How will warehouses be designed in the future?

Ever wondered what warehouse 4.0 will look like? Robots, cobots, visual monitoring, image analytics, automated robotic storage, augmented reality… supply chains, and storage spaces are undergoing a transformation like never before. Warehousing is no longer just about a building, it’s a whole ecosystem now.

In fact, the global smart warehousing market size is projected to reach USD 25.4 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 11.5%. Here’s a view of what’s to come.

Robots and more

By 2026, 75% of large enterprises will have adopted some form of intralogistics smart robots in their warehouse operations, says a survey by Gartner. In fact, AI is already a high priority for supply chain users in all industries. Several startups are developing collaborative mobile robots or cobots that learn from human operators and optimise material handling and movement in clustered environments. What can these robots do? Well, some are designed to transfer material from the warehouse to loading docks, while others can reconfigure the warehouse itself, moving racks to optimise space. Some are even advanced enough to handle delicate items!

Drones

Instead of relying solely on manual labour, which can result in errors, automated warehouse management systems can help with every from inventory control to storage and retrieval. For example, companies are developing autonomous drones that fly within warehouses using indoor geolocation technology to capture images of inventory. Big data and AI technologies are being used for performance tracking and process optimization.

Inventory Technology

With a large number of items moving in and out of warehouses, it becomes difficult to track spoilage, damage, or theft. Not when you have AI on your side. Inventory tracking solutions provide transparency and accuracy. Radio Frequency Identification for example, which is a radio wave-based technology in use in warehouses today, avoids the limitation of barcoding as the tags can be read remotely. Some systems can read 1,000 tags per second. Inventory tech or Warehouse Control Systems can help monitor all warehouse operations including inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping, optimizing workflows and improving operations.

Wearables

Some warehouse operators are now being equipped with wearables such as smart glasses that improve productivity. Smart glasses for example come equipped with machine learning and AR technology that enables warehouse staff to pick inventory more accurately and efficiently. It has inbuilt scanners, eliminating the need to juggle bulky scanners, as well as real-time messaging, facilitating communication between coworkers. Logistically speaking, it’s a smooth road at warehouses now.

Don’t miss out on the tech revolution in warehouse automation. If you are looking for tailor-made and state-of-the-art solutions to warehouse automation, give us a call. Blue Star E&E has experts who can help with material storage, material handling, order fulfillment, material movement, truck loading, warehouse management, primary and secondary packing, palletization, and traceability. We have a diverse range of clients from sectors such as FMCG, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food, dairy, chemicals, paper, and glass.

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