Roughly 60% of businesses are planning to invest more in supply chain digitalization, Capgemini Research Institute reports. Digitalization allows for a high level of oversight into your operations. This makes it easy to collaborate and ultimately increases efficiency.
More companies are moving toward an automated warehouse, adopting technology like RFID and other tracking hardware. Automating your warehouse impacts every corner of your operations, from taking inventor to picking, docking, and delivery. It decreases human error while increasing accuracy, consistency and efficiency. When designed around your operations, automated solutions take the legwork out of identifying, tracking and managing your items, so your workers focus on their other tasks.
The best part about warehouse automation is that you can start small – in fact, we even recommend it for most companies! Starting small gives you time to adjust to the new technology, and it also provides an easy way to tell whether the technology is working to your expectations before further investing.
Here are some tactical steps you can take to embrace warehouse automation:
Consider a barcode or RFID site survey
Prioritize implementing technology at your operations’ weak points first
Use data in forecasting and planning
Download the Warehouse Maturity Model
These changes don’t happen overnight. There is a considerable amount of planning, research and preparation before you adopt any new technology. Our friends at Zebra put together a five-phrase warehouse maturity model that breaks this complex process down into achievable steps. Using this as a guide, you can establish which phase you fit into and where to prioritize.
Next Steps
You’ve just read the final part of our four-part series! Below, you can find the links to the other three blogs in this series. Part 1 gives you key facts about how 2020 shaped the supply chain. In part 2, we discuss how companies are shifting their business model. Finally, part 3 discusses how to build a resilient supply chain.
Strategies Are Changing.
So Should Your Tactics.
Changing Your Business Model
Building a Resilient Supply Chain
We have one more suggestion for executing your strategy: Contact us and leverage our more than 40 years of experience in the inventory tracking and management space. We’re here to make you better!
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HAVE QUESTIONS? WE’RE HERE FOR YOU.
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SOURCES
https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Fast-forward_Report.pdf