Principles of Building Warehouses of Tomorrow

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Warehouse infrastructure and operations have seen rapid evolution over the last couple of decades. Much of that is thanks to the broader technological advancement in everyday society primarily driven by the proliferation of the Internet, the staggering volume of user-generated data, and the shrinking size of computer processors.

Still, whereas today’s warehouses are more sophisticated than in the 1990s, they must brace for an ever more sophisticated business environment in the future.

For instance, eCommerce’s growth has shrunk the average time products remain on warehouse shelves. This has made warehouses less of a weeks-long storage facility and more of a daily one.

It is not possible to predict the future of warehousing with absolute certainty. The idea is to create a warehouse more likely to successfully drive the supply chain trends of tomorrow. But where do you begin? How do you build a future-ready warehouse? Some essential principles can help you navigate. Let’s take a look at the more important ones.

Advanced Warehouse Management Systems

Warehouse management systems (WMS) are meant to streamline warehouse operations (such as identifying opportunities for better freight rates) while creating seamless handoffs with other supply chain processes. WMS technology has evolved substantially over the years. Ever more demanding consumers will necessitate deploying WMS that is built for unprecedented levels of eCommerce fulfillment speed and accuracy.

Example 1: Integrating WMS with Barcode Scanners

Think about the full automation of cycle counts. WMS integration with RFID readers and barcode scanners can significantly improve this otherwise time-consuming and error-prone process. That way, it will just take a day or two to complete a weeks-long manual cycle count. And with such short turnaround times, cycle counts can be performed with higher frequency.

One of Gramener’s clients is a major player in the semiconductor industry that produces a variety of products using raw materials from various suppliers around the world. The company faced challenges with using various software and solutions to validate labels.

Traditional barcode generator solutions require manual setup to meet label standards and often struggle with language conversion, resulting in unreadable labels.

To address these issues, Gramener developed BarGen, an automated barcode application that can be used on the web or in Excel and generates both 1-D and 2-D barcode labels that are supported by most devices using widely available fonts. BarGen is built on Gramex, Gramener’s low-code platform.

Example 2: Automated Appointment Scheduling for Warehouses

Another example would be warehouse appointments. United States Cold Storage faced the unique challenge of scheduling carrier appointments accurately to avoid long turn times, poor customer experience, and hefty penalties.

Gramener helped them implement the Intelligent Appointment Scheduler. This predictive AI solution helped their warehouse teams identify appointment slots automatically to keep the warehouse optimally staffed and achieve the best turn times.

The improved visibility of products and processes from the moment items are received at the warehouse to the point they are dispatched to a retailer or end consumer can only bode well. It enhances inventory accuracy, inventory reconciliation, balance sheet reporting, and regulatory compliance.

Modern Mobile Technology

The world has come a long way from when computers, laptops, and smartphones were the preserve of an elite, tech-savvy minority. Now, the average person spends hours every day looking at their smartphone. So it is surprisingly counterintuitive when warehouse companies compel their workers to use outdated warehouse equipment that relies on green screens, keypads, and less intuitive workflows.

There would be substantial progress in efficiency, speed, and accuracy if staff were to use tools they are already comfortable with and accustomed to in their daily lives.

Further, modern mobile technology and warehouse apps provide greater precision in product scanning, item picking, and inventory visibility. That way, staff has real-time access to the WMS, can validate order/product data, and have the power to make quick decisions on the warehouse floor.

Touchscreen mobile gadgets will be with us for a while, and future warehouse technologies and applications will continue to be built with them in mind. So get a head start by getting in early.

On-demand Warehousing

The sharing economy is with us. Popular apps such as Airbnb and Uber are prime examples.

In certain cities, it is hard even to envisage how society functioned before these conveniences emerged. Yet, the sharing model spreads into multiple facets of life and work. Sharing makes an otherwise expensive product or service available for a short window of use in exchange for a relatively affordable fee.

So it is only natural that it is seeping into warehousing as well. A growing number of apps are transforming the buying and selling of surplus warehouse capacity in near real-time. With that, warehouse managers can maximize usage and income by leasing the additional space for hours, days, weeks, or months.

The unused space effectively becomes an asset that the warehouse can make available to the market almost instantly, all the while creating a new income stream.

Predictive IoT-powered Maintenance

Modern warehouses are increasingly an environment featuring hundreds of moving parts that comprise the machines and systems required to keep things running efficiently.

The downside of such automation and technology dependence is the need for prompt, proactive maintenance to minimize downtime. This will only work if warehouse equipment and systems are built for self-diagnosis.

Future-ready warehouses are fitted with asset management systems, 3D virtual representations of warehouse equipment, RFID tags, IoT sensors, and multiple AI-driven tools that deliver rich insights into the state of equipment, materials, and even products. With this, warehouse managers can know early what equipment is due for an upgrade or maintenance or is showing wear and requiring earlier-than-expected intervention.

Unexpected equipment, system, or product failure is bad for business. It is disruptive, expensive, and may tarnish the warehouse’s reputation.

Quick, proactive maintenance means you can address minor, easy-to-fix problems before they become major, paralyzing crises.

Robotics

Alibaba, Amazon, and other retail giants’ use of robots in their warehouses has routinely made international headlines. Devoid of the multi-billion dollar budgets of such mega-corporations, the average warehouse operator will probably see robotics as something out of reach.

But just as many of today’s unremarkable gadgets were at some point prohibitively expensive before experiencing a steady price fall as mass production took root, the same could happen to robots. They are unlikely to remain as expensive in the future as they are today.

And for warehouses that do not think they can afford to deploy any physical robots soon, they could take steps to be ready for robotics. That could be by, for instance, procuring robotic software and cognitive applications powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Robotic software would automate sets of small, repetitive tasks. This will deliver practical efficiency gains while simultaneously preparing the warehouse staff’s mindset for robotics use in the future.

Wrapping Up

The only sure thing about the future of warehousing is change. While the basic principles of warehousing are likely to endure, the typical warehouse decades from now will run starkly differently from today.

The future is never fully predictable, so it would not be financially prudent to try to invest in a warehouse that is completely ready for the envisaged state of business two or three decades from now.

Most changes will be gradual, though, so it’s all about establishing a warehouse that won’t require radical transformation for the foreseeable future so as to adapt to market trends. Applying these principles to your warehouse infrastructure and its operations is thus essential to make it future-proof.

Note: This is a guest post from Jake Rheude, the Vice President of Marketing for Red Stag Fulfillment. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Gramener or its members.