An Inside Look at Digitally Transforming Warehouse Operations

Outdated maintenance techniques and the supply chain crunch that warehouse and distribution centers have been facing over the past couple of years have led to a desperate need for technological solutions that can help operations. To digitally transform warehouse operations, leaders need to reinvent the way they operate and utilize software solutions that can help optimize throughput by targeting the most common pain points they face and keeping up with the latest trends today.

Common Pain Points Affecting Warehouses

Unplanned Downtime

Post-COVID, eCommerce retailers faced an unexpected surge in demand, causing supply chains to struggle to keep up. Because of this, many distribution centers are running much faster with longer shifts, leaving scheduled maintenance on systems incomplete or forgotten about. As a result, equipment parts are failing as they are difficult to maintain and more difficult to procure, which is leading to longer critical downtime that can be costly – considering maintenance, repair and lost productivity. 

Use of legacy processes

Managers can spend hours collecting data and entering data manually into spreadsheets and systems, which is time-consuming and can lead to user error. Automating these processes can help save critical managerial time.

Additionally, trying to optimize the cost of shipping and maintaining the case throughput throughout the warehouse with incredibly high demand is challenging without digital advances and automation. Without operating optimally, operations managers are coming across definitive issues such as not having read rate continuously monitored, repetitive jams in various areas of the building or not finding the root cause to some of these major issues – all causing cost issues and slower productivity.

How Industry Trends are Impacting Operations

COVID-19 has changed the way the industry has reacted from a trends perspective. The pandemic has caused tremendous growth, alongside other current problems happening today such as climate change and supply chain issues. In terms of sector growth, grocery and micro-warehouses are becoming more local to the buyer which will continue to trend upwards due to demand of the buyer for same day shipping and perishables with high volume household items. This fulfillment landscape will continuously grow towards cities and urban environments to help keep up with the high demand buyers are requesting and now expecting.

And, as the current labor force is starting to retire, distribution centers are having a difficult time finding, hiring and retaining labor talent which is obliging workers to be more technology savvy. Labor scarcity is forcing employees to change their mindset and use a bunch of variables and assistive devices to keep up with demand. On top of that, millennials are replacing a lot of the more experienced operations and maintenance manager roles because of their tech savvy experience. They will enter distribution with the expectation to utilize software to help run operations efficiently.

Technology Solutions that Deliver

Distribution centers must maximize their current resources due to longer supply chain lead times. Hardware vendors have extended lead times, forcing centers to rely on legacy products. The lack of standardized products complicates maintenance and operations, often leaving managers to rely on spreadsheets or emails to track metrics. Adopting advanced technology can significantly alleviate these issues. 

Honeywell Forge Connected Warehouse is a software as a service (SaaS) solution that helps create a system of record for operations from the operational perspective. The platform offers near-real-time collaboration across operations and maintenance teams and consolidates metrics, actionable alerting and recommendations to help distribution center leaders optimize throughput. Operational leaders can draw insights from decisions made in the past and paint a better picture of the future.  

Honeywell has taken their expertise around various operations and combined IT and OT data from various disparate systems to help provide warehouse leaders with intelligent data-driven insights and recommendations to best optimize machines, labor and inventory. Leaders are able to meet their entire warehouse goals, ultimately gaining warehouse control tower vision.

Discover more about the future of supply chain innovation.