Ways Logistics Technology Is Impacting Warehousing
For years, the weak link between manufacturer to warehouse to retail outlet to consumer was logistics. Each component functioned separately and often while all the other components were in the dark regarding transporting and delivery, fulfilling orders, and managing inventory. Logistics technology changed that, and the change is rapidly escalating, particularly considering the issues revealed in logistics and supply chain management over the past few years. The following summarises several ways logistics technology is impacting warehousing and supply chain management.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Has Remade Stock Tracking
RFID has made it possible to track inventory, whether it be specific items, batches of items, or the location of items in shipments, which has improved stock knowledge of the following:
- Warehousers
- Retail management
- Customers via more informed insights regarding stock availability and location
Practically, RFID has placed a tracker on every inventoried item, allowing warehouse managers to know instantly what items they have and their stock levels. Additionally, it has let warehousers more accurately forecast stock consumption trends and identify shortfalls.
Both developments help warehouses avoid running out of stock if the supply chain runs smoothly. Equally important, retailers have a tool to help inform customers of what is available and when it will likely be in the retailer’s hands.
Coupling GPS with RFID to Get Real-Time Delivery Estimates
Merging these two technologies has allowed manufacturers to inform warehouses when to expect delivery, warehousers to inform retailers, and retailers to let customers know when their stock will be delivered. That development has enhanced the information that can be relayed to customers and, with online purchases, lets the customer know when to expect their products.
Using newer Wi-Fi technologies, the internet of things has made locations trackable, usually within minutes of delivery. Warehousers, retailers, and customers can know a product has been processed and shipped and when it is due to arrive at a destination. Transparency in this regard has removed what was once a giant vortex of uninformed guessing regarding product availability and delivery.
Real-Time Inventory Management
Stock tracking software and apps have been around for years, but their importance cannot be exaggerated. Knowing a sporting goods store has sold a particular number of sneakers, what it has left in stock, and when new shipments arrive has reinvented customer service. Tracking within warehouses has also helped avoid gluts in stock and bottlenecks in delivery.
Most importantly, inventory management via IT has improved customer service in ways unimaginable in the past. For example, if a customer wants to buy a particular item in one location of a chain retailer, their options if that retailer is out of the item they want used to go to a different location of the retailer or a different retailer altogether.
With real-time inventory management, that initial retailer can find out instantly if that stock item is available in another store. That opens up the following options to either preserve the sale or generate exceptional customer satisfaction:
- Inform the customer that they can go to that location
- Have the item picked up at that location and delivered to the retailer
- Have the item shipped directly to the customer
- Inform the customer when that item will be in stock at that first location
Better Warehouse Inventory Management
Another way logistics technology is impacting warehousing is inventory management.
From a warehousing perspective, knowing what is in stock and where it is located lets warehouse managers inform retailers what is in the pipeline for delivery and lets them anticipate demand shifts and adjust inventory accordingly. Being able to anticipate inventory shifts lets warehouse employees better utilise space and at least anticipate shortfalls.
Technology has also improved the speed at which an order can be fulfilled. By knowing exactly where to look in a warehouse for an item, warehouse employees can cut the time it takes to locate and prepare an item or items for delivery.
Quicker location of items and more efficient packaging processes work at the individual shipment level directly to customers and at the batch level where pallets of items get shipped to retailers.
The speed not only means items get into retailers’ and customers’ hands quicker, but it also means money is saved by avoiding wasting employees’ time looking for items. No matter how large a warehouse operation is, if the inventory technology gets utilised properly, warehouse employees can quickly identify the following about an item:
- If the item is in stock
- How much of the item is in stock
- When replenishment shipments are due
- Where an item has been allocated
- Where an item is physically located in a warehouse
Each of those benefits means warehouse employees spend less time working out the logistics of an order and more time fulfilling that order.
Quicker Fulfilment
If an employee receives an order and then searches through a massive warehouse, time gets wasted, and money lost in the form of other orders not being fulfilled. Anyone that has worked in a manually managed warehouse knows how frustrating it can be to have one item no one can find that holds up an entire shipment.
By warehouse mapping software and light-guided fulfilment systems, products can be quickly located and selected in the most efficient manner possible. Searching for hours for that one item is a thing of the past. As importantly, if the item is out of stock, fulfilment staff and management know that in an instant.
Better Forecasting
The recent pandemic stretched inventory fulfilment processes to their maximum. Delays in delivery and stockpiling by consumers led to massive product shortfalls in key categories. With better forecasting, born of better inventory tracking, those types of issues, while not unavoidable in severe circumstances, are better able to be anticipated.
That means warehousers can anticipate supply chain issues and modify their operations or product manufacturers to keep stock up for commonly desired items. It also means purchasers can adapt to recognised bottlenecks and prepare retailers for shortfalls.
Final Thoughts
So, what are the ways logistics technology is impacting warehousing? Technology has reinvented supply chain management, significantly altering warehouse management. Processes that used to be time-consuming and, in some cases, a guess are now quickly completed. That has led to happier customers and retailers and more efficient warehouse employees.
There is no downside to greater utilisation of technology in warehousing. If you are considering harnessing warehousing technology, you should talk to an expert today.
