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ORDER PICKING


FULFILLING THE FUTURE


The exponential boom of e-commerce has placed increased pressure on warehouses to meet customer delivery expectation. Businesses are working to futureproof operations against the challenges facing the sector so that parcels can be delivered quickly and efficiently. But how can the present and future requirements of fulfilment centres be met effectively to ensure that productivity and profitability are maximised? The answer lies in flexible, easy to integrate and scalable automation systems. Hans Jongebloed, senior postal and parcel expert at Prime Vision, a global leader in computer vision integration and robotics for logistics and e-commerce, explores modern trends affecting warehousing and how operators can unlock the doors to the fulfilment centre of the future.


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xpected to surpass $8.1 trillion globally by 2026 and achieving an annual revenue of over $120 billion in the UK in 2021, e- commerce is quickly supplanting traditional retail, creating a 24/7


economy where consumer orders must be fulfilled as quickly as possible and without error. This boom has meant existing warehouse infrastructures and personnel are often struggling to achieve ever greater fulfilment targets. This is challenging enough in isolation, but other conditions play a factor. First, reshoring of supply chains is bringing fulfilment centres closer to home. Businesses are looking to insulate operations from disruption, moving facilities nearer to customers


to shorten delivery times. However, space on the planet is finite, which often restricts the size of available warehousing or what can be built locally. Companies must be flexible to fit in the space that is available, which often means maximising the existing footprint.


CONSIDERING HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS The approach to labour must also adapt. Existing warehouse personnel manually transporting goods over every day to meet ever-rising fulfilment targets is unsustainable physically and incompatible with next day delivery. Compounding this, the e-commerce boom has been so sudden that there are simply not enough workers available to support demand. Therefore, existing staff need assistance to improve work circumstances, forgoing manual labour in favour of more efficient tasks suited to their skillset. Sustainability requirements exert an influence too. Efforts to minimise the environmental footprint of an organisation and building multiple large warehouses are often mutually exclusive – so smaller, more space efficient sites are needed. Achieving this


means higher racking and more optimised inventories. A compact, local operation can also consume less energy and reduces emissions from delivery vehicles.


FULFILMENT THROUGH AUTOMATION Against these extenuating factors, automation offers a proven way to futureproof warehouse operations. Applicable to every aspect of a fulfilment centre, it facilitates the operational efficiencies required to achieve higher delivery targets, all while optimising local sites and reducing the burden on personnel. Application of automation begins when


factory goods arrive at the warehouse. Semi- automated systems can unload stock onto conveyors, which is then scanned, sorted and transferred to storage. At this point, an automatic storage and retrieval system can track and pick items for an order in the correct sequence. Personnel then take items and pack them into a box provided by a robot. Once packaged, a robot can close and seal the box and apply a barcode, transferring it to the delivery point or even a vehicle. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) supplement this framework. Using AI-


46 JULY/AUGUST 2023 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS


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