Towards Forklift Safety in a Warehouse: An Approach Based on the Automatic Analysis of Resource Flows

Abstract

Warehouse management is a discipline that has gained importance in recent decades. In the era of the Digital Revolution and Industry 5.0, to enable a company to attain a competitive advantage, it is necessary to identify smart improvement tools that help search for warehouse problems and solutions. A good tool to highlight issues related to layout and resource flows is the spaghetti chart which, besides being used to minimize waste according to lean philosophy, can also be used to assess warehouse safety and reliability and improve the plant sustainability. This article shows how to exploit “smart spaghetti” (spaghetti chart automatically generated by smart tracking devices) to conceive improvements in the layout and work organization of a warehouse, reducing the risk of collision between forklifts and improving the operators’ safety. The methodology involves automatically mapping the spaghetti charts (searching for critical areas where the risk of collision is high) and identifying interventions to be carried out to avoid near misses. “Smart spaghetti” constitutes a valuable decision support tool to identify potential improvements in the system through changes in the layout or in the way activities are performed. This work shows an application of the proposed technique in a pharmaceutical warehouse.

Pallet Recognition for Forklift: A Literature Review

“…The performance of this simulator has Been tested by creating a 3D model of the place where the measurements were originally taken and comparing the simulated results with those obtained from the measurement from the software. In [16] Authors describe for warehouse management how to exploit "smart spaghetti" which is a spaghetti chart that is automatically generated by smart tracking devices. That conceives impressive improvements in the work and layout organization of a warehouse, also reduces the risk of collision that can happen between forklifts.…”

Automating Production Process Data Acquisition Towards Spaghetti Chart 4.0

“…Last year in 2020, [2] mentioned that "Smart spaghetti" is a valuable decision support system that can recognize potential improvements in the warehouse system through changes in the layout or in the operations are performed, the past author applied this "smart spaghetti" on the movement of forklift in a pharmaceutical warehouse. Anyway, "Smart Spaghetti Chart" systems are beneficial for movement analysis and producing fast visualization and overview, but there is still challenges and gaps need to be overcome such as accuracy, privacy and safety.…”

“…Spaghetti diagrams can identify areas where time is wasted by visualizing the unnecessary movement of people, products, or materials [1]. But this tool does not work well without providing realistic data representing the accurate movement of the hu-man and material between departments, workstations, and machines on the shopfloor [2].…”

Safe Interaction of Automated Forklifts and Humans at Blind Corners in a Warehouse with Infrastructure Sensors

“…While at a higher cost, sensors similar to the safety equipment in automated forklifts could be installed at blind corners, to guarantee reliable detection of human workers. In addition, movement data can be collected and help in the creation of spaghetti charts to further analyze and improve safety [2].…”