Dive Brief:
- Warehouse operations are labor intensive and, as such, have the most to gain from digital transformation, a report by Panasonic on Modern Materials Handling suggests.
- Given the repetitiveness of many warehouse tasks, every percentage point increase in productivity can translate to millions of dollars in savings. The report claims mobile technology is well suited for such productivity gains given its portability and reliance on human engagement.
- A VDC Research study suggests warehouse operators prioritize ruggedness (drop protection), battery life, reliability, price and embedded wireless options while investing in new warehouse mobile technology. Investments in mobile technology are expected to increase to $2.2 billion by 2017, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
Introducing technologies into the workplace can at time meet cultural resistance, but mobile and portable technology's reliance on human workers allows warehouses to increase productivity while maintaining worker engagement.
"Particularly in the cases where the operator shares in the gains they are going to want to adopt these new tools," Mark Wheeler, director of supply chain solutions for Zebra Technologies told Supply Chain Dive.
New technologies need not be complex or capital intensive, either. One of Zebra's tools is a portable printer for multi-color labels in the warehouse and a scanner that can detect colors and sort them as categories, which will help both the human eye and the technology expedite the picking process.
Other new technologies can help not just warehouses, but logistics and transportation companies as well, be able to analyze and update information real time. Yet, the report states as many as 80% of warehouses are still on the pen-and-paper stage.
