From automating inventory management with robotics to making handheld devices more robust for harsh environments, IoT is bringing new changes to warehousing.
The largest warehouses can extend to blocks. It has miles of concrete floors that aging feet have to walk on every day as workers store and pick items for orders. A significant part of the warehouse activities still takes place on paper. Many different items now occupy the shelves, reflecting how companies have tailored products to meet a wide variety of customer wants and needs. Supply chains are under pressure. Warehouse inventories are not always accurate. In some cases, it is difficult to maintain the quality of goods.
In short, it’s the perfect storm for Internet of Things technology to come up with automation that can simplify work processes and improve warehouse operations.
Automation is key
Warehouse managers and employees want automation that can streamline workloads and provide greater visibility into warehouse operations.
TO SEE: Hiring Kit: IoT developer (Tech Republic Premium)
IoT is ideal for that. A combination of sensors and wearable, voice-controlled IoT devices are connected to a network. Information is entered into a warehouse management system so that inventory can be tracked and traced. Real-time data is fed into analysis programs. The analyzes help managers to assess where the bottlenecks in the warehouse are and how to solve them.
Driverless forklifts and inventory robots fan out the floor and move heavy packages from point to point. This reduces wear and tear on employees. Perishable items such as medicines and food can be checked for safety and freshness, preventing spoilage.
How IoT automates the warehouse
Stock track and trace
As truck fleets are equipped with on-board IoT sensors to track and trace inventory, the idea of a stationary physical warehouse for inventory distribution is reinvented. In some cases, companies don’t use warehouses at all. Instead, they use their moving fleets as warehouses, moving goods directly from producers to customers. The trucks are equipped with IoT sensors and instruments that monitor, track and adjust inventory.
Inventory management
Smarter barcodes enable warehouse workers to better track inventory items and item changes. Warehouse managers use both 1D and 2D barcodes with their WMS systems. The linear 1D barcodes form UPC labels and are convenient because they can be easily modified.
An alternative option is the 2D barcode, which is used in more complex products such as medical equipment. The 2D barcode cannot be changed as easily as a 1D barcode, but can contain much more information, such as photos, instructions, website addresses, and voice-based data.
In either case, warehouse workers can use wearable or voice-enabled IoT devices to automatically capture data and send it to a centralized inventory management system. This promotes greater inventory accuracy.
Hands-free IoT technology
Handheld RFID devices have been a staple in warehouses for years, but they hinder worker efficiency when it comes to storing items or picking items for orders. An inventory or pick of an item requires employees to record the activity on their handheld devices, but they must then set the devices down so that they can perform the physical inventory or pick. Today, this inefficiency is being addressed with the introduction of voice-enabled IoT headsets that enable employees to voice report stocking or picking activities to a WMS system, freeing their hands to stock or pick.
Robots, drones, automated transport systems and self-propelled forklift trucks
Tesla’s Nevada warehouse is 5.3 million square feet, and warehouse sizes for Boeing, Volkswagen and Amazon are not far behind. That’s a lot of floor space for warehouse workers. To solve the problem, companies are turning to IoT technology in the form of robots, drones and automated conveyor belts.
Drones can monitor stock levels and monitor safety in large warehouses. Automated conveyors equipped with IoT sensors and devices can move and track goods between stations. Self-propelled forklifts can move goods around the warehouse and robots can be trained by human operators to pack goods. They can all be connected to a WMS system to report real-time data and status.
Help for the garden
The most neglected part of the warehouse is the yard. Companies implementing WMS don’t always make in-kind system investments in yard management. They manage yards by walking around, with employees inspecting trucks that are there to load or unload goods.
Sometimes there are costly delays in loading and unloading. In one case, a warehouse manager told me they had missed a truckload of lettuce. The truck had been in the yard for three weeks, never unloaded. Needless to say, the entire shipment is spoiled.
Today, warehouse management is supported by the implementation of yard management systems and by the addition of IoT devices and sensors that monitor the load. Best before dates and readable barcodes are stamped on individual boxes of produce showing the time of day the product was picked. In the case of strawberries, for example, a box picked early in the morning has a longer shelf life than a box picked in the afternoon. The inside of truck containers is equipped with IoT sensors that continuously measure humidity and temperature to ensure perishables stay fresh.
On the warehouse site itself, employees are equipped with rugged IoT smartphones and devices that can withstand dusty conditions in the courtyard, heat or cold outside, and accidental drops of devices on floors.
Conclusion
Warehouses continue to be challenged in areas such as inventory management, staffing, space utilization and returns. The good news is that they are moving forward. Automation will be a game-changer in the future, as will system integration. In both scenarios, IoT will play an indispensable role.
If you’re working to deploy IIoT in your enterprise, selecting the right software is critical. There are hundreds of IIoT platforms and each is slightly different from the next, so how do you choose? This one articleincluding links to TechRepublic Premium resources, may help.
