How Warehouses Are Using Location Technology to Meet Surging E-Commerce Demand

It's official: COVID-19 has forever changed the way consumers shop. Last year, e-commerce grew 42%. According to reports, $ 813 billion has been spent online. In the first two months of 2021, consumers spent $ 121 billion online, up 34% year over year.

What does this mean for warehouse operators? For starters, it shows the urgent need for technology applications that can help them get products to consumers faster and more efficiently. In a survey of small and medium-sized warehouse operators conducted by BizTechInsights on behalf of Zebra, 55% of respondents said they plan to transform their operations to get real-time guidance, improve decision-making, and ensure their performance is data-driven. One type of technology that is helping warehouse operators meet these new requirements is Real Time Location Systems (RTLS).

RTLS offers warehouse operators better insight into their assets, from inventory and forklifts to order picking trolleys and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The technology goes further than traditional barcodes and uses sensors to capture data without the need for line of sight.

RTLS encompasses a wide range of location technologies, from Bluetooth beacons and passive radio frequency identification (RFID) to comprehensive systems that support constant communication between tagged assets and back-end processes. Many warehouse operators choose to use a combination of location-based technologies to meet their needs in a cost-effective manner.

RTLS technology tracks assets within warehouse walls and creates reality systems that allow operators to determine where their assets are and how efficiently they are being managed. For example, order pickers can use a combination of location-based and portable technologies to complete orders faster, pick multiple orders at once, replenish products between picks, and prioritize urgent orders when picking.

With portable heads-up displays integrated with the warehouse management system (WMS), employees can complete orders faster by receiving step-by-step visual picking instructions that point them directly to the correct container. When a picker finishes picking an order in bin A, the WMS can use the picker's location to find the closest order.

If an order is not available nearby, the system can instruct the order picker to do a quick cycle count in the closest bin or start refilling items. The WMS could also send a collaborative robot or cobot to the picker's location to pick up a completed order or deliver returns for replenishment in that aisle.

Given that up to 60% of a picker's time is spent walking, these time savings can add up quickly and result in a significant increase in the number of orders picked daily.

Passive RFID systems offer an inexpensive way to automate operations such as inbound and outbound processing. RFID systems eliminate the need to manually scan the barcode of each product when a shipment arrives or leaves it.

Instead, entire pallets with dozens of tagged products can be automatically scanned in seconds when the pallet passes a fixed RFID reader installed near the docking door. Employees can also use handheld handheld readers to quickly scan an entire pallet instead of scanning the barcode of each item individually. The collected data is automatically uploaded to the WMS or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system and compared with advanced shipping notifications or shipping logs to verify that it is correct.

RTLS technology also helps improve inventory accuracy by providing a better view of the inventory location when it enters, moves to, or leaves the warehouse. Operators find that with greater accuracy, they can dramatically reduce stock outages (OOS) that have long plagued the industry. According to NielsenIQ, OOS cost US retailers more than $ 3 billion in lost sales from May 2020 to February 2021 in just 10 product categories that ranged from toilet paper and cleaning products to dog food.

Bearings around the world are using these real world applications in increasing numbers, largely due to changes in costs that make them much more affordable. Now companies of all sizes can achieve much-needed efficiencies in their warehouse and supply chain operations.

By integrating it into back-end systems, RTLS technology helps warehouse operators to improve internal processes and to react quickly to disruptions in the supply chain.

Integrated, intelligent RTLS solutions go beyond mere data acquisition. They also help warehouse operators use this data to keep things running smoothly. Suppose a truck scheduled for a particular dock door is stuck and arrives two hours late, but the staging has already started in anticipation of its arrival. The obvious question is: how fast can the warehouse team turn?

When RTLS technology is integrated with the transport management system (TMS) and the shipyard management system (YMS), the warehouse team is notified when a truck arrives late so that staff can use analytics to adapt to the new reality. With the help of prescriptive analytics, warehouse operators can immediately determine which truck should instead be directed to the planned docking door so that the shipment can still be delivered on time.

Previously, warehouse managers had to deal with these situations manually. However, today's RFID solutions don't just tell them that something has changed that could affect operations. The RFID data is integrated into back-end systems and gives the front-line employees specific instructions on how to quickly adapt to these changes.

For this reason, 46% of warehouse operators in the recent BizTechInsights survey stated that the most important feature of a modern warehouse system is the ability to integrate it with existing warehouse applications.

Gone are the days when a paper selection list was printed out or paper dispatch logs were used. However, implementing the right technology remains a struggle for warehouse operators. 57 percent of BizTechInsights survey respondents say their biggest challenge is making sure their employees have the right technical tools to work efficiently and accurately.

The good news is that RTLS technology, especially when combined with back-end software systems and portable solutions like heads-up displays and ring scanners, is helping employees do their jobs more efficiently. It also enables them to quickly identify and resolve problems. So it's no wonder that these tools are becoming increasingly popular with warehouse operators of all sizes.

John Wirthlin is industry director for manufacturing, transportation and logistics at Zebra Technologies.

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