What Is A Smart Warehouse?
Warehousing is to identify and receive things, correctly count them and store them, remember where they are, and pick the correct amount and send them to the exact location. However, these essential functions are performed in a time when the operations are simple. When the processes become increasingly complex, it calls for smart solutions, and automation is more prevalent than ever.
Smart warehousing is to automate all the operations in warehousing, and it involves two facets. One facet is to adopt technology at the proper times for the proper uses, which could refer to IoT – the Internet of Things. In the Internet of Things, the networked devices use the information to improve and make tasks more convenient, such as lighting management, environmental control and monitoring the given data point or status. The other facet is to adopt more comprehensive as well as feature-rich software applications, which could increase the performance and efficiency in the operations.
As it brings significant optimization to all the warehouse operations, Smart warehousing with warehouse management software has demonstrated to be one of the best examples in the businesses adopting this type of the new technology. Automations are on the rise, and without a doubt, more and more companies will adopt to automations.
What Are Smart Warehouses?
Smart warehouses are big buildings, such as large steel buildings or other metal buildings, where raw materials, products and goods are stored and where all the common warehouse operations that were previously performed by humans, which include to identify and receive things, count them and store them, remember where they are and send them to the correct location, are automated and being performed by using a variety of computers and machines
A smart steel building warehouse is usually implemented via multiple automated and interconnected technologies, and all the technologies work together to improve the productivity and efficiency in the warehouse, minimize the human workers and decrease errors. In a smart warehouse, if the management and staff use the technologies to the full, it will run much less expensively, and labor will be more efficient and well informed with high quality data for continuous improvements.
What Is Smart Warehouse System?
Smart warehouse system is the outcome of all the interconnected warehousing technologies to work together. Smart warehouse system creates a technological ecosystem to receive orders, identify and sort products, organize them and pull them for shipment with automation. The best smart warehouse system could automate almost the whole operation, from the suppliers to the customers very minimal errors.
As to considering the smart warehouse system, there are several traits that you should pay a great of attention to since they are critical for the smart warehouse system to succeed. The followings are these traits:
Agility
Without a doubt, warehousing operations will become more and more complex, and in order to meet the complex needs and requests, smart warehouses should be able to switch their gears to fit the quick and ever-changing variables in the modern world. It stands to reason that smart warehouse system should not only be able to optimize the process of products from storing to shipping, but also be able to look out for the temporary storing opportunities as well as the third-party logistics providers when there are temporary stock overflow arising.
In addition, staffing needs should be addressed and implemented by the smart warehouse system as well. The end game for a smart warehouse is not only to minimize the number of the onsite staff but also to get ready for staffing up at any busy time during a year. It goes without saying that a smart warehouse should keep the group of cross-trained core employees in place during the slower period.
Also, agility comes to play with respects to the different software being used in the smart warehouse. All the smart warehouse systems should be compatible to work with numerous different platforms such as sales systems and others. As a rule of thumb, it is better to use a software SaaS (software as a service), because they are becoming the standards for many industries. Besides, SaaS smart warehouse solution often comes with lower price of entry, which could be paid monthly if you continue to use the service.
Scalability
Smart warehouses should be able to get ready for large influxes of the products and releases of the new products at any time since the complexity of warehousing as well as supply chains keep growing all the time, which makes sense to choose SaaS as better smart warehouse solution. For SaaS solution, update needed could be fulfilled on the fly while new inclusions could be rolled out with no hit to the efficiency.
Data Visibility
While technology is continuing to advance, most of the software connected with supply chain functions requires the visibility of data. In other words, the visibility of data is critical today because the warehousing operations and supply chains have become more and more complex, and software solutions are required to be ready for updating and storing data in no time.
Stakeholders and customers want to get the real-time data from the smart warehouse system for updating where their products are for the time being. A good smart warehouse should be able to provide the interested parties the information that they want to immediately. It makes sense that customers would partner with the operation that could keep them constantly staying up to date rather than the one that could only update their data overnight.
Moreover, the visibility of data also provides the useful and timely information to the host of warehousing operation itself. As the real-time data also provides the operators of warehousing the clear picture of the whole warehouse with how all the various pieces are performing, the operators could immediately find out where the problem is exactly originating from if any inaccuracy in the inventory or the delivery timing are arising, and as such they could take action timely to fix the problem before it gets out of control.
What Consists of A Smart Warehouse?
