These studies, commissioned by MHIA and conducted by Brigham Young University’s (BYU) Marriott School of Management, found that AS/RS offer very high levels of reliability taking the uncertainty out of a long standing question about AS/RS performance. The research results are detailed in a white paper entitled reliability of automated storage/retrieval systems (AS/RS).
The research project team for the two studies consisted of graduate students from BYU, along with faculty advisers. The first study entitled, AS/RS market research determined how users, potential users, and non-users of AS/RS felt about this technology, how the technology was being used, and what its benefits and shortcomings were in the minds of study participants.
The second study, reliability of AS/RS focused in large part on the perceptions expressed in the first study versus the reality about AS/RS reliability and overall performance.
The research findings showed that experienced AS/RS users have high expectations for their systems. Even before purchasing a system, respondents expressed an average expected uptime of 97.98%. The BYU studies show that today’s AS/RS do deliver on these expectations with an average uptime of 97.34%, compared to the expected 97.98%.