smart warehousing
What is Smart Warehousing and its Six Technology Trends
The future development direction of warehousing: smart warehousing
Logistics warehousing is the use of self-built or leased warehouses and venues to store, keep, load, unload, and distribute goods. The traditional definition of warehousing is given from the perspective of material reserves. Modern warehousing is not “warehouse” or “warehouse management” in the traditional sense, but warehousing under the integration of the global economy and supply chain.
The warehousing industry has gone through three stages of development: manual warehousing, mechanized warehousing, and automated warehousing, and is developing in the direction of smart warehousing.
The development of intelligent logistics industry
1970-1989 (mechanization): robots, AGVs, UAVs, and cargo-to-person technology began to appear; with the rise of technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, sky data, and artificial intelligence, intelligent logistics has gradually begun to show a rapid development trend.
1990-2016 (automation): combined shelves, AGV was born, the introduction of Siemens PLC control technology, automatic access system, electronic scanner, bar code, and other technical means of automatic control system began to be widely used, and the ERP/WMS system was widely used.
2016 to date (smart): Development of the first generation of storage robots, stackers, power cars, conveyor belts, forklifts, weightlifting equipment, etc.; the conveyor and sorter system appeared, and the introduction of Germany’s SIEMAG (SIEMAG) full set of logistics automation technology.
So what exactly is smart warehousing?
“Smart warehousing” means the use of advanced information technology to improve the intelligent storage equipment in the storage management process. Through the construction of a set of standardized processes of modern information management systems, it improves the collection, processing, circulation, and management and analysis of the information processing chain, including warehousing, warehousing, warehousing, warehousing, inventory, scanning, and distribution of the business chain scheduling level.
Smart warehousing can achieve better effects on improving the flow rate of goods, reducing logistics costs and resource consumption, and improving the level of logistics services. The key technologies involved in intelligent warehousing are Internet of Things technology, RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, sensing technology, and so on.
What does the specific smart warehouse include?
Smart warehousing mainly includes the integration of new technologies, the accumulation of data assets, information, product communication, and intelligent operation, involving warehousing and transportation, warehousing, distribution, packaging, loading and unloading, warehousing, warehousing, and other links to achieve automated operation and efficient operation.
New technology integration: The Internet of Things, AI, big data, and other new Internet technologies—the deep integration will promote the efficient operation of all aspects of logistics and warehousing and reduce warehousing costs.
Accumulation of data assets: The accumulation of data assets will effectively accelerate the process of digital transformation of various enterprises and accelerate the completion of enterprise digital transformation.
Information and product communication: Through the characteristics of information flow and product flow, it can meet the needs of different industries for intelligent logistics and warehousing, achieve accurate application, and improve the sense of enterprise experience.
Intelligent operation: Improve the operation capacity of logistics and warehousing, and provide safe, reliable, and economic comprehensive capabilities for production lines, transportation, and manufacturing.
Smart warehousing technology trends
As the core link of logistics and the supply chain, the warehousing and logistics system’s operational efficiency, service quality, and operating cost have always been the key indicators of enterprises.
An efficient and reasonable warehousing and logistics system can help enterprises speed up the flow of materials, reduce costs, ensure the smooth progress of production, and realize the effective control and management of resources.
Smart warehousing logistics technology has the following six core trends:
1. From automation to highly flexible automation
With the continuous progress of industrial society, warehousing and logistics technology has gradually developed from manual stacking planar warehouses to automated rigid stereoscopic warehouses and then to highly flexible automatic stereoscopic warehouses. Forklift technology has allowed the storage system to enter the era of mechanized three-dimensional storage, and the space utilization rate of the warehouse has been greatly improved, while retaining the characteristics of high flexibility.
The advantages of unmanned, high efficiency, and high space utilization make automated three-dimensional storage gradually become the best storage solution for manufacturing and business.
The finished product is transported directly from the production line to the shelves of the finished product warehouse. This is an important step for warehouse logistics technology to be highly flexible automation.
2. High-density
With the deepening of urbanization, the problem of land scarcity is becoming more and more serious, and the storage and logistics land, which is indispensable for industry, commerce, and society, is also increasingly scarce, and high-density storage and logistics technology has become a development trend.
On the one hand, the traditional shelves are built higher and higher, some even more than 40 meters, to make full use of the limited floor space of the warehouse. Such storage systems generally use ultra-high stackers to complete the warehousing operations. On the other hand, the number of laneways is reduced to achieve high-density storage of goods in both horizontal and vertical directions.
3. Pick paperless and automated
Picking is a labor-intensive operation in warehousing logistics, and in some e-commerce logistics centers, picking operations even account for 50% of warehouse operating costs. In order to improve the efficiency of picking and reduce the total cost of warehousing and logistics, the picking methods and technologies have been continuously innovated in recent years, and the picking operations have become more dynamic, and some areas have also realized the automation of picking. In order to improve the sorting efficiency and reduce the error rate, paperless sorting has become a general trend.
4. Go digital
Logistics runs through the whole process of enterprise business, and the digitalization of the warehousing and logistics system, as the core link of logistics, is the top priority of enterprise digitalization construction. Through the warehouse Internet of Things, information acquisition hardware equipment investment, and the application of digital twin technology, the construction of warehouse digital management, such as digital large screens, Kanban, and executive driving warehouse, so as to lay a good foundation for enterprises in logistics digitization and network construction.
5. Transparency and predictability
Through digitization and network construction, visual management of warehousing logistics can be achieved, and the next step is the transparency of the whole process and the accurate prediction of future business. Through transparency, we can optimize the process, improve the speed, efficiency, and quality of logistics, and reduce logistics costs.
6. Be smart
The ultimate goal of the development of warehousing and logistics technology is intelligence. That is, on the basis of digitalization and transparency, the warehousing and logistics system is endowed with the ability to sense, analyze, learn, and make decisions by imitating the intelligence of biology and human beings.
Even the use of “deep learning” technology, so that the system has the ability to think, reason, judge, and solve complex logistics problems by itself, such as the current fire ChatGPT technology, intelligent robots, and so on.
