MHD SUPPLY CHAIN With a voice interface operators only get the next set of instructions needed for the task.
BEST OF BREED SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTIRE VALUE CHAIN The e-commerce revolution has changed the traditional warehouse and distribution centre model. What kind of solutions should be deployed to meet this change?
“A
s we push further towards the e-commerce model I think we’re seeing a major change in the way that distribution centres are being run,” James Hendrickson, Director of Product and Offering Management at Honeywell Voice Solutions says. In a recent Warehouse of the Future report by property developer JLL, the organisation revealed that distribution centres are changing due to the continued growth of e-commerce and last-mile delivery. This type of warehousing is driving significant demand for industrial properties, as well as innovation in terms of how assets are built. James echoes this by pointing out that 10 to 15 years ago, organisations were building huge warehouses to deal with rising demands, but now people are looking for small DCs in city centres to meet home deliveries. “Ten years ago, when organisations were building warehouses covering 100,000 square metres nobody would have thought that we would be moving towards a more boutique warehouse trend to meet home delivery for consumers living in city centres,” he says. The report also revealed a similar pattern, with 60 per cent of new warehouse development made up 44 | MHD SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
of facilities from 50,000 to 250,000 square feet. “Warehouses now need to be able to handle a variety of different types of product and picking styles. The effects of this change in demand is far-reaching. You have to rethink how you design a DC, how many and what type of dock doors are needed, how you train your workers, the list goes on,” James says. One area that tech can play a crucial role is in the changing tasks of warehouse workers. Historically workers used to do the same task over and over again, but now there might be multiple tasks at different types of the day. When demand changes, so does the task. With this in mind, organisations cannot afford to spend a lot of time on-boarding workers and training them up when demands are so high, James says. “Organisations need the ability to onboard or recruit workers and get them out there working as soon as possible. They need to be trained as quickly as possible without a lot of over heads.”
FLEXIBLE END-TOEND SOLUTIONS Organisations often find themselves looking at technology and automation and wondering which solution is best for them. According to James, one common
issue is that people think in silos “It’s so important to think about this kind of technology holistically. You need to think about your entire value chain from end-to-end. You need to think about solutions that fit the need you have now but that will also grow and scale with you either up, down or across,” he says. For James, the most important thing is to implement solutions that are flexible. For him, this is the great benefit of voice solutions. “The flexibility, productivity and accuracy you get with voice is comparable to any other kind of advanced technology, but its flexible enough to be deployed to a number of different environments very quickly.” Voice solutions can move with the worker from a city centre depot, onto the truck as a moving warehouse, into the retail store or the main DC. This would be difficult to do with other technologies like automation. A voice interface is also easy to learn. “With voice, you only get the next set of instructions you need. The instructions guide you through the task at hand. There is virtually no training required. Additionally, you don’t need to have years of experience or a digital native, it really is easy for everyone to pick up,” James says.
