Essential Tips for Successful Brownfield ASRS Installations:

Brownfield ASRS construction, either in a new expansion to an current building or repurposing an existing building, is seen as a cost effective alternative to a fully new facility.  While it can be faster and less expensive, there are concerns for brownfield options during each phase of the project.  Some of these are common to any ASRS project, but many are more pronounced when a brownfield ASRS installation is underway.

 Sales

During the sales process, both the provider and the customer are trying to determine the size, shape, and flow of the ASRS and their new attached equipment.  Each has their own avenues of inquiry to consider. 

The provider of the ASRS systems is gathering information to size the system (both in storage locations and speeds), ensure the equipment can handle both the size and weight of the loads, and ensure that materials can flow in and out of the design.  Inventory data, sales records,  product information, site visits, and even discussions on process changes with the customer all impact this design process.

But at the same time, the customer needs to consider several factors in their decision process.  They roughly fall into 2 categories:  Utilities and Impact.  The ASRS, like all new equipment added to an operating site, requires power, possibly compressed air, and fire protection. 

For an ASRS, there are 2 major facility utilities that are needed and possibly 1 additional utility need.  Power, fire protection, and perhaps compressed air.  Depending on the size of the system, the power requirements for an ASRS can be considerable.  This is especially a concern for existing buildings, where gradual changes to operations over time may have consumed any excess power in the facility.  Knowing what the facility has for extra capacity will be an important design element. 

The fire protection aspect also is a question of available capacity in pressure, flow, or even holding tank volume.  But it can also be complicated by local fire regulations.  Care needs to be applied to this as the type of material stored, the size of the installation, and the existing infrastructure can have an over-sized influence on the fire protection needs.

The air supply is usually not a large stumbling block, but can be a surprise change of scope if not considered early.  Many facilities have compressed air supplies set up for existing automation, or for shop areas.  But the location and sizing of that supply may not lend itself to being used by the ASRS.  Or it may require addition compressors, tanks, and outlets to route to the new areas.  This should be considered early to ensure the work is included in the cost planning.

Impact, specifically business, for the ASRS is harder to calculate, but probably easier to understand.   Out of the inventory and sales data, specific products or business activities will be ideal for the ASRS.  But moving that activity into the brownfield ASRS will also change the demands for the existing operations and equipment.  Understanding that impact and planning for the new operations will be an part of the sales process of the provider, but vital for the customer.

Engineering

After the sale is made, more detailed engineering is always required.  This phase is focused on detailing out the equipment to be installed as well as the site preparations needed to begin installation.   All ASRS systems consist of 3 subsystems:  racking, cranes, and conveyor.  There may be others for each project, but all ASRS have those three.  The location where the 3 major subsystems will be installed is a major driver of the amount of engineering after sales.  An existing facility may have legacy systems installed that need to be addressed in detail, such as cooling systems in the floor, existing fire protection, existing conveyor junctions, even interfaces with other material handling equipment like forklifts, AGVs, and the like.

For racking, the quality of the floor, both in thickness and in concrete condition, may necessitate new footings, alternate anchoring methods, or even pouring a new floor.  The location of rebar reinforcement can even affect the exact alignment of the ASRS in the facility.  This may end up being a deciding factor for the size and shape of the final system.  While this may be known in the sales process, engineering the alignment of the racking and the ability of the floor to be a safe foundation is key to safe operations.

The cranes, on the other hand, has other concerns for the facility.  Mainly, the method of insertion during installation.  This is part of the engineering phase as the exact space requirements, installation plan and timing need to be decided well ahead of time.  It is important to coordinate the installation of the cranes during specific parts of the rack installation, but only after the quality checks of the racking and its installation.

Finally, the conveyor that is used to supply the ASRS needs to be addressed.  There are three aspects in brownfield ASRS installations for the conveyor that should be dealt with early in the execution process.  They consist of new routing, interfaces with existing equipment, and the standard procedures they both support...

• First, design the exact routing of the conveyor to approach the ASRS at the correct height and location, as well as orient the load optimally. 
• Second, route the conveyor to meet up with the existing conveyor system in a way to allow seamless interleaving of the new loads into and out of the ASRS area if needed. 
• And third, being designing the way that operations will work once the ASRS is online.  While the first two issues are rather easily addressed by good engineers, the third is often overlooked.  Items can range as wide as:

• What functions will be replaced by the ASRS? 
• When will the ASRS not be used? 
• Who needs to understand the normal operation protocols of the ASRS? 
• What about troubleshooting errors or emergencies? 
• Are there changes to things like label formats, shipping or receiving SOPs, or even the material handling equipment supplied to the staff?
• How will the ERP use the ASRS for inventory, outbound orders, and  receipts? 

These questions, addressed early in the process, help to setup a framework for the development of the software and controls engineering needed for the ASRS. It is much easier to define where a worker will check for faults, what faults they should be able to handle, and when alarms should sound before the installation begins.

Installation

This phase is about the physical subsystems, their placement, and connection.  Many  consider the assembly of racking, the lifting of cranes, the leveling of conveyor and the wiring to be the major portion of this phase.  It is.  But it also includes the shipments, and the site activities needed to setup this physical installation.  But while sounding simple, these minor aspects have a much larger impact. 

 Concerns like assembly areas, site access, working hours and site preparations can be non-issues if handled well or they can be major problems.  For this particular reason, every attempt to plan for them should be made before installation, but when installation starts, the impact starts to be felt.  Working with the provider to minimize these impacts will help to control costs while keeping the tempo of installation. 

Assembly areas for racking will be heavily used, obviously, during rack installation.  But that means that assembling the cranes to be lifted into position near the end of the rack installation need their own area or space.  Likewise, the conveyor needs onsite assembly room, if only to remove shipping crates and packing materials.  And to make the assembly area more important, the farther area from the installation area the assembly/laydown space is, the more issues like product damage, lost materials, and even increased labor costs begin to pop up. 

 Site access and working hours, likewise, needs to be addressed early.  While the facility already has an address, that may not be the best address for installation materials.  And facility security may need to add additional staff or fencing to secure an area for trucks to be unloaded for the new address.  As for the working hours, a consensus on how to avoid mixing installation and operations in the same area as well as how to maximize the time onsite for the provider must be reached.  The goal is to have the provider working uninterrupted while the facility maintains a reasonable production schedule.  True, many brownfield installations may not need to do much different in the end.  But a conscious review of these items before the majority of deliveries arrive can avoid confusion or worse, a backed up freight yard. 

The third area, site preparations, can be both very simple and very hard.  The simple may include clearing aisles for drive paths, removing old racking or even consolidating inventory in other areas.  The more complicated and difficult portions are varied topics like: 

• How will the facility operate without those particular installation or assembly areas?
• Will the traffic patterns inside the facility need to change between areas? 
• Does the facility need to setup offsite storage or operations to cover the installation period? 
• Does this mean a different production plan during the installation period until the ASRS is operational?

While the racking goes up, the cranes are raised to position, and the conveyor begins to take shape, the site still needs to operate.

**Stay tuned for Part II of our series, "Essential Tips for Successful Brownfield ASRS Installations: Key Phases and Best Practices" coming in our next viastore blog post!**