Warehouse 4.0: Smart tech brings transparency to global supply chain

Networking warehouse space

Networking and integration are not the sexiest topics in warehouse automation, but they may be some of the more in-demand Warehouse 4.0 functions being sought by 3PLs. Some software tools are being used to help logistics firms find warehouse space across wide geographic areas when seasonal variation creates spikes in demand for air cargo.

For instance, a British startup, called Stowga, operating for more than a year, offers a service to find on-demand space at locations around the U.K. and bundle it together in single package. For shippers and forwarders seeking warehouse space on a temporary basis, the ability to secure warehouse capacity opens them up to accept larger jobs they normally couldn’t handle. “Many customers don’t know where to start,” when it comes to seeking warehouse space,” said Joey Scully, Stowga’s chief experience officer. “Stowga can return three quotes for services within a day.” Stowga also offers pay-as-you-go services that can be stopped at any time, so the customer is not stuck in long-term leases, Scully said. “Where an individual warehouse can only market to people looking in a specific area of the country, we can cast a wider net.”

Late last year, Scully explained, Stowga’s analysis of logistics data noticed a spike in air cargo import activity around August and September in the U.K., which comes just after the annual rise in passenger flights, as families take their summer vacations. Stowga also determined that, from August through September, airline operators and contractors also import large quantities of materials that will be used in the post-summer aircraft maintenance and re-fit season. The company was able to help its aircraft maintenance client, Cabinair, find warehousing for the busy two-month period. “Our data science team tunes our marketing over the course of the year to rise and fall in line with the ebb and flow of different internationally traded commodities,” Scully added.

Making the future fun

One aspect of these Warehouse 4.0 systems that sometimes gets lost, is that technology can make what used to be monotonous work more enjoyable and engaging. In fact, as more companies add digital tools to their workplaces, managers are finding success through gamification – the transformation of assigned tasks into a friendly competition against other coworkers to incentivize the workforce.

Kenco’s McLelland said a company in Chattanooga, called Ambition, developed a product that helped gamify the freight brokerage business. After identifying some key performance indicators, like number of calls per hour or sales per day, they were able to turn that into a competitive scenario, “where all of a sudden their numbers started going through the roof,” he said. “It was young millennials that were largely making up their workforce. Here’s a generation who grew up on video games; that’s what they understood.”

By the end of this year, McLelland said he hopes Kenco comes up with a gamification prototype for its own operation. “We’re going to need more truck drivers, pilots, warehouse workers,” he said. Could Warehouse 4.0 tools be the pathway to a logistics workplace that’s both fun and productive? Perhaps humans can race robots to a picking goal. Workers with AR glasses could see who can find the the shortest route through the warehouse. Highest score “wins.”

Back at the RDC facility in New York state, IAM Robotics is preparing to launch its second Swift picking robot later this year. IAM’s Cameron stressed that Swift robots – and most Warehouse 4.0 innovations – are never intended to replace humans, just ease their burdens. No workers at RDC, he said, are expected to be laid off due to the robot deployment.

“It’s typical dull, dirty, dangerous work that you give to robots,” he said. “Demand for the job is going up with e-commerce, but the price that companies are willing to pay for that job is going down. That divergence is always where you say, ‘That’s where automation is needed.’”

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