E-commerce is predicted to generate 19% of holiday retail sales this year. As more consumers do their shopping online, supply chain challenges are expected to continue adding pressure to an already stressed workforce. Warehouse operators, therefore, are increasingly embracing technology and augmenting workers with automated technology solutions, reports Material Handling & Logistics (Sept. 28, 2021) . Their ultimate goals are to boost hiring and employee retention, automate smart workflows, improve inventory visibility and management, and protect both operations and customer data with enhanced cybersecurity measures.
Despite more people entering the workforce, warehouses of all sizes face a labor shortage that threatens output and, eventually, customer satisfaction. Prospective employees expect a tech-enabled workplace because they already depend on mobile devices and constant connectivity in their personal lives. These expectations often translate to jobseekers choosing workplaces where they can rely on technology to improve their productivity and make everyday tasks easier to complete. While it takes an average of 4.5 weeks for workers to reach full productivity, mobile devices can speed up the training process.
In today’s warehouse and logistics environments, front-line workers are invaluable. They are also much more than just warehouse employees in the traditional sense—they’re tech operatives as well. As warehouse operations mature, automation refers to the bundling of separate technologies to better solve problems and free up workers to concentrate on higher-order tasks. Automated warehouse operations can integrate workforce management, inventory management and asset management.
Technology plays a major role in improving employee self-sufficiency and job satisfaction, especially if it can automate tasks and decision-making that would otherwise slow down workers or lead to mistakes. Giving them the right software tools, along with mobile devices designed for warehouse use, helps them move more easily through tasks. It also helps ensure accuracy during receiving, putaway, picking, packing and shipping processes.
Mobility solutions, when combined with barcoding systems, RFID and intelligent workflow software, can automate data capture and task assignments and take the guesswork out of locationing and decision making. This, in turn, helps improve the accuracy of operations and makes workers more efficient.
Classroom discussion questions:
- Why is automation a particular concern for small warehouses?
- What are some of the tools Amazon uses to automate? (Hint: see earlier posts by typing Amazon into the search bar)