Being that technology is always changing, there is a constant need for 3pl to keep up with the trends. This includes warehouse automation. There are multiple trends that are happening throughout the industry that are helping the overall business. With the uphill growth of E-Commerce sales, there is consistent movement in the warehouse.
Labor and transportation are in high demand in this industry and for companies being able to keep the logistics cost down is a huge priority. Companies are also noticing that the costs of these services have risen and have become more expensive to move their products. Warehouse automation has become the new way of making their operations easier. “More than 10% of U.S. warehouses were already using automated warehousing equipment (such as goods-to-person technology) as of 2016,” stated in convey.
What is warehouse automation?
Warehouse automation is the way a 3PL uses technology to perform warehouse tasks that will help the outcome with less effort. Warehouse automation is to help out the warehouse workers in order to get faster and more accurate results. Since the demand of outsourcing fulfillment is increasing, companies are looking to have a top-of-the-line WMS (warehouse management system). The way that this is happening is that warehouses are using more advanced WMS. The WMS is able to oversee inventory, picking, shipping, receiving, and putaway.
At CDL Logistics we have created our own WMS which allows us to have full control over the needs of our clients. We are coming out with a new updated version to have more capabilities that will meet our customer's needs. Our WMS helps streamline daily tasks that can be time-consuming and help the process of receiving, putaway, picking, packing, and shipping run smoothly.
Benefits of Warehouse automation
Speed is the main advantage of warehouse automation. By using a WMS makes the whole process easier to track each step. Each step of the process becomes quicker which alleviates more time for the workers to complete fulfillment orders. With Inventory Management it runs faster when automated. It becomes easier to record inventory when this could be the most time-consuming task. Some people use mobile devices to scan the inventory, so it is an accurate number of what is in stock. It cuts down the manual process and less room for data entry errors. Some warehouses are implementing robots which are improving order turnaround times.
As stated in Convey, “Worldwide sales of warehouse automation technology (robotics, logistics, etc.) reached $1.9 billion in 2016 and are expected to reach a market value of $22.4 billion by the end of 2021.” Warehouse automation is becoming the new way that all companies will adapt to.
