High material loss and mixed pedestrian-vehicle flow? How to build intelligent logistics for printing and packaging?
The author has been engaged in manufacturing informatization and intelligence for nearly twenty years, deeply cultivating the 3C electronics industry to practical application in the printing and packaging field, personally witnessing the complete transformation of Chinese manufacturing from extensive expansion to refined and intelligent transformation. As a typical representative of traditional manufacturing, the printing and packaging industry is currently facing multiple challenges such as labor pressure, fragmented orders, shrinking profits, and environmental upgrades. In-factory logistics, as the core link connecting the entire production chain, no longer has an "optional" intelligent upgrade but a "must-answer question" for enterprises to overcome growth bottlenecks. Drawing on years of project practice and industry observation, this article will share ideas for building in-factory intelligent logistics in the printing and packaging industry from the perspectives of industry status, pain point analysis, planning ideas, and practical implementation.
Current Status and Trends in Manufacturing
01/ The real challenges of manufacturing
Currently, the manufacturing production and business environment is undergoing profound changes. Under multiple pressures, domestic printing and packaging companies are facing numerous operational challenges: prices of bulk commodities such as paper and ink fluctuate volatilized, and supply chain fluctuations have become normalized; With intensified industry competition, single-product profits continue to shrink, raw and auxiliary materials occupy high capital and accounts receivable cycles are extended; At the enterprise level, warehousing and workshop labor shortages are common, with difficulties recruiting basic workers and high turnover rates; At the same time, warehousing and logistics still heavily rely on manual operations, with low penetration rates of intelligent systems; Data from systems such as ERP, WMS, MS, and MES are fragmented, and information silos are prominent.
However, looking at macro trends, the demographic dividend is gradually fading and basic labor costs continue to rise. Yet many recent graduates struggle to find suitable jobs due to "neither high nor low jobs," forcing companies to transform and upgrade, promoting intelligent logistics and smart warehousing to replace labor. Market orders are gradually shifting to small batches, multiple batches, and short lead times, with flexible smart warehousing becoming essential infrastructure for manufacturing; Industry capacity is being rapidly cleared, with small and medium-sized outdated packaging companies continuously eliminated and leading companies launching intensive expansion; Combined with policies related to environmental protection plastic restrictions and green production, the costs of base paper and environmentally friendly consumables have long been rigidly rising; Meanwhile, domestic brands are accelerating domestic substitution, localized supply chains are deepening, and low-end contract manufacturing orders are increasingly migrating outward; Coupled with strong support from smart manufacturing and digitalization policies, digital systems and smart logistics are becoming standard for modern factory upgrades. In summary, digital transformation has become a must-answer for the development of printing and packaging companies. Relying on intelligent warehousing and logistics to reduce costs and increase efficiency is a key lever for the industry to break through and break through.
02/ The global trend in intelligent manufacturing
From early cloud computing and big data to today's 5G and artificial intelligence, new technologies are constantly emerging, rapidly driving and influencing the development of manufacturing. Globally, major developed countries and major powers are all considering how to secure their place in high-end manufacturing. Germany's "Industry 4.0" initiative in 2013, the "National Advanced Manufacturing Strategy" promoted by the United States in 2014, and China's "Made in China 2025" national development strategy in March 2015 all regard high-end manufacturing as the core direction of manufacturing development. Most enterprises, especially industry leaders, are also considering how to leverage emerging technologies in line with national strategic directions to accelerate their digital transformation and build their core competitiveness and moats.
For the printing and packaging industry, future product manufacturing is reflected in three directions: first, personalization, which meets customers' differentiated needs throughout the entire product lifecycle (design, manufacturing, delivery, etc.); second, customization, relying on flexible production lines to achieve dynamic resource allocation for multiple product varieties; third, greening, improving energy utilization efficiency and fulfilling environmental requirements in industrial production. Intelligent logistics is the core infrastructure that connects these three directions and supports the transformation of production models.
Pain points of traditional logistics and core values of intelligent logistics
01/ Pain points of traditional logistics
Most printed and packaged products are restocked, large in size, and have relatively low unit values, with a clear logistics radius. The material flow between processes within the factory is also constrained by this characteristic. The traditional logistics model, which relies on manual labor, has revealed five core pain points in actual operations.
(1) High losses
Goods entering and leaving the warehouse mainly rely on manual forklifts, which are prone to collision and loss during handling; At the same time, manual distribution carries risks of misdelivery and mismatching; once the wrong materials are delivered or used, it can directly cause production losses.
