Robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are just a few technologies that will automate and change the primary warehouse. Like many other sectors, manufacturing is undergoing a significant transition period.
Industry 4.0 and the development of new, disruptive technologies are creating a variety of opportunities for the sector, and many companies plan to modernize their warehouses to improve operations and efficiency.
As manufacturers face obstacles to boosting profits and enhancing efficiency, these new technologies are essential. The trade-off between inventory accuracy, which is crucial to ensuring that employees picking products from locations to fill orders are as productive as possible, and the costs required to attain that accuracy is one of the main challenges.
Another crucial factor for the sector is cost since erroneous order fulfilment may be expensive due to returns, waste, chargebacks, and high reverse logistics costs.
The newest technology is gathered under one roof in the “warehouse of the future,” as we call it. Sandeep Sakharkar, Chief Information Officer at GXO, the largest pure-play contract logistics provider focused on assisting businesses in resolving their supply chain challenges through knowledge, cutting-edge automation, and a global network of warehouse space, says that it creates a logistics command center that is driven by innovation.
“This warehouse of the future offers a few key advantages, including the following: first, it significantly improves productivity and efficiency; second, it optimizes the roles and contributions of our team members; and, third, by improving safety and ergonomics for our team members and driving up levels of engagement, it helps them increase quality and productivity, creating a virtuous circle,” he adds.
Sakharkar continues by stating that this upcoming iteration will enhance throughput control and the capacity to change work processes quickly to shift demand, which will be advantageous to customers, particularly those that experience the type of demand peaks typical of the fashion business.
Using technology to secure the “warehouse of the future”
Furthermore, the CTO claims that future warehouse supplies improved real-time insights into procedures and product movement, facilitating intelligent decision-making. “This method has advantages for the technologies themselves and the frameworks and procedures used to decide which technologies to invest in. “The process and criteria for picking technology for review become as significant as the technology itself because the time, effort, and other resources required for evaluation, R&D, piloting, and operationalizing are all critical variables,” says Sakharkar.
Today, technological advancements in several fields open doors for enhancing operations and generating value; thus, no organization can afford to ignore the potential. Any major international corporation in any industry would value the same techniques and goals for developing technological advancements. GXO has operationalized many cutting-edge technologies because it is eager to take part in this shift to the future warehouse.
As an illustration, he cites the use of collaboration robots, or cobots, goods-to-person robots, layer pick and palletizing automated guided vehicles, AGVs, palm scanners, and vision technology.
“Our process for investigating, assessing, piloting, and finally operationalizing new technologies is quite organized and active. In our innovation pipeline, we constantly evaluate developing and mature technology. Exoskeletons with movement-tracking to increase safety and ergonomics, vision technology and autonomous drones for inventory and scanning, and further advancements to constantly changing bot technology.”
Sakharkar believes that it is crucial that technology not be restricted to simply physical hardware because it extends to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
To increase real-time insights and the pace of interactions across various platforms, he observes, “we employ data and contemporary integration technologies, for example, through machine learning.”
IBM: Supply chain automation for warehouse success
The internet of things (IoT), among other technologies, is also crucial as the world grows increasingly digitized. Concerning manufacturing specifically, IoT links physical production and operations with intelligent digital technologies, machine learning, and big data. Doing this develops an ecosystem that is more integrated and well-connected for businesses that concentrate on manufacturing and supply chain management.
Read more on:It takes only seconds for “Thermal Attacks” to crack device passwords
