AutoStore.
These include the Kardex Software warehouse execution system (WES), automated cleaning technologies designed to improve system uptime, BinInductAI for automated bin induction, and IPA for guided picking and improved order accuracy.
The milestone comes as Kardex marks five years as an AutoStore integrator. During that period, the business has completed more than 150 AutoStore deployments globally and grown its dedicated operation from one employee in 2021 to around 250 today.
For Australian and New Zealand customers, that global experience is combined with engineering, project and service capability on the ground.
Kardex Regional Director Business Development AutoStore, Asia Pacific, Freddy Zhong says the focus remains firmly on solving customer problems.
“Innovation only matters if it creates measurable value for our customers. Every new technology we develop is designed to solve practical operational challenges,” Zhong says.
“No two projects are the same. We work closely with businesses throughout their AutoStore journey to increase storage density, improve picking productivity and accuracy, and create more resilient fulfilment operations.”
That philosophy is increasingly visible in New Zealand, where Kardex AutoStore installations are supporting businesses including Douglas Pharmaceuticals and NZ Safety Blackwoods.
For Kardex, the objective is not simply to install automation, but to continue improving what happens around it: how easily people interact with the system, how accurately orders move through it, how reliably it performs and how effectively it can support future growth.
Want to see what the next generation of AutoStore could bring to your operation? Talk to the Kardex team about PortScale, Smart Workstation or arrange to see Kardex AutoStore technology in action.
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