Essential Steps to Automating Your Brownfield Warehouse

1.  Select the right supply chain partner for your operational needs

Automating a brownfield site will require experience and expertise on many levels, from facility readiness to data infrastructure to operational layout. Unlike greenfield sites, where organisations can create a distribution system from a blank canvas, brownfield sites will have existing restrictions and constraints that can affect the size and type of automation employed as well as the overall operational design. Choosing a supply chain partner is as crucial as selecting the automation, software and robotics for your warehouse. Engaging with a partner that boasts a track record of success and expertise is critical. Select a partner that is dedicated to matching your operation with the best-fit technology and offers the best-in-class, data-driven operational design that will ensure your new system achieves current needs and growth objectives.

4.  Communicating the “why”

Communicating the reasoning behind upgrading a brownfield facility is a crucial step for all levels of management to understand, especially for the operational team. Clear messaging on why things must change (e.g., new clients, increased orders, tracking requirements, cost controls) can mitigate resistance to the project, integration and go-live. The more the team is kept informed, the fewer surprises they will have, and the more likely the operational team will take ownership of the required change management process.

5.  When “the way we have always done it” is no longer “the way we are going to do it”

A brownfield site update or retrofit involves many factors, ranging from the simple to the complex. New technologies, software and processes must be integrated with existing equipment and systems. This change can be met with resistance on the warehouse floor and throughout the organisation, as change on any level is difficult. However, it can be more challenging to accept when it affects an operation that has been successful in the past.

Psychological studies on habits and long-held practices report that learning something new is easier than unlearning a past routine. Organisations must learn to abandon established assumptions and habits that no longer serve their new automated operations. While the operational team understands how to run their warehouse using their current technology, when a new design and automation are introduced, they will need to learn a new way of operating while unlearning how they did it in the past. Navigating the physical, systemic and emotional changes that will occur is critical to a smooth and successful transition.

6.  When your experts are no longer your experts

When updating a brownfield site, reviewing your staff and management through the lens of the new operation will be essential. How will the current workforce and their operational tendencies translate to the new automated processes and technology? Operational and technical experts that the organisation has leaned on in the past may be unable to fill the required new roles within the enhanced operation. Having an honest dialogue with the leadership team and evaluating employee skill levels, ability to embrace new technologies and processes, and knowledge gaps will be all important steps to prepare the organisation for a seamless transition.

9.  Upgrading your operation while running your operation

Many in the industry call the process of integrating new automation into a brownfield facility operation “open heart surgery.” In other words, the operation must effectively prepare to integrate and install new automation while simultaneously operating its distribution business. Below are a few key factors to take into consideration when planning a brownfield automation project:

• Up-to-date drawings: supplying your supply chain partners with current electrical, mechanical and control drawings and diagrams will assist in planning and lead to a smoother integration timetable.
• Facility modification: automation requirements such as floor flatness and load management, fire suppression systems, and electrical and data drops must be considered before construction or modifications begin.
• Integration plan: a clear plan on how the integration team will work around current operations; working non-operational hours; downtime for cut-ins (when an active piece of material handling equipment is “cut-in” to a new piece of automation); and the effect of changes to operations both upstream and downstream.
• Space for construction: planning for the appropriate space to complete the project, including storage and equipment laydown space in the facility for the new materials and tools.

10.  Resisting the revert

In 1519, Hernan Cortes landed his Spanish expedition in Mexico. After a long journey, he needed to motivate his crew to accept that they would stay in the new land. He ordered their ships to be burned, so there would be no question of moving forward. While not taking this example to the extreme of Cortes, there is an analogy to brownfield automation projects.

Clear communication with all levels of management is needed so there is no temptation to revert to the old ways of doing things, even if there are initial struggles and setbacks. Continuous training, knowledge sharing, and transparency will allow an organisation to transition smoothly to its new warehouse operations.