A successful economy includes many factors and the success of many industries. In this context, the supply chain and logistics industry play a very important role in determining the success of the economy.
The backbone of the supply chain and logistics industry is warehouses . Optimizing the warehousing with automation will lead to giving a lot of astonishing benefits to both the businesses as well as to the economy.
What is Warehousing?
A warehouse is a business area used to keep raw materials and finished goods and plays an essential role in the supply chain. Essentially it is the complete process of storing physical products in a storage space or dedicated warehouse before they are offered for sale or further distribution.
Once the goods arrive at the warehouse the next step comes in place and this procedure must now determine the location to which the products must deliver and they must then be sent down this distribution chain to the consumer. Moreover, a thriving operation must be considered by a warehouse with all the required capabilities to give a more profitable return on investment (ROI).
Automating the Warehousing
Automating warehousing is the process of automating the movement of inventory into, within, and out of the warehouse with minimal human interaction. An inefficient warehouse can cause a delay in delivery times, which negatively affects the customer experience and incurs unnecessary overhead costs.
So, the goal of warehouse automation is to reduce repetitive physical work and manual data entry and analysis that can cause slowdowns in order fulfillment and inventory control. Contrary to popular belief warehouse does not always mean physical or robotic automation. In many cases, it simply refers to using software to replace manual tasks.
Deploying an automation strategy does require some upfront costs; however, these costs usually pay for themselves through greater efficiency, increased sales, and improved customer service.
The Misconception of Automation?
One of the main misconceptions is many people believe that they truly need a lights-out facility with end-to-end automation. They can utilize software to optimize inventory through extended warehouse management (EWM), warehouse management system (WMS), or managing labor through labor management system (LMS) a very impact on an operation.
Utilizing RFID and voice technologies to get better pick efficiencies out of their employees, stepping up again to the conveyor, pick modules, automated storage-retrieval systems, and truly getting into fully lights-out computerized systems.
Another misconception is that organizations believe that there’s going to be extensive training needed for their workforce to be brought up to speed on the new operating system. There will be training needed as it is changed to the current operating system but most automated systems are put in place to supplement and help the associates within their day-to-day operations.
Is Automation Actually Expensive?
Many organizations believe that implementing a warehouse automation system will be way too expensive or there’s too long of a return on investment (ROI) to get payback for an automated solution. If you target the right area and right process the efficiency you gain from automating that process should help justify and quickly get a return on your investment.
Reasons to implement warehouse automation in your warehouse
If your misconceptions about warehouse automation are being cleared then it is quite evident that automating the warehouse process will simplify a ton of complexity that happens in the day-to-day operations of the warehouse.
This simplification in the work process will lead to creating more productivity, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, and making the customer base more loyal to the company as their service is fast and optimum.
In addition to this with the implementation of warehouse automation employees’ performance will also be monitored accurately and even the quality of their work will be improved. All these factors will enable the company to gain more profits and increase its return on investment (ROI) in the long run.
Conclusion
To sum up, the implementation of warehouse automation will strengthen the overall process of supply chain management and logistics which indeed lead to creating more efficient pick-up and delivery services. Warehouse automation is done by implementing various types of technologies that vary for the different use cases.
Are you looking to automate your warehouse? If yes so please feel free to contact us at support@aeologic.com
