Innovating at pace is crucial to warehouses of the future
Many companies were simply not prepared for the increase in online orders experienced during 2020. Pandemic aside, the challenges presented to companies over the last twelve months have raised a number of questions around longer-term strategies, including such questions as; what the warehouse of the future might look like & how it might manage inevitable future disruptions.
Here are four key areas of focus for organisations to consider when looking at the future of their warehouses:
- Small & fast online order fulfilment is key
- Man & machine are gathering pace
- Gamification is a great motivator
- 'Always ON' in terms of innovation & agility
SMALL & FAST ONLINE ORDER FULFILMENT KEY
Now that many companies are slowly emerging from the challenges of the last twelve months, new questions are taking centre stage: how can supply chains prepare for future disruptions? Which processes and systems are needed? What does the warehouse of the future look like & what role do people have to play in it?
One of the biggest challenges presenting warehouses today & in the future, is how to process online orders that often only consist of one or two pieces. Most warehouses have been traditionally used to working at a pallet or box level, but picking, packing & shipping small orders that have resulted from the boom in eCommerce represents something entirely different. Throw into the equation the later & later next day cut-off times that many websites now offer & the challenge just gets steeper.
Gone are the days when warehouses would have three days to process an order. Over the course of 2020 same or next-day shipping has become the default expectation for many consumers & warehouses that do not adjust their processes accordingly to provide meet this new consumer expectation risk becoming obsolete.
MAN & MACHINE GATHERS PACE
Automation & robotisation of processes offer warehouses extra order fulfilment capabilities & possibly extra storage capacity too. They are also becoming increasingly important to a faster, more reliable, & efficient fulfilment process as well.
There are high hopes for the positive impact robots & automation will bring to warehouse environments. The big advantage of robots is that companies can increase capacity in the warehouse in a flexible way without having to commit themselves in advance to large-scale automation systems with limited capacity & questionable ROI.
Whether companies opt for greater automation, more robotics or both, people will always play a crucial role in the warehouse of the future, as there are quite simply some operations that cannot be performed by machines or robots as well as people. For example, human beings provide flexibility, when handling large or fragile products & they offer ability to scale up a workforce quickly in the event of peaks, meaning unexpected increases in orders can be absorbed quickly.
GAMIFICATION TAKES CENTRE STAGE
One of the key questions presenting leaders in the warehouse & distribution centre space, is how to make roles attractive & engaging to existing & potential employees? After all, unless it’s WALL-E, how much fun is order picking when a robot is your closest colleague?
Queue the concept of gamification within the warehouse environment. In a similar way to RunKeeper or Strava, we can now give employees in warehouses new challenges, & just like these fitness apps, we can reward them as they take up & complete challenges successfully.
Furthermore, you can compare employee performance in real-time & managers can also set up team challenges too. For example, moving a pallet can't be compared to moving a box or a loose item. If performance is good, employees & teams can earn points towards a gift or extra time off, all the while keeping the work engaging & challenging, maintaining the motivation of teams & individuals along the way.
‘ALWAYS ON’ INNOVATION IS PARAMOUNT
Besides robotisation & gamification, Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) are two other key components that will play leading roles in the warehouse of the future. For example, if you want to be able to process & ship that last minute order on time, the marginal gains that both can provide within the warehouse environment, can make all the difference to a customer experiencing a positive brand journey.
You can increase the picking density in a warehouse by merging orders into batches, but then you have to sort the picked items by order again & that takes valuable extra minutes. AI & ML can help streamline this process & ensure that all orders are dispatched on time & customer promises met.
At their core, AI & ML help increase operational efficiency. Another great example of this is comparing today's order profile with order profiles from the past. Intelligent, self-learning systems can predict with greater accuracy what products will be ordered where, when & how much time will be needed to process an order at the warehouse stage of the product’s journey.
As we increasingly move towards versionless, cloud-based software, more companies will have the ability to access to the latest innovations. In an ‘always on’ microservices architected, cloud-first environment, costly & slow upgrades are a thing of the past, but that also means that innovations in AI & ML are also more accessible & available to a wider business & vertical audience.
Over the last year we have witnessed first-hand that the speed with which organisations implement innovation determines their level of success & the happiness of their direct customers. If the processes & systems within an organisation cannot follow the speed of change at a macro-economic & customer level, a company or warehouse will struggle navigating the winds of future change.
While certainly challenging, 2020 accelerated the pace of change across many areas of business too. With supply chains & as an extension warehouses, now occupying such an important position in board-level thinking & strategy, it’s important that the warehouse teams of today keep one eye on what the warehouses of tomorrow will look like too.