(2) Low efficiency
Material distribution relies entirely on manual forklifts or hydraulic pallet trucks, requiring workers to locate and handle goods one by one. Distribution efficiency is low, labor intensity is high, and line-side materials often cause congestion due to disorderly stacking. Long waiting times create hidden "bottlenecks" in logistics operations.
(3) Severe resource waste
First, warehouse space utilization is insufficient. Data shows that the space utilization rate of conventional single-layer pallet racks is only 30%~45%, and the clearance height is generally not effectively utilized. Second, production cycles do not match delivery rhythms, resulting in a large backlog of work-in-progress in workshops, which not only occupies space but also causes inventory squeeze risks due to order changes and cancellations. To address these issues, advanced inventory management technologies and multi-dimensional storage methods can be used to optimize warehouse space management and reduce the occurrence of such problems. Unreasonable material storage and uncontrolled inventory cycles essentially result in a dual waste of space and capital.
(4) High overall costs
On one hand, logistics handling is a high-intensity, labor-intensive job, and the industry generally faces the challenges of "difficulty in recruiting and retaining workers"; On the other hand, the high error rate in manual operations leads to material damage, mismatches, and capital tied up from inventory backlog, all of which result in significant hidden costs. Additionally, issues such as inability to synchronize information flow with logistics and frequent discrepancies between inventory and inventory records further drive up overall warehousing and production management costs.
(5) High safety risks
Severe mixing of pedestrians and vehicles in the workshop, with materials piled up randomly, not only lowering flow efficiency but also planting huge hidden dangers; Channel congestion and frequent forklift accidents seriously disrupt normal factory operations.
02/ Core Value of Intelligent Logistics
Intelligent logistics is not simply a "machine substituting human workforce" but a deep integration of automated hardware and digital systems to upgrade the entire in-factory logistics process, with value reflected in six dimensions.
(1) Achieve fewer or even unmanned handling operations, reducing costs and increasing efficiency while ensuring operational safety
Taking AGVs and intelligent forklifts as an example of replacing manual material transfer, on one hand, they reduce the staffing of handling positions, alleviate management pressure caused by recruitment difficulties and turnover, and continuously lower labor costs; On the other hand, AGVs support 24-hour uninterrupted operations without restrictions on personnel fatigue or shift handovers, improving material turnover efficiency. At the same time, their stable and smooth transportation methods reduce issues such as material bumps and incorrect work orders caused by manual operation, thereby reducing material loss. The equipment is equipped with multiple safety sensing devices, effectively preventing safety accidents caused by mixed traffic between people and vehicles, ensuring operational safety in the factory area, especially suitable for heavy, repetitive, or high-risk handling scenarios; Moreover, AGVs can integrate with WMS and MES systems, automatically retaining all transfer data to achieve full digital traceability of material flow. AGV scheduling is flexible; when adjusting production line layouts, only system paths need to be modified, eliminating the need for large-scale civil engineering upgrades. They can flexibly adapt to capacity changes, standardize material docking points, improve 5S workshop management, continuously optimize logistics routes, reduce ineffective driving, and help factories build standardized and intelligent unmanned logistics systems.
(2) Improve site utilization and alleviate passage congestion
Relying on high-bay warehouses and dense shelves to optimize warehouse layout, traditional flat storage is upgraded to multi-level storage, fully unleashing storage space: traditional flat warehouse space utilization is only 30%~40%, whereas modern high-bay warehouses use high-level racks and narrow aisles to achieve over 70% space utilization, without reserving many forklift operation aisles, greatly reducing space waste. At the same time, by standardizing material storage and distribution workflows, problems such as chaotic material piling, channel blockages, and inefficient manual material sourcing are addressed. It is important to pay attention to the "separation of dynamic and quiet" concepts, clearly distinguishing between the "dynamic zone" of production operations and the "static zone" of material storage, which facilitates on-site management and lays the foundation for subsequent unmanned operations.
(3) Accelerate workshop turnover to reduce material waiting downtime
In the intelligent logistics model, material distribution is driven by upper-layer application systems based on production operations, achieving just-in-time delivery with automatic material ordering and finished product returns, ordering on demand and delivering on time, avoiding the randomness and delays of manual distribution. As industry research shows, traditional manual logistics suffers from low resource allocation efficiency and low circulation efficiency, whereas intelligent distribution empowered by digital technology can effectively shorten operation times and avoid the drawbacks of manual distribution.
