DoD picks KPMG to assist on 5G application for Marine Corp’s smart warehouse project
5G seen as useful for testing autonomous robotic inventory management, machine learning for inventory tracking, and augmented and virtual reality applications for workforce efficiency.
After a competitive one-year design phase, KPMG LLP – a U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm – was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as the sole prototype application developer for a United States Marine Corps (USMC) 5G smart warehouse in Albany, Georgia, according to a KPMG announcement today.
“KPMG is proud to support the DoD and USMC in delivering a state-of-the-art 5G smart warehouse that will ultimately allow the USMC to improve its operations,” said Brenda Walker, KPMG U.S. Federal Advisory lead partner.
In December 2020, the DoD, overseen by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, announced $600 million in awards for 5G experimentation across five U.S. military test sites. In its announcements about the awards, the DoD noted that the very high speeds and ultra-low latency characteristics of 5G networks allow for the development and testing of autonomous robotic inventory management, machine learning for inventory tracking, and augmented and virtual reality applications for improved workforce efficiency in warehouse operations.
“The conveyance, storage and accountability of gear in the United States Marine Corps will be transformed by the continued development of 5G applications. The work at Marine Force Storage Command’s 5G enabled smart warehouse located at the Marine Corps Logistics Command in Albany, GA is an important step in that process,” said Chad Jones, Federal Advisory managing director for KPMG U.S.
The project plan for the smart warehouse calls for testing phase for smart warehouse systems to begin in Jan 2023 and continue through Dec 2023, a KPMG spokesperson confirmed. The warehouse will transition to full operation in Jan 2024.
