• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » How Leveraging Warehouse Device Data Improves Workflow

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

How Leveraging Warehouse Device Data Improves Workflow

distribution
Photo: Bloomberg
May 11, 2021
Axel Schmidt, SCB Contributor

Collecting data and trying to maximize time efficiency in business is similar to budgeting in your personal life. That $6 coffee might seem like a relatively inexpensive purchase, but over time, if you buy a coffee at a dollar less every morning before work, you’ll find yourself saving around $250. Multiply that by 100 people, and that translates into a collective savings of $25,000.

The concept applies to time saved on the shop floor by addressing repetitive and essential tasks. Take barcode scanning: Certain scanners are faster than others, and the difference of just one second per scan has a major impact on efficiency. If a worker performs a thousand scans per day and there are 1,000 workers across a warehouse, they’re saving a million seconds per day — about 12 days of time.

It’s safe to assume that 70% of the added value on the shop floor is created by the hands of human workers, and despite popular belief that that number will drastically decrease with automation, humans will remain at the center of manufacturing, logistics, and the supply chain for the foreseeable future. This ecosystem doesn’t function without a human-centric starting point. Therefore, improving the functions involved in data tracking help maximize output. For example, time is saved by reducing the distance a worker must travel around the warehouse by connecting all scanners to the internet of things.

Additionally, tracking metrics performed by workers as a collective value (overall time saved and increased productivity, for example) can then be collected from wearables to improve workflow efficiency. They can also identify weaknesses in day-to-day operations that were previously going unnoticed. As with the personal spending analogy, once you begin adding up many small amounts and multiply them company-wide, the savings can be astonishing. Companies utilizing the right technology in the warehouse can realize efficiencies of around 20% in some areas.

According to one German study, traveling time in the warehouse accounts for an average of 40% of total picking time. This encompasses the worker going to and from the pickup location and the time spent at that location itself. Scanners digitally hooked up to the IoT would be able to harvest this data, and artificial intelligence could analyze it for improvements. Is there a faster route or preferable order in which items can be picked up?

Programs can be run to determine such variables. Sometimes the most disastrous problem is the one that goes undetected. Recognizing those blind spots through collecting and analyzing data can be a huge game-changer.

When the Suez Canal was blocked for almost six and a half days, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie noted that $15 million was being lost each day that the crisis persisted. Yet the incident’s true cost was much greater. Being behind a week means the next week is also delayed, causing the following week to be delayed even more as resources are pulled together. This begins to compound and make the situation worse, and the money lost a lot more exorbitant.

On the flip side of this, positive compounding effects can happen to the supply chain by increasing efficiency through new technology. As more time is saved by workers, not only can more be accomplished, but this “created” time can go toward other ways to maximize efficiency and devise innovations that can save even more time in the future.

Finding and investing in technologies that provide process analytics across the warehouse will help companies make better decisions. It can improve efficiency, safety and create the start of a human digital twin, where workers are connected to an evolving IoT and provide the metadata to maximize efficiency. It all starts with putting the worker at the center.

Axel Schmidt is senior communications manager for ProGlove, a developer of industrial wearables for manufacturing, production, logistics and retail.

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Quality & Metrics All Warehouse Services RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice Order Fulfillment

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A HAND TURNS A LARGE, LIGHTED DIAL WITH THE WORD RISK ON IT iStock-NicoElNino-1364371014.jpg

    Measuring KPIs and KRIs for Comprehensive Supplier Performance Management

    Technology
  • GSCMS-Promo.png

    Watch: Introducing the Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit

    Education & Professional Development
  • A COMPLEX SERIES OF ROADWAYS AND RAMPS, SEEN FROM HIGH ABOVE, IS PARTLY SHROUDED BY CLOUD

    Supply Chain Visibility Isn’t Just a Catchphrase; It’s an Imperative

    Logistics

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing