Chemical

Chemical raw matieral and finish goods handling and storage are mainly characterized by simple facilities, manual-dominated operations, relatively fixed storage categories, limited space utilization and a special attention on safety protection.

Chemical handling and storage business challenges:

1. Challenges in Safety and Risk Management

• Chemical products have complex properties, and many of them are flammable, explosive, toxic, or corrosive. Traditional warehousing facilities may have deficiencies in safety design. For example, the fire prevention, explosion-proof, and leakage prevention systems may not be perfect. Once a safety accident occurs, such as a fire, explosion, or chemical leakage, it will not only cause huge economic losses but also pose a serious threat to the lives of personnel and the surrounding environment.

• For the storage of hazardous chemicals, it is necessary to strictly comply with a series of complex safety regulations and standards. Traditional warehousing may face difficulties in compliance management. It is hard to update and implement the latest safety requirements in a timely manner, increasing the risk of violations.

2. Challenges in Efficiency and Cost Control

• Rely on manual operations. From the loading and unloading, handling, inventory checking to inventory records of goods, a large amount of manpower is required. This leads to low work efficiency. Especially when goods enter and leave frequently, congestion and delays are prone to occur.

• Due to the lack of advanced warehousing management systems and automated equipment, traditional warehousing does not make reasonable use of space and cannot effectively utilize the three-dimensional space, resulting in relatively high unit storage costs. Meanwhile, manual operations are also prone to errors, further increasing costs, such as additional losses caused by damaged or lost goods or incorrect records.

3. Challenges in Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development

• With increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements nowadays, chemical warehousing needs to effectively control the pollution of the environment caused by chemical leakage. Traditional warehousing facilities may lack a sound leakage prevention and leakage emergency treatment mechanism. For example, there may be a lack of equipment for quickly detecting leakage and efficient leakage collection and treatment systems. Once leakage occurs, chemicals may seep into the soil and flow into water bodies, causing long-term damage to the ecological environment.

• Not efficient enough in resource utilization. For example, it consumes a large amount of energy and does not fully utilize renewable energy or energy-saving technologies. This neither conforms to the concept of sustainable development nor reduces the operating costs of enterprises, putting them at a disadvantage in future market competition.

Solutions of Automated Warehouses for the Chemical Industry

1. Optimization of Storage Systems

• Customized storage equipment: Design specialized storage shelves and containers according to the forms (liquid, solid, gaseous) and characteristics (corrosiveness, flammability, etc.) of chemical products. For example, for liquid chemical products, special corrosion-resistant and leak-proof tanks are used for storage; for solid chemical products, shelves with sealing and fireproof functions are designed.

• Efficient use of space: Take advantage of the height of automated warehouses. Through reasonable location planning and stacking methods, increase the storage capacity per unit area. For instance, by using high-rise shelves combined with automatic stackers, the storage density can be several times higher than that of traditional warehouses.

2. Strengthening of Safety Management

• Intelligent monitoring system: Install high-precision sensors to monitor key parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and leakage of chemical products in real time. Once an abnormality occurs, the system can immediately send out an alarm and take corresponding emergency measures, such as starting ventilation equipment or cutting off the power supply.

• Fire protection and explosion-proof measures: Equip advanced fire protection systems, including automatic sprinkler systems, gas extinguishing systems, etc., and set up explosion-proof walls, explosion isolation facilities, etc. to reduce the damage range of explosion accidents. These systems can be integrated with the automated control system to achieve automatic triggering and linkage control.

3. Improvement of Efficiency through Automated Operations

• Automated cargo handling: Use automated guided vehicles (AGV), automatic stackers and other equipment for the loading, unloading and handling of chemical products to replace manual operations, improve efficiency and reduce human errors. These equipment can quickly and accurately complete the transportation tasks of goods according to preset routes and instructions.

• Information-based inventory management: Adopt a warehouse management system (WMS) to record and manage information such as the entry and exit of chemical products, inventory quantity, and shelf life in real time. Enterprises can accurately grasp the inventory dynamics through this system, plan the purchase and sale of goods in advance, and reduce inventory backlogs and out-of-stock situations.

4. Integration of Environmental Protection Measures

• Leakage prevention and recovery systems: Set up anti-leakage pallets, collection pools and other facilities in the storage area to prevent the spread of chemical products after leakage. At the same time, equip leakage recovery and treatment equipment to timely recover and harmlessly treat the leaked chemicals.

• Energy management and energy conservation and emission reduction: Optimize the lighting, temperature control, ventilation and other systems of the warehouse, and adopt energy-saving equipment and technologies to reduce energy consumption. For example, use an intelligent lighting system to automatically adjust the brightness according to the storage situation of goods, or adopt high-efficiency refrigeration equipment to reduce electricity usage.Solutions of automated warehouses for the Chemical Industry

1. Optimization of Storage Systems

• Customized storage equipment: Design specialized storage shelves and containers according to the forms (liquid, solid, gaseous) and characteristics (corrosiveness, flammability, etc.) of chemical products. For example, for liquid chemical products, special corrosion-resistant and leak-proof tanks are used for storage; for solid chemical products, shelves with sealing and fireproof functions are designed.

• Efficient use of space: Take advantage of the height of automated warehouses. Through reasonable location planning and stacking methods, increase the storage capacity per unit area. For instance, by using high-rise shelves combined with automatic stackers, the storage density can be several times higher than that of traditional warehouses.

2. Strengthening of Safety Management

• Intelligent monitoring system: Install high-precision sensors to monitor key parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and leakage of chemical products in real time. Once an abnormality occurs, the system can immediately send out an alarm and take corresponding emergency measures, such as starting ventilation equipment or cutting off the power supply.

• Fire protection and explosion-proof measures: Equip advanced fire protection systems, including automatic sprinkler systems, gas extinguishing systems, etc., and set up explosion-proof walls, explosion isolation facilities, etc. to reduce the damage range of explosion accidents. These systems can be integrated with the automated control system to achieve automatic triggering and linkage control.

3. Improvement of Efficiency through Automated Operations

• Automated cargo handling: Use automated guided vehicles (AGV), automatic stackers and other equipment for the loading, unloading and handling of chemical products to replace manual operations, improve efficiency and reduce human errors. These equipment can quickly and accurately complete the transportation tasks of goods according to preset routes and instructions.

• Information-based inventory management: Adopt a warehouse management system (WMS) to record and manage information such as the entry and exit of chemical products, inventory quantity, and shelf life in real time. Enterprises can accurately grasp the inventory dynamics through this system, plan the purchase and sale of goods in advance, and reduce inventory backlogs and out-of-stock situations.

4. Integration of Environmental Protection Measures

• Leakage prevention and recovery systems: Set up anti-leakage pallets, collection pools and other facilities in the storage area to prevent the spread of chemical products after leakage. At the same time, equip leakage recovery and treatment equipment to timely recover and harmlessly treat the leaked chemicals.

• Energy management and energy conservation and emission reduction: Optimize the lighting, temperature control, ventilation and other systems of the warehouse, and adopt energy-saving equipment and technologies to reduce energy consumption. For example, use an intelligent lighting system to automatically adjust the brightness according to the storage situation of goods, or adopt high-efficiency refrigeration equipment to reduce electricity usage.

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