19 October 2022 Discover the technologies that put your warehouse a step ahead of the competition Are you familiar with the term smart warehouse? Have you prepared yours for the future? The acceleration of digitalization in recent years, combined with the increase in consumer demands and the rise of major market players, has driven companies to seek innovation in all their sectors, particularly in distribution centers and last-mile flows. According to research by LogisticsIQ, automation is expected to grow by 14%, reaching $30 billion by 2026. In Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, multi-story automated warehouses are already common. Singapore’s Supply Chain City combines a 50-meter high automated storage system with five storage floors. Amazon currently uses robots developed by Kiva Systems, a company purchased for $775 million in 2012. Today, the e-commerce giant has more than 200,000 robots working within its DC, alongside hundreds of thousands of human workers. With so much investment in technology, the company has increasingly kept its promises of fast deliveries to its customers. And other examples like these have spread around the world. This new reality shows how important it is to be prepared to best meet customer needs, especially in e-commerce. Shoppers desire agility, convenience, and personalization in service. And there’s only one way to achieve these three goals: invest in specialized software and advanced automation. Today, to remain competitive, applying technology and innovation to the business, starting with logistics, has become a necessity. What is a smart warehouse? On Industry 4.0, born as a German government initiative launched in 2011 to “reindustrialize” the Western world. The main idea is that factories, warehouses, and distribution centers function as automated and self-learning systems. After all, the more consumers are served with maximum efficiency and less time, the greater the chances that companies will evolve. It’s innovation in the service of operational efficiency. It’s important to remember that a smart warehouse is much more than a building full of machines and robots in operation. In fact, systems and automations communicate with each other and with their human supervisors. Therefore, there is a perfect synergy between the role played by each person. Therefore, when talking about a smart warehouse, it does not mean that human resources are eliminated or replaced by automation. What happens is the redistribution of tasks, leveraging the potential of each. In a smart warehouse, inventory is no longer a complex maze. Every item is easily identifiable, and its movements are now tracked. Barcodes, sensors, and identification tags are essential in this process. System integration is a fundamental part. More than software, the backbone of the warehouse The IT sector is constantly evolving. For the Supply Chain, there are already advanced and specialized software, such as WMS (Warehouse Management Software), YMS (Yard Management Software), TMS (Transportation Management Software), OMS (Order Management Software), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Software), and many others. When all these software communicate with each other, warehouse management becomes seamless, and the operator can make quicker and more accurate decisions. With a WMS, for example, it is possible to reduce order preparation errors, have a real-time view of inventory and stocks, and improve space management. When you add the functionalities of a YMS, which simplifies the control of loading and unloading operations at docks and the yard, the result is greater efficiency and savings on operational costs. In addition to management software, drones are becoming a common element in warehouses. They are used for inventory verification and item delivery at unimaginable speeds. However, their use is limited to larger spaces. Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining an honorable place in smart warehouses. Machine learning, for example, is used to predict product demand, optimize forklift routes, and minimize human errors. Collaborative robots are also a growing reality. All this may seem very complex, but smaller and medium-sized companies should not feel excluded. With the growing demand, more and more suppliers offer accessible solutions. And, although the investments are significant, the results are not long in coming. Overall, the smart warehouse is an indispensable weapon for companies that want to stay competitive, avoid waste, and reduce costs. And you, are you ready for the future? Available Automations! Currently, several automation systems are available to optimize warehouse performance, meeting your company’s needs. Discover some: Shuttle The shuttle is a system composed of high-density vertical storage modules, “carts” that travel the depth of the shelves to pick up or deposit products, and elevators that move the carts between different levels. It is an automation solution that stores and transports products to separators. This structure is considered by many as the “heart” of modern logistics operations. Its operation depends on integration with the warehouse management system, the WMS, which is responsible for transmitting the picking wave to the shuttle so that it performs automatic separation, bringing the right product to the operator in the right quantity and at the right time. Among its advantages are agility in separation, greater safety, and better space utilization. An A-frame The A-frame is a modular system integrated with a conveyor belt on which there is a structure composed of a series of channels covering both sides. Each channel works with a specific SKU, having the capacity to store several units. When the order is sent to the machine, generally through integration with the WMS, the requested products are expelled through the channels and fall onto the conveyor belt, following a path to the packing station. The entire process is executed very quickly. To give you an idea, A-Frame can sort from 250 to 4,000 orders per hour. This automation can be used in e-commerce, retail, stores, wholesale, and wherever high-speed order fulfillment is required, using minimal labor, high precision, and productivity. Voice Picking This is a picking system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) and/or WiFi to transmit verbal instructions throughout the warehouse. The commands are easy and use simple language. Through voice picking, the employee receives instructions on how to pick an order (storage location, quantity, etc.) on their headphones and confirms, on their microphone, all completed actions. Typically, voice picking is designed for warehouses that handle a large number of SKUs and also require a low number of executions for picking. Among its advantages are the reduction of picking errors, greater agility in picking, shorter training times, real-time visibility, and ease of implementation. Pick-to-Light Pick-to-light is a picking automation system that uses lights to direct the picking team, eliminating the need for paper lists and bringing much more precision and agility to the process. To perform separation via pick-to-light, integration with the WMS system is necessary, which takes care of lighting the display and indicating the number of items to separate for each order. It is estimated that pick-to-light can generate productivity increases from 30 to 50% in picking and bring 99.9% more precision in order fulfillment. Sorter The sorter is an automatic order classification system, performed based on the destination location. Once separated, orders are forwarded to this system, which is responsible for distributing each package to different packing stations or parcel transport ports. It is important to remember that for the system to perform automatic classification, using barcode readers and other sensors, it must be integrated with the WMS system, which is responsible for sending the information for each order, allowing the sorter to channel the targeting. With automation, there is a reduction in labor and transportation costs and greater accuracy in order delivery. AGV The AGV is essentially made up of a portable robot that follows long lines or wires drawn on the ground, or it can also use radio waves, vision cameras, magnets, and lasers to guide its movement. This type of automatic vehicle transports everything from small to large loads and can operate in integration with the WMS, which transmits the movement waves so that the AGV can move the materials. AGVs are available in a variety of shapes and sizes to handle different goods. These autonomous vehicles promise a high level of precision, greater speed, and lower costs. Why invest in a smart warehouse? Deagor WMS per ecommerce può aiutarti!