(4) Precise material control to reduce loss and misdelivery
By implementing barcode control for all materials through one item, picking efficiency is greatly improved, and shipping errors can be reduced by over 90%; At the same time, FIFO management is supported, allowing for entire material lifecycle management to reduce scrap and loss of raw and auxiliary materials from the source.
(5) Standardized operations and intelligent scheduling to support continuous production
The system intelligently plans AGV travel routes and automatically receives and dispatches materials according to line rhythms, enabling 24-hour uninterrupted collaborative operations, solving the pain point of unstable manual operations delaying production line progress.
(6) Data is visible and traceable, with seamless system integration
Integrate ERP, MES, WMS systems to achieve full-process data interconnection, consistent inventory records, and real-time, transparent data management.
Planning ideas and practical implementation of in-plant intelligent logistics
01/ The underlying logic and upgrade steps of intelligent manufacturing
To promote intelligent logistics, we must first understand the multidimensional architecture of intelligent manufacturing. This framework supports four core talent areas with experts in industrial engineering, automation, informatization, and industry expertise; Cloud storage computing, mobile terminals, Internet of Things, big data, intelligent analytics, industrial internet, and robotics as the seven key technologies; Intelligent R&D, intelligent production, intelligent logistics, and intelligent services as the four main business entities of enterprises; Through five major upgrade steps-lean standardization, industrial automation, digital informatization, network connectivity, and green intelligence-the platform achieves six performance goals: safety, quality, speed, flexibility, cost, and environmental protection.
In the entire architecture, it is especially important to mention the support of four major talents. Industrial engineering can be likened to the human brain, providing overall planning for the management of personnel, logistics, vehicle flow, and production line layout from the perspective of industry characteristics and product processes. Automation is likened to the limbs, mainly solving repetitive, heavy, toxic, hazardous, long-distance handling scenarios that require a lot of manual labor. Simply put, it solves specific tasks, serving to improve quality, increase efficiency, and replace machine labor. Informatization is the "central nervous system," using IT technology to break down software and hardware information barriers across links, transmitting tasks assigned by the brain to the limbs, and having departments collaborate to complete corresponding production tasks. Industry experts, that is, senior backbones of each business department, act as the lifeblood of links, integrating into each business link and understanding departmental workflows, key work points, and pain points and difficulties best. By combining the roles of these types of talent, a truly intelligent factory solution foundation that meets the company's own needs can be formed.
Upgrade steps are also very important. First, lean standardization is fundamental, starting with business processes, material package specifications, processes, quality, and other standards. If standardization is not done well or implemented properly, informatization and intelligence are even more impossible. Secondly, when facing scenarios such as heavy staffing, uncontrollable quality, high dependence on people, and complex management in key positions, industrial automation should be used to move toward fewer or unmanned environments as much as possible. Only when standardization and automation are relatively mature, and through informatization and digitization, and solidifying related business processes and standards, can foolproofing, error-proofing, leak prevention, and full-process traceability be achieved, exposing problems during process execution and proposing solutions to form the final management closed loop. Next is network interconnection across business scenarios, achieving interconnection between equipment, systems, and systems, breaking down information silos. Finally, advancing intelligence to achieve efficient, energy-saving, and low-carbon intelligent production.
The intelligent upgrade will drive a transformation of the overall factory system architecture-personnel, machines, materials, methods, and environment-shifting from traditional experience management to a comprehensive shift from digital and intelligent system management.
(1) Upgrading the job structure of "people."
Low-end, repetitive positions are gradually being automated, with personnel transforming into equipment technicians, system operations and maintenance, and digital management, with management positions fully demanding digital thinking.
(2) Maintenance and upkeep of the "machine."
Relying on system + sensors, real-time equipment monitoring, intelligent inspection, and scheduled maintenance are realized, eliminating human missed inspections and improving equipment utilization.
(3) Upgrading the distribution and circulation of "materials."
Manual delivery has been replaced by AGV intelligent delivery, with full material visualization throughout the process, effectively reducing work-in-progress and inventory backlog in workshops.
(4) Pre-controlled management of the "Method."
Through information systems, relevant standards are solidified, enabling advance planning, system pre-control, real-time traceability, and full-cycle closed-loop management.
(5) Upgrading the management of the "environment."
Through intelligent sensing, it automatically monitors workshop temperature, humidity, and working conditions, achieving digital environmental control.
