ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES’ TOP SMART TECH/TOOLS FOR WAREHOUSES

Warehouse management systems (WMS): by 2024, 54% of the study’s respondents plan to have added new modules or deployed best-of-breed warehouse solutions. Automatically updated cloud-based WMS handle the demands of real-time visibility and are designed for changing workflows (such as returns). Almost half the respondents intend to add new, real-time locationing solutions with more planning WMS integration with yard and fleet systems for full supply chain synchronisation.

New mobile devices offer more comfort and better ergonomics (lighter and easier to use). Integrated barcode scanning accelerates and streamlines workflows by enabling fast, first-time, accurate, data entry and capture, over longer distances including illegible barcodes. Easily adapting to changing needs such as introducing augmented reality guided picking apps, mobile device expenditure will grow, especially in rugged tablets and industrial scanners.

Improving warehouse infrastructure to support more automation and greater visibility will improve item-level visibility, through data capture and track and trace solutions, especially barcode labelling.

Automation: advances in voice-guided apps and heads-up displays will help teams improve team or individual worker productivity, a goal of most of the survey respondents.

Sensors: active RFID sensors that automatically register and track bulk or individual items can improve inventory management, picking, and crossdocking efficiency. Over a third of the survey respondents expect to roll out more RFID and other sensor-based systems, by 2024, to increase data capture accuracy and speed.

- Source: Hozefa Saylawala, Middle East director, Zebra Technologies