What is warehouse automation and how it is evolving?
We can define warehouse automation as a system, where Information technology, equipment and machineries work together to simplify laborious and time-consuming repetitive tasks performed in a warehouse by humans.
It starts with basic level of automation, where simple conveyor systems are used to move goods from point A to B. And then advanced level of automation, where we can see involvement of machine learning, data analytics, robotic equipment, etc. to automate tasks and working procedures.
As E-commerce market is becoming more competitive, the warehousing sector is shifting from unorganized to market driven well-structured and organized sector that will create path for modern industrial growth and new business opportunities.
How is Atmos helping in the development of Smart Warehouses?
When we say “Smart Warehouse”, we can expect smart usage of machines and technology in order to achieve high productivity, efficiency, accuracy, and optimal results.
Atmos contribution towards warehousing industry is to provide customized solutions for easy flow of goods, inventory tracking &management, order fulfilment and maintaining flexibility within warehouses.
Our following smart warehousing solutions ensures proper optimization of available resources, reduction in human errors & operational costs, increased productivity and overall efficiency.
Autonomous Case-handling Robotic (ACR) System for intelligent picking and handling and thus improving the warehouse’s storage density and operational efficiency.
Robotic Palletizing System for easily pick and place goods onto pallets.
Dimensioning Weighing Scanning (DWS) System for automatic capturing product dimensions and weight.
Sortation Systems for enabling 99.99% accuracy in sorting products based on defined attributes.
Conveyor solutions for faster and safer transportation of goods from one location to another.
How are e-commerce players leveraging warehousing solutions for seamless product delivery?
For e-commerce players warehousing is the major part of their supply chain process. Many ecommerce merchants have implemented automated systems in their facilities to save time and money. Safely storing products, maintaining accurate inventory data, tracking item’s location when order arrives, picking, packing and shipping right inventory on time is what warehousing all about.
Companies started using “Warehouse Management System” (WMS) for real-time visibility into inventory and product availability. Streamlining the warehouse operations and forecasting supply and demand to neglect product shortage. AMR/AGVs are being used for batch picking, reducing the walking and time taken to pick an order. E-commerce companies utilizes combination of dynamic solutions for products packaging, labelling, sorting, etc. such that orders delivered to customers on time and shipping costs remain minimal.
How warehousing automation is contributing to smart city-infra?
While there is little direct correlation between warehouse automation and smart city infrastructure, but indirectly there are quite a few ways in which it can be helpful. People often move out of their homes for shopping purposes, all the more so when the need is to get an item immediately. This definitely adds to the traffic and pollution menace. Increased automation of warehouses can help improve the situation by ensuring that people get their products in the minimum possible time gap, thereby allowing them the comfort of completing their shopping while sitting at home. It is more of a ripple effect of warehouse automation that can really contribute to the smart city infra.
The other significant benefit is that with more warehouses getting automated, there would be increased business opportunities without setting up their own shop. While one can sell products across the country without any hassles, the buying power also increases.
What are the current solutions and future trends in warehousing automation?
There are various solutions available in the market that adds flexibility in warehouse operations for maximum throughput and performance. Autonomous Case-handling Robots (ACRs), Conveyors, Sortation Systems, Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS), Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), etc. are the most prominent ones now a days.
The future trends in warehousing automation as reports suggests that there will high use of AMR/AGVs and other robotic technologies to handle multiple warehouse operations. Use of drones in warehouses for barcode scanning, inspecting stocks, retrieving goods, etc. can be seen as the emerging trend in the near future. IoT enabled smart devices and systems to collect, store, and share data are also to be considered as part of trend.
What are the challenges and opportunities in your segment?
Automating a warehouse and maintaining the automated systems requires huge investment and upfront costs. Many companies don’t want to invest such amount due to high risk of debt and are comfortable in handling most of warehouse operations manually. This is the major challenge, which needs to be overcome through educating businesses about the benefits of automation and taking them to the positive side of risk assessment and planning.
With the change in business requirement, level of consumer demand and the race to capture largest market share, most of the organizations are ready to go with automation. Hopefully in coming years, the new innovation in the field of warehouse automation will significantly reduce automation cost with faster ROI. As more and more companies switch to automation, there will be high scope of new opportunities for every warehouse automation company or provider.
What are your future plans?
We’re in planning to open new factory and experience centre this year, where we will showcase next generation warehouse automation as well as material handling solutions.
We want to acquire new projects in E-commerce, 3PL, FMCG industries and increase our customer base. We have decided to increase our R&D budget by investing more amount in new product development and technology.
In upcoming months, you will able to see new products in our catalogue for warehouse automation sector. From next month, we’re focusing on setting new benchmarks for sales and profit with increase in overall market share.