Warehouses were traditional business environments until recently. Now, they have begun to benefit immeasurably from technology that boosts efficiency, productivity, safety, and profits. And what was revolutionary just a few years ago is nothing compared to what we are seeing today.
Here are some of the 2023 tech trends in warehouse management so you can begin making plans for the coming year and beyond.
Cloud-based warehouse management systems (WMS) require no in-house IT or infrastructure for maintenance and have become increasingly popular in the logistics industry. These solutions provide a variety of benefits, including:
Cloud computing is a growing technology trend because it saves warehouses money and is completely scalable. For example, if you have mobile computer workstations in your warehouse, they can be connected to the cloud easily, and all work accomplished is saved instantly. Anyone who needs access to that data will be able to see it in real-time.
When your warehouse design isn’t optimized, or its processes aren’t as efficient as they could be, what’s the best way to improve these issues? It would be costly to do this through trial and error, where you make a series of changes to see whether they provide the desired benefits. Many warehouses are now using warehouse simulation technology to test and design new systems, processes, and products virtually before implementing them in the real world. This is also referred to as “digital twins.”
Using a digital twin, a warehouse uses a virtual prototype to design, validate, and monitor a process or object and detect any issues before it is reproduced physically. Using tools like cloud computing, machine learning, and AI, warehouses can use digital twins to simulate:
Using warehouse simulation, your business can reduce errors, increase productivity, and have better control over its operations.
The dramatic increase in eCommerce business coupled with continued labor issues has promoted more logistics businesses to invest in automation solutions. In fact, the growth rate in this market through 2026 is expected to be about 14% to a value of $30 billion. Here are just a few of the major trends in warehouse automation:
Green Logistics
One of the top agenda items of many brands today is to be more environmentally friendly. Whether your business is established or considered a startup, it’s equally important that sustainability is on the radar due to various regulatory and consumer pressures.
Becoming a sustainable warehouse involves much more than just committing to using earth-friendly packaging and reducing waste.
Technology has become key for modern-day “smart” warehouses to reduce their carbon footprint and minimize their overall impact on the environment. For example, using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, warehouses can get real-time data about energy use from sensors. Using this information, the business can optimize processes to become more sustainable.
Going paperless is another way warehouses are saving the environment and improving working conditions for employees. Using mobile computer workstations throughout the warehouse combined with RFID tags, workers can ditch the paper checklists and save a ton of trees.
Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics
The ongoing supply chain challenges represent a great deal of risk for logistics businesses. At the same time, there may be unrealized opportunities in an increasingly volatile market. Warehouses are now leveraging predictive and prescriptive analytics to analyze large quantities of information to identify patterns revealing useful information for improving business decisions.
Data can be “mined” from a variety of sources. Then, using machine learning and artificial intelligence, that information can be filtered and analyzed to turn it into valuable knowledge about things like predicting demand during peak season, identifying and avoiding supply chain bottlenecks, and detecting and combatting fraud.
With so many tech trends in warehouse management that can get you ahead in your business, it may be hard to focus on all of them at once. Fortunately, you can choose to tackle the ones you believe will deliver the best advantages and help you serve your clients’ needs.
No matter which warehouse trends you choose to prioritize, having a strategic partner you can trust can help you be more successful. At Newcastle Systems, we have years of experience in helping clients implement and maximize top-rated mobile computer workstations that increase productivity — from day one.
Related White Paper
Seven Ecommerce Warehouse Secrets That Deliver Big ROI
In this eBook, we let you in on 7 often overlooked secrets for trimming waste from your operations processes – along with an at-a-glance “ROI Rating” for each that ranks the secret’s ability to “pack a punch” in terms of ROI. Download Now!