Warehouse of the Future: Software

¶ … Warehouse of the Future: Software will Choreograph Tomorrow's Warehouse Work," author Douglas Graham discusses how the future of warehouses will involve a highly coordinated, technical and completely efficient system. Contrary to popular belief, however, Graham is quick to point out that the future warehouse will not be dependent on technology, as was the trend in the 1990s, but instead enhanced by the power of technology. Therefore, the future warehouse will not be either all computer, all machine or all human power but instead an efficient combination of the three that allows for a better use of time and money and thus leading to a better distribution plan and increased corporate profits.

In describing exactly how this new warehouse will function, Graham talks about a well "choreographed" automated warehouse that will focus on "trimming fat, dumping waste and eliminating redundancy wherever it is found." Admittedly, this will mean that fewer workers will be required but, those who are employed will be "more qualified, better trained, and more motivated." The result will thereafter be the creation of more service orientated jobs in a typically manufacturing/labor intense field.

This change in the make-up of who staffs a warehouse will require a greater amount of flexibility in warehouse planning and design. For example, the physical setup of the warehouse must be more office-orientated in order to accommodate the desk-work of the engineers and informational technology people who will actually be staffing the warehouse.

To accommodate this change, the mindset of what a warehouse is will have to change during the design phase. Historically, warehouses were viewed as large holding facilities for goods. When an order is placed the individual workers would get the product from the shelves and prepare it for shipment. However, as the actual work of gathering and loading is replaced by technology, the warehouse will become less of a holding facility but more of a traditional office setting. Thus, the design of a warehouse, in order to attract the talent it needs to operate, must be designed as a combination of the traditional (albeit hi-tech) holding facility and the traditional corporate office.

The author further discusses the increased role of technology in the warehouse. However, as Graham correctly points out, technology constantly evolves and thus what is used in the warehouse of the future will quickly become part of the warehouse of the past. The main point of implementing technology is to make the warehouse operation more "lean and mean." According to LIS, Inc. Vice President Bob Carver, "One of the most important advances will be low-cost, radio frequency identification technologies (RFID) where we seem to be on the precipice of a major advance."

Examples of the available technologies that will be incorporated to increase warehouse distribution and coordination efficiency include such things as the previously mentioned radio frequency identification technologies. This form of technology serves to not only eliminