Introduction
The trade industry forms a huge part of the global business world, just like the retail, manufacturing, and wholesale businesses.Â
It is estimated that trade forms a significant portion of all the business activities of the world, and it is hugely dependent on good supply chain management. A good supply chain management system ensures that businesses are able to meet customer demands and manage the flow of goods effectively.Â
According to recent estimates, it has been projected that the supply chain market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.7% and reach USD 63.77 billion by 2032.
By this estimate, you must have realized the significance of supply chain management in every trade business, right? So, it is important that there are no disruptions in the supply chain while working to optimize the performance of the business. Some of the disruptions that are faced byÂ
This is where warehouse management automation comes in and helps you to address, solve and mitigate all of your possible supply chain disruptions.
In this blog we will understand the concept of warehouse management automation, how it helps to improve supply chain issues and the various benefits of warehouse automation.Â
Warehouse Management Automation
Warehouse management automation helps in reducing supply chain disruptions by streamlining the various operations of the warehouse while minimizing the need for human intervention. Let us understand more about warehouse management automation through the following:
What is Warehouse Management Automation?
Warehouse management automation is the process that reduces the need of human intervention in various warehouse and supply chain operations, such as order-picking, inventory tracking, and packaging. For completing this task, automated warehouse management systems uses artificial intelligence, robotics, and various types of sophisticated software.
The warehouse management automation systems can either be completely automated or semi-automated but they help the organization to improve the speed and accuracy of their warehouse operations.
Why is Warehouse Management Automation Important?Â
Automation in warehouse management is important for organizations as it helps them to keep up with the increasing demands of the customers as well as industry standards. Due to the streamlining of various operations, organizations are able to meet even the shortest of delivery timelines or deadlines and reduce their operational errors as there is no human intervention. As a result, the organization becomes more competitive, effective, and efficient.Â
How Does it Work?
Warehouse management automation systems often use various kinds of advanced technologies, such as sensors, machine learning algorithms, and software in order to manage inventory and optimize their organization’s workflow.Â
Robotic arms, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and conveyor systems are examples of some of the technologies that are used for automation to function in a warehouse, which leads to the accurate and efficient movement of products from one place to another.
How Does Automation Help Organizations?
Automation helps to improve the overall performance and efficiency of the organization. This is achieved as by automating the various routine, repetitive, and mundane tasks, the organization is able to free up their human resources. Once freed, human resources become more productive and can focus on tasks that require a higher level of creativity and strategic thinking, which are also considered high value.
As a result of overall organizational improvement, the organization is able to speed up their order fulfillment time, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce their operational and labour costs.
Improve Supply Chain Issues
Given below are some of the common supply chain disruptions that are faced by organization and the manner through which warehouse management automation helps in solving supply chain issues.
Labour Shortages
- The Issue: In recent times, labour shortages have become a major issue in supply chain and warehousing operations. Some of the major reasons for such a shortage include high turnover rates, an aging workforce, and the inability of the younger workforce to do physically demanding jobs. As a result of such shortages, organizations have to face operational delays as well as higher wage costs as they are required to pay overtime to their current workforce or they need to rely heavily on temporary workers who charge a high price.
- The Solution: Through the use of warehouse automation for the supply chain, organizations can automate the majority of their warehouse tasks, such as picking, packing, sorting, etc., leading to the minimization of the dependency on human labour. Warehouse management automation is able to work in the organization on a continuous basis without any fatigue. This makes sure that organizational productivity remains high even during times of peak season or labour shortages.
Inaccurate Inventory Management
- The Issue: Without the use of warehouse management automation, organizations used to carry out manual inventory management. Such management often led to a lot of errors resulting in stockouts, overstocking, or discrepancies. As a result, manual inventory management often led to the disruption of the entire supply chain which led to delayed order fulfillment and reduced customer satisfaction.
- The Solution: By implementing warehouse management automation, organizations move towards automated inventory management systems. These systems use various types of technologies, such as RFID technology, barcode scanning, and sensors that help to provide real-time data with respect to the stock levels of the organization. As a result, organizations are able to enjoy highly accurate inventory tracking which helps them to make better decisions and reduce the risk of stockouts of critical items or overstocking items which lead to high storage costs.
Order Fulfillment Delays
- The Issue: Through manual processes in the supply chain, organizations can face various delays in their order processing and fulfillment. Such delays are often faced due to many reasons, such as slow manual processes, miscommunication, and inefficiencies in picking and packing the order. As a result, organizations may have to face several unhappy customers and lost business opportunities which negatively affects their business.
- The Solution: With warehouse management automation, organizations can make use of automated picking systems, such as conveyor belts and robotic arms, which help to streamline the order fulfillment process by quickly locating and moving the items. The warehouse management automation systems also use various advanced AI algorithms to optimize the picking routes and minimize the travel time within the warehouse, leading to the speeding up of the entire process.
Warehouse Automation Benefits
After understanding the various ways in which warehouse management automation can help improve supply chain issues, it is important to have a look at the various warehouse automation benefits that are offered to the organization implementing them.
Improved Accuracy
Automated warehouse operations uses systems that use various kinds of advanced technologies, such as RFID tags, barcode scanners, and machine learning algorithms to ensure precise and accurate operations. As a result, there is a minimization of human errors that are often associated with inventory tracking, manual data entry, and order picking.
Improved Speed
Warehouse management automation helps to speed up various kinds of warehouse processes, which leads to faster order fulfillment and increased speed in the organization’s overall operations. This is because automation systems, such as robotic pickers, conveyor systems, and high-speed sorters, are able to complete all the tasks only 5% of the time, as required by human resources. As a result, organizations are able to efficiently and effectively meet the increasing demand for rapid order processing in the e-commerce and retail industries, where same-day or next-day delivery has become a standard expectation.
Other Benefits
In addition to the above most important benefits of warehouse management automation, some of the other important warehouse automation benefits include, but are not limited to, cost savings, scalability, real-time monitoring, safety enhancements, space optimization, customer satisfaction, and sustainability.
Conclusion
Warehouse management automation plays a very important role in addressing the various supply chain disruptions in the modern world of business. By improving many supply chain issues, such as labour shortages, inaccurate inventory management, and order fulfillment delays, warehouse automation helps to ensure that the supply chain operations are completed in a timely, efficient, and effective manner.
We at CrossML help our clients implement various warehouse management automation solutions and systems that helps them to improve their supply chain operations, leading to improved operations and order fullfillment which ultimately leads to higher sales and growth potential.
FAQs
Warehouse management automation is the process that reduces the need for human intervention in various warehouse and supply chain operations, such as order picking, inventory tracking, and packaging. To complete this task, automated warehouse management systems use artificial intelligence, robotics, and various types of sophisticated software. The warehouse management automation systems can either be completely automated or semi-automated, but they help the organization improve the speed and accuracy of its warehouse operations.
Warehouse automation improves efficiency by speeding up processes, minimizing human errors, and ensuring accurate order fulfillment. Automated systems like conveyor belts and robotic pickers work quickly and continuously while seamlessly handling repetitive tasks, which leads to faster operations and better resource utilization in the warehouse.
The costs of implementing warehouse automation include AI software costs, equipment installation costs, and training costs. However, these initial costs are offset by long-term savings from reduced labour expenses, fewer operational errors, and increased productivity, resulting in a solid return on investment.
Industries such as e-commerce, retail, logistics, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals benefit the most from warehouse automation. These sectors face high demand for efficiency, speed, and accuracy in order fulfillment and inventory management, which automated systems can meet through streamlined, reliable operations.