Intelligent logistics focuses on connecting the entire material flow chain between warehouses and workshops, using "automated hardware + digital systems" to achieve low-labor, just-in-time, and digital control throughout the entire process from raw material inbound, line-side feeding, semi-finished product return, to finished product outbound. Relying on integrated warehousing and production, it achieves cost reduction, efficiency improvement, inventory optimization, and increased production line utilization.
02/ Key Planning Points and System Architecture for Intelligent Logistics
Many companies have common misconceptions about intelligent logistics, simply understanding it as purchasing AGVs, point-to-point handling, and launching automated warehouses for automatic shelving of goods, without intelligently scheduling through business needs combined with upper-layer application systems. This single-scenario application and fragmented transformation do not truly realize the core value of intelligent logistics. In fact, intelligent logistics is a complete systematic project. It is not enough to focus only on single-point equipment; it must combine the enterprise's real business pain points and factory conditions, coordinate the overall flow of people, logistics, and vehicles, support on-site standardized construction, and carry out top-level overall planning. At the same time, based on phased overall layout and phased advancement, achieving full-process integration rather than fragmented transformation can truly achieve cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and system intelligence. The general architectural approach is as follows.
(1) Clear overall positioning
First, it is necessary to clarify: What level of intelligent logistics does the enterprise actually want to achieve? Is it unmanned warehousing logistics, less manual handling in workshops, or fully unmanned logistics throughout the factory? This positioning must be determined based on business needs, factory conditions, degree of standardization, and manufacturing maturity; blindly pursuing unmanned handling cannot be achieved.
(2) Overall Circulation Planning
It is necessary to comprehensively plan the flow of people, logistics, and vehicles in the factory area, and design the flow lines based on the width of workshop passages, floor layout, and production process layout. If the workshop passages are narrow and the basic conditions of the plant are not met, even the best equipment solutions cannot be implemented. Circulation planning should also reserve functional areas such as visitor passages to balance production, safety, and management needs. (3) Equipment and Vehicle Selection AGVs do not have only one form; there are forklift-type AGVs and stealth AGVsV. Stealth forklift AGVs and stackable AGVs each have their own suitable scenarios. Forklift-type AGVs are suitable for cross-regional transfer of heavy-duty pallets in factories, replacing traditional manual forklifts and eliminating the risk of mixed traffic between people and vehicles; Stealth AGVs can be carried under material trucks for backpack conveying, mostly used for semi-finished product circulation distribution between production line stations, with flexible deployment and minimal aisle usage; Stealth forklift AGVs combine latent carrying and fork-picking functions, inheriting the flexibility of stealth AGVs while solving the problem of high aisle requirements in the factory's own pallet standards; Stackable AGVs have the ability to lift and stack, enabling shelf loading and unloading, enabling automated warehouse storage with no unattended access, and making full use of vertical space. Enterprises should select appropriate AGVs based on application scenario requirements, material packaging specifications, handling weight, aisle width, working height, and storage cycle. Carriers are equally important. Whether to use standard pallets or custom racks or bins directly determines the AGV docking method and operational efficiency. It is recommended to use different AGV models in advance to calculate their benefits and input-output ratios before selecting a model. Do not blindly copy others' experience and models. (4) Equipment Quantitative Estimation Based on business scale and production cycles, calculate the demand frequency for each distribution scenario, combined with elevator and hoist transport capacity to estimate the required number of AGVs; Plan the size of line-side warehouses and buffer zones based on semi-finished product inventory cycles; Finally, complete overall budget calculations and evaluate input-output ratios. Enterprises with the means can first conduct 3D rendering simulations to make the solution more intuitive. The core logic of intelligent logistics is that upper-layer business systems drive lower-level hardware execution. Specifically, MES and WMS generate distribution needs based on production work orders and inventory status, which are then assigned to the WCS and RCS scheduling systems. The dispatch system then directs hardware equipment such as AGVs, warehouses, and hoists to execute tasks, while connecting elevators and lifting doors to ultimately achieve automatic material ordering and on-demand delivery. Throughout the entire process, the integration of business flow, information flow, and logistics is the ultimate goal. Reflections on Intelligent Logistics Implementation Through years of project practice, the author has witnessed the effectiveness of intelligent logistics in factories of different scales and summarized a set of promotion methods and considerations suitable for the printing and packaging industry. First, intelligent logistics construction cannot be achieved overnight; it is not recommended to roll out fully from the start, but rather to follow a progressive, progressive, progressively advanced progression. (1) Prioritize building finished goods warehouses. Finished product packaging specifications are standardized, with standardized stacking to meet the operating conditions of automated equipment; At the same time, downstream customers generally have standardized requirements for receiving goods and pallet circulation, with clear logistics rules and no need for frequent adjustments to operational logic. Compared to scenarios with diverse raw material and semi-finished product processes and complex material forms, finished goods warehouse business processes are stable, on-site transformation is easier, project implementation cycles are shorter, debugging work is smaller, enabling rapid reduction in handling and intuitive cost reduction and efficiency improvements, making it easier to create a visual intelligent logistics benchmark, forming a demonstration effect and accumulating experience for subsequent automation promotion of other logistics processes in the plant. (2) Promoting intelligent logistics in semi-finished goods warehouses Semi-finished goods circulation falls under the scope of internal self-control within enterprises. After the intelligent completion of finished goods warehouses is demonstrated, AGV logistics upgrades for semi-finished goods warehouses are continuously advanced: semi-finished goods warehouses connect production lines with warehousing, material flows are frequent and transfer routes are relatively fixed, and material regularity is better than raw material warehouses. Relying on the dispatch system and implementation experience already implemented in finished goods warehouses, retrofit costs can be reduced; Logistics channels from production lines to finished goods warehouses are opened to stabilize the delivery rhythm of semi-finished products, alleviate risks of material backlog or shortages along the line, continuously reduce transfer manpower, and gradually build an integrated intelligent logistics system within the factory. The core is solving issues of standardized packaging specifications, carrier standardization, and site planning, with moderate implementation difficulty and ample room for optimization. (3) Promoting intelligent raw material warehouses: Raw material types are diverse and packaging specifications vary greatly. Supply and demand are greatly affected by procurement and incoming material fluctuations, making implementation complex. On the raw material side, suppliers need to cooperate to promote unified packaging regulations and use unified labeling systems for early marking. Integrate the entire chain from raw material warehousing to preparation and distribution to the production line, achieving full digitalization of incoming materials, warehousing, and issuing, standardizing material flow from the source, thoroughly completing the closed loop of intelligent factory logistics, maximizing the benefits of overall automation transformation, and for situations where strong suppliers cannot cooperate, factories can print labels themselves. (4) Achieving Intelligent Logistics for Full Workshop and Full Process This is the most challenging stage and also the stage to maximize the value of intelligent logistics within the factory. Implementing full-workshop, full-process intelligent logistics is not easy. It is necessary to integrate data from MES, WMS, and AGV scheduling while also responding to changing production conditions on site, such as frequent production changes for multiple varieties of production, urgent orders, and sudden orders inserted to rush orders. It is easy for AGV feeding to fall behind the beat or material to pile up along the line; Old factory buildings have uneven corridors and equipment interfaces, equipment and material anomalies must be handled in coordination, and existing operating habits and management levels are constrained. It's not enough to simply stack a few AGVs. Many factories have encountered the reality of hardware being fully equipped but systems failing to coordinate and failing to run the entire process. In addition, the key factors and common difficulties in promoting intelligent logistics construction in the industry include: insufficient attention from top leaders and department supervisors, low participation from key users, inadequate standardization implementation, entrenched personnel cognition and habits, lack of overall planning, poor hardware-software collaboration, limited infrastructure conditions, and long investment return cycles. To address these difficulties, the author's core suggestion is to first establish strategic positioning, then conduct overall investment planning and ROI assessment, then promote the construction of standardized systems, simultaneously advance hardware equipment deployment, build scalable software system architectures, and finally complete talent adaptation at the organizational level. Avoid buying hardware first and then adding software, only to find that hardware cannot fully meet business needs, resulting in wasted investment. From a perspective, adhere to the principle of "medicine first, medicine later, small steps and rapid progress, efficiency first," avoiding blindly copying cases and forcing growth. In summary, the intelligent logistics upgrade of the printing and packaging industry should not blindly pursue ultimate unmanned operation, but should align with the company's own business scale, factory conditions, and management foundation, progressing step by step and continuously iterating. As practitioners, we must recognize the long-term trend of intelligence while respecting the industry's traditional characteristics, guided by planning, based on standards, and supported by talent, so that intelligent logistics truly becomes the core driving force for high-quality enterprise development.