Engineered Products and Chang Robotics Team Up To Advance Automation Solutions

Engineered Products, a developer and manufacturer of racking components, announced their entry into a partnership with Chang Robotics. The companies will leverage each other’s skills and expertise to provide their customer network with custom-engineered designs and automated solutions.

Engineered Products constructing an automated storage and retrieval system. Image used courtesy of Engineered Products

Supporting Cost-Effective Automation

Engineered Products facilitates the cost-effective installation and integration of racking systems to suit desired applications, whether pallet handling or smaller loads. The company focuses on improving automation infrastructures and designing them to ensure the future of advanced manufacturing. 

One area of prioritization for Engineered Products is optimizing automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) by providing clients with tailored, performance-enhancing layouts. In 2024, Engineered Products began merging its racking manufacturing plants to revolutionize internal workflow. By 2025, three facilities will have been consolidated into one, considerably improving productivity while preserving Engineered Products' competitive advantage in AS/RS racking.

AS/RS racking systems save on warehouse space and provide an avenue for implementing robot-focused automated pick-and-place systems. Image used courtesy of Engineered Products 

Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS)

AS/RS racking systems are one of a few key warehouse automation solutions that can help alleviate the labor shortage problem and boost operational efficiency in automated warehouse environments. 

Alongside autonomous vehicles, automated robotics, sorting systems, picking and packing solutions, and intralogistics software, AS/RS systems augment tasks usually undertaken by human operators and other staff, economizing on time and making maximum use of facility space. According to Grand View Research, the high-density storage that AS/RS racking affords can save around 85% of warehouse space. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global AS/RS market size was valued at USD 8.36 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.4% from USD 9.08 billion to 14.95 billion between 2024 and 2032. 

More specifically, AS/RS technology employs robotic cranes and conveyor systems to pick up and set down items from racks. This system reduces potentially hazardous lifting and maneuvering of products (otherwise undertaken by human workers) and provides a more expedient way of moving products to satisfy order fulfillment goals and meet customer demand (particularly for the timely packing and shipping of e-commerce goods).  

Automating manufacturing and warehouse environments can improve worker safety (by taking on the burden of heavy-load bearing tasks) and improve facility productivity. Image used courtesy of Adobe Stock

Advancing Automation Solutions

Engineered Products’ additional efforts to advance automation solutions include improving its internal manufacturing automation by implementing an automated channel punching line system for a faster, more cost-effective supply of quality parts. This involves eliminating manual processes to ensure speed and greater accuracy. The company has also implemented robot welding and intends to make additional investments in welding to provide customized solutions in the structural steel section of the AS/RS market. 

Together, Engineered Products and Chang Robotics, seek to improve automation capabilities by integrating Engineered Products' knowledge of structural steel and racking systems with Chang Robotics' sophisticated engineering and autonomous technologies. This collaboration aims to integrate operations like automated punching, robotic welding, and laser cutting to simplify production, enhance precision, and minimize costs. Engineered Products and Chang Robotics' joint focus will concentrate on offering thorough, affordable, and personalized automation solutions, increasing client accessibility to innovative production technologies.