In general speaking, a smart warehouse consists of a variety of different interconnected technologies, and they are all working together toward the same goals. Each single piece in the whole performs some specific job to keep the smart warehouse running in optimal. The followings are some typical components that you could usually find in a smart warehouse.
Robotics
Warehousing robots are not all the same as the humanoid robots in the science fiction stories and shows that we have seen. However, warehousing robots are very cool even though they are different from the ones inhabiting in our fiction world. Warehousing robots could handle the major picking as well as packing of goods in the warehouse operations.
In general, the resembling Roombas, which are the common warehousing robots, could automate the picking process via physically bringing the product in shelves to human workers for the packing orders. Basically, warehousing robots are automated and more maneuverable pallet jacks. The warehousing robots move faster than humans and move more at once than humans, and they could even find the optimal route to pick up the necessary goods.
Radio-Frequency Identification
Radio-frequency identification, simply called RFID, helps organize as well as control inventory. The RFID helps the warehousing operation gets rid of the old method of analog paper tracking by using the digital tags for tracking packages. The radio waves are used to transfer data between digital tags and the automated scanning system and record the information of product.
The RFID also replaces the old barcode scanners, which the barcode needs to be aligned with the scanner precisely to identify it. In contrast, RFID scanners could only be pointed at the general direction to the package for identifying it. Because the scanners do not need to be aligned with precisely, the automated machines could be used for scanning the packages when they come in to identify and count the goods received for the amount of each type and as such save human labor and increase productivity. Moreover, these scanners could also detect goods when they are leaving the warehouse after the order is fulfilled to ensure the inventory count is accurate.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence, simply called AI is also used in warehousing to increase productivity and minimize errors. AI could help warehousing robots identify the most optimal route to pick the products as well as help determine what is the best box type to the shipment based on the product’s type, size, number and weight. Some warehouses could even use Al to pack the products with the most space-efficient way by implementing the machines to pack them.
These capabilities help the warehouse operations reduce the operating costs drastically, and the biggest reduced cost is the human labor.
The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things, simply called IoT, it has several Internet-enabled devices that are communicate with each other to share data. In the smart warehouse system, by IoT, robots could communicate with all the tech they need, including the warehouse management system, simply called WMS.
The work of IoT in the management system of a smart warehouse begins from the warehouse receiving a product. When the product is received, the RFID scanner first scans the tags to tell the WMS what goods and how many are received, and then, the WMS communicates with the robots to inform them where the goods should be stored in the warehouse, which occurs automatically and seamlessly with no error and losing any critical information.
If there is no IoT, the human workers need to perform all the steps in the process manually. However, because of IoT, the human labors are eliminated, and the process speeds up while the errors drastically reduce. As the Internet of Things is used, more businesses demand buildings for warehouses, and steel building kits are the ideal solutions for erecting storage.
Warehouse Management Systems
WMS is one of best parts of all the smart technologies in the warehousing operation. A WMS solution provides many uses, from collecting valuable data to helping manage the warehousing processes, which let the warehouse operator keep track of the efficiency of the day-to-day operation in the warehouse so that the operator could improve on anything specific as it desires. Compared with intelligent logistics systems like telematics and route planning software, technology like this can give managers a competitive edge when it comes to data-driven decision making.
As most of the WMS solutions could gather the real-time data to create the visual reports, which could reveal any deficiencies of the processes so that the warehousing operator could take appropriate action to resolve any issues in time before it gets out of the control and keep the operations be on the right direction.
The Implementation of Smart Warehouse System
As we continue to digitalize the world, the automation of warehousing operations will become more and more prevalent than ever. Smart warehouse system will surely dominate the industry. It stands to reason that if the warehouses do not adopt the smart warehouse system, the future is risky.
It goes without saying that it is time to take measures and begin to implement the smart warehouse system. You do not need to purchase and implement all the pieces of these technologies once for all, which, as a matter of fact, requires a giant upfront investment and probably only the huge warehousing operations could afford. You could begin from just one or a few pieces of these technologies and gradually build towards the automation by adding the pieces of these technologies now and then more and more as time goes, which will put you in a better position in the future.
It is a good idea to begin with the WMS, which is not only one of the cheapest for the implementation of a smart warehouse system, but also the essence of a smart warehouse system as it could collect and manage data of your warehousing operations. Also, keep the requirements of your operations in mind when you select a smart warehouse solution.
Original article can be found on selecthub.com
