solutions that “understand” how a business
works so that they can make recommendations, predict outcomes, and ultimately,
act autonomously. Whether or not a company uses such advanced solutions, the
data-gathering and analytics process opens
the door to a critical component in developing a better fulfillment strategy: visibility.
“When we work with companies, we ask
them ‘ What visibility do you have?’” Morvan
explains, adding that organizations often
are very siloed and lack visibility across their
end-to-end supply chain. Drilling down
and analyzing fulfillment-process data creates a “holistic” visibility that allows for
better decision-making.
2. SET REALISTIC AUTOMATION GOALS
Determining the appropriate level of automation for a warehouse or fulfillment center is an important next step in the evaluation process. The ultimate strategy will
depend on the data gathered in the profile
stage, but experts say companies should be
careful to look before they leap. For example, it’s easy to get carried away with the
idea of a fully automated goods-to-person
picking system that will boost throughput
and allow you to meet same- or next-day
delivery goals, but if only a small portion of
your business demands hyper-fast delivery,
it may not make sense to invest in such a
system, Kumar observes.
“You hear about [demand for] same-day, next-day delivery … but depending
on what you’re selling, that might not
be what matters most for your company.
Every company may not need to set up a
warehouse to accommodate that,” Kumar
explains.
That said, advanced solutions are begin-
ning to make sense for a wider variety of
companies, especially as businesses contin-
ue to deal with low unemployment rates
and the resulting tight labor market, and
as the cost of technology drops. November
statistics from the Robotics Industries
Association (RIA) help support that argu-
ment. The group said robot orders in
North America rose 5.2% in the first three
quarters of 2019 compared with the same
period in 2018. Automakers drove the
growth, increasing their orders by 47%,
but the association says it is also seeing
growing interest in robotics from a wide
range of other companies, including
those that have never invested in the
technology before.
“Orders from non-automotive
customers remain near record
numbers, a healthy sign for the
long-term growth of the robotics
industry,” the association said in
mid-November.
3. LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGICAL
FLEXIBILITY
Companies should also consider
the flexibility of today’s automation
and technology solutions—
understanding that they don’t need to
start from scratch or reinvent the
wheel when upgrading or revamping all or part of their fulfillment
systems.
“The technology just gets better
and better, and a lot more flexi-
ble,” Kumar explains. “If you have
a warehouse operation, you don’t
necessarily need to scrap the whole
thing and put in some new automa-
tion and get rid of your entire lay-
out. A lot of this technology is more
collaborative in nature [today].”
Kumar points to a new breed
of warehouse execution systems
(WES) that can optimize and prior-
itize work to avoid congestion and
shortages, and improve productiv-
ity. These systems require limited
additional hardware and they work
behind the scenes, directing work
based on real-time feedback. For
example, new high-priority orders
can be inserted into operators’ task
queues without having to wait for
the next wave to be released.
He points to robots that can work
within a company’s existing aisles
and those that incorporate machine
learning to improve navigation as
further examples of how technology
is becoming more collaborative.
“It’s getting better and better all
the time,” Kumar says. ;
