What does the warehouse technology of the future look like?

Over the past decade, warehouse management has undergone significant changes. The COVID-19 pandemic, greater consumer access to technology and broader demand for delivery mean profits for companies like Amazon are up $12 billion compared with pre-pandemic estimates.

But meeting the growing demand for warehouses won’t be easy. The sheer volume and velocity of orders requires digitally integrated solutions at every level. Generous help from artificial intelligence is also needed to ensure everyone’s orders arrive on time and in the expected condition.

Fortunately, the future of warehouse technology has largely kept pace with demand. Compelling new technologies like autonomous forklifts can reduce risk, increase efficiency and help warehouse managers implement the technology of the future.

Future Warehouse Technology Training

Business leaders will be able to implement the future of warehouse technology if employees are adequately trained to use, fix and improve the technology at their disposal. At first glance, this may seem simple—employees in supply chain management have been trained before—but learning to make the most of future warehouse technology may require an entirely different approach to education and training.

While previous generations of warehouse workers may have been able to learn their trade on the job, the next wave of employees may learn the tools of their trade in the classroom. That’s because the future of warehouse technology has more to do with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and programming than it does with manual inventory management and inventory checking.

Greater access to STEM courses is needed to make skill leaps possible. Fortunately, initiatives to provide STEM courses to rural America are gaining traction. Improved internet access means rural students aged 5 to 17 can take advantage of remote learning. Increased access to STEM puts future employees in a strong position to develop and implement the future of warehouse technology.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized every stage of supply chain management. Supply chain experts can now use vast amounts of raw data to predict and respond to incidents caused by pandemics, accidents and global events.

In addition, artificial intelligence technology has further improved the efficiency of warehouse operations far beyond what was imagined 20 years ago. The rise of artificial intelligence in warehouse management is a natural progression for the industry. Artificial intelligence now plays an important role in warehouse automation, helping organization, productivity, accuracy, and employee safety.

At first, switching to an automated service may seem cumbersome. But, as many warehouse clerks and distribution managers are discovering, most existing materials and equipment can be easily documented using artificial intelligence. Pallet racks, shelving, and vertical mezzanines can be processed using artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) programs that process data at speeds that far exceed human cognitive capabilities.

Robotics

Warehouse management used to be a fairly hands-on industry, requiring workers to manually move and load goods.

Nowadays, more of the heavy lifting is being done by robotics technology following “Industry 4.0”. Today’s robotics can use new sensory data to mimic human vision and select the right package at the right time. Importantly, these robots, like drones, can scan and get into hard-to-reach places faster than humans.

Robotics technology still requires human supervision to avoid malfunctions and prevent them from affecting all operations, so there is still a lot of progress to be made. However, as artificial intelligence develops, mistakes will become increasingly easier to predict and prevent.

Prevent Mistakes

A future dominated by artificial intelligence is both promising and daunting. While technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence will certainly improve the overall efficiency of warehouse and supply chain management, one question always looms large: What if something goes wrong?

Most fears about artificial intelligence and new technologies are unfounded — multinational warehouse companies don’t make decisions based on whims or incomplete data. However, warehouse management companies should not leave disruptions to chance and should take all reasonable steps to ensure that network outages do not occur.

Warehouses using automation and artificial intelligence can reduce the risk of network outages through regular internal and external analysis of all hardware and software. Internal analysis is usually easy to accomplish (check routers, servers, and power supplies), but external analysis (ISPs, Internet gateways, cloud services, DNs) can be a bit trickier.

Working with a reliable provider is the easiest way to ensure your external network stays online. Multi-national, cloud-based services like those offered by Google and Microsoft experience fewer outages and offer more enterprise-grade diagnostics and support that can help companies get back up and running as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

The future of warehouse technology depends largely on the development of artificial intelligence. Machine learning programs enable AI-led robots to operate with greater accuracy and efficiency. This points to a promising future in which warehouse costs decrease and the speed of picking, inventory checking and delivery increases.

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