swarm®

Inventories take a key position as part of inventory control within warehousing. They are usually carried out several times a year and, if performed manually, lead to high personnel costs. Nevertheless, they are necessary and legally obligatory. Especially for small and medium-sized companies, this process is a real challenge.

At the same time, storage, retrieval and stock transfers are carried out in the warehouse throughout the day. These processes and movements are mostly non-transparent. If parts are lost in the warehouse or cannot be found, this causes delivery delays or inconsistent information on stock levels.

The swarm® system provides a simple solution for both warehouse scenarios and follows the same approach as smart home systems in your own four walls. Through Plug & Play, the swarm® system can be installed in the warehouse without configuration and used immediately. Therefore, the following applies: unpack - switch on - use.

Depending on the size of the warehouse, the system consists of several modules that automatically network with each other via Bluetooth. They can be easily attached to existing shelving systems via magnetic fasteners and use their camera technology to monitor the opposite row of shelves. When all modules are combined, the result is an overall picture of the warehouse that allows every warehouse movement and all warehouse occupancies to be recorded almost in real time. A wide variety of analysis methods and alarms can be set for the warehouse via a cloud-based platform. Not only can stock removals or stock placements be detected, but damage or theft can also be identified. Existing WMS or ERP systems can be easily connected via the flexible and open interfaces.

The individual modules are designed to be in stand-by mode 90% of the time and only create an image of the warehouse when movement has been detected. An image is only taken when no employee is in the camera's field of view. This ensures employee privacy and prevents the system from being misused.

The swarm® system can be used both as a permanent solution in the warehouse, thus enabling permanent visual recording of existing stock, and as a temporary solution. Here, the focus is on the comparison between planned and real process flows. Detailed statistics and heat maps also provide extensive information on the use of the warehouse and possible optimization needs.