Supply chains ruptured by persistent disruptions are reconstructing with systems for pervasive visibility and automation to adapt to chronic turbulence. Flexible and agile responses by supply chains, including warehouses, to unexpected turn of events, whether geopolitical turmoil or market and technological buffeting, is the day’s need.
Supply chains before Covid-19 had a fixed structure with the objective of delivering goods just-in-time with minimal inventory. In response to the turmoil in markets that followed, supply chains have been re-engineered to respond just in case the actual situation turns out to be very different from the expected. The IoT devices help generate the data for visibility into the supply chain, end-to-end, and software-defined private wireless networks transmit the signal responses to rapidly act just-in-case actual events are at variance with expected outcomes based on analytics. They gain agility with rapid inflows of data to chart their path afresh and quickly respond to achieve their goals.
According to the 2023 survey of the Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM), Big Data and Analytics is rated to have the highest likelihood of impacting supply chains in 2023.
The absence of visibility creates delays in supply chains
Delays in compliance with schedules have ripple effects on related processes. For example, the average global schedule reliability for container shipping dipped below 40% during the pandemic, which caused inevitable delays in the movement of cargo inland. The delays were systematic due to the lack of consistent adoption of track and trace technologies across all stakeholders in the supply chain and the use of inflexible and slow-moving EDI technologies for data extraction. In November 2021, the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) launched the Maritime Transportation Data Initiative (MTDI) to lay the ground for real-time data communication. Today, the supply chain industry is shifting to extracting data from any part of the supply chain with APIs.
Charging Autonomous Mobile Robots with data for faster movement
Real-time data availability affords efficiencies such as optimized operations of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). They utilize a system of sensors, scanners, and onboard technology to navigate flexibly across the floors of warehouses. The navigation works with precision by using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) laser scanning to construct a 3D navigation map to program optimized trips, scale up or down to meet changing demand, and make route changes as shelf systems are reconfigured. LiDAR technology also allows AMRs to steer safely within a warehouse to avoid accidents.
Furthermore, AMRs can operate as swarms with peer-to-peer communications for collision avoidance, rerouting when a breakdown is experienced, and optimizing pathways. One of its first implementations, for industrial-grade spray gun production lines in Taiwan, used a private 5G network. It integrates with the production lines for drawing on production line information and connects with AMRs to transport parts and components to multiple inspection divisions for enhanced productivity.
Synchronization of supply chains
Synchronized movement of cargo across a port can reduce disruption and increase efficiency enormously. Maersk uses real-time Track & Trace technologies and Container Status Notifications, APIs, and Terminal Alerts to keep customers informed about cargo movement from one terminal to another and synchronize with stakeholders in the supply chain. The cargo movement is monitored with IoT devices, and the data flow is organized with signals from private networks. The aggregated data helps to pinpoint variances that need corrections before they cause delays.
Investing in the emergent future of supply chains
An increasing number of supply chain companies are investing in automation technologies to reduce the risk of disruptions. DHL Worldwide invested $300 million in developing digital technologies, including a recent $15 million in collaboration with Boston Robotics. It will be capable of unloading boxes of varying shapes and sizes with advanced sensing and controls without additional programming, which increases pick rates.
Walmart is automating all 42 regional distribution centers with increasing use of robots. The algorithms built into the automation technology instruct high-speed mobile robots where to store cases. It also helps to organize freight movement by having pallets fit in the aisles. It has also invested significant amounts in equipment to sort products before sending them to the right chute from conveyor belts.
The Teltech Group is automating a 200,000-square-foot warehouse after consolidating four of them in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. The private 4G/5G technology creates the infrastructure for enhanced scanning capabilities for higher efficiencies in receiving material, order fulfillment, and shipping. The use of IoT devices facilitates automated counting of inventory.
Conclusions
A long history of manual operations in warehouses and supply chains turned them into a house of cards. A rude awakening was inevitable as a ferocious wave of turbulence hit them in recent years. Like a ship in a storm, they had little visibility to navigate through the fog of uncertainty. Their network infrastructure was not configured to aggregate the data to gain situational awareness. A myriad of warehouse and supply chain automation technologies are essential to tame the disruptions that have visited supply chains and private 4G/5G cellular networks to control them.
