Yinsheng's reflection on the ALB field trip

It was an enriching experience to have the chance to visit the Army Logistics Base(ALB) on the 28th of November, because we got the chance to see how all those machineries and systems we've learned from books really look like in real-life.

Real-life exposure to ALB taught us many things that we couldn't have learned otherwise inside the four walls of our classrooms, and I have to admit that the sheer size of the warehouses impressed me deeply.

We were given a short brief when we reached ALB, and was taken on a tour showing us around the warehouse including the application of various material handling equipment and storage facilities.

They began with showing us some of their warehouses' floor layout(through-flow as the loading and unloading bays were opposite each other), the height was estimated to be around 30 metres high(approximately 10 storeys).


A demonstration was done on the various Automated Storage and Retrieval System(ASRS) for bins and pallets separately and we got the chance to see clearly how the machines are operated.
(picture of the ALB ASRS, yes the EXACT one from ALB)

Demonstrations on other storage systems such as mobile racking(used at the receiving bay), vertical carousel system(storage with air-conditioning and dehumidification system used for storing small items that are hydro-sensitive, and medical supplies in their case) and the VNA(very narrow aisles).

Their storage systems utilized their cubic capacity well as the height was made full use of, with the mobile racking(receiving bay) and other storage systems close to the ceiling.

They showed us the safety countermeasures, which included the mobile racking system stopping and a siren going off when a person stepped into a dangerous zone and the vertical carousel which stops when someone's hand moved into where the bins are while it is rotating.

Laser guided vehicles(AGV- Automated Guided Vehicles) serve as forklifts in the warehouse, and the laser guiding system make it such that they will not run into any physical obstacles.
40 feet trucks are used at ALB, and the large storage gives advantages with accordance to economies-of-scale.

It was a great field trip and we have benefited much from watching the operations of ALB, awesome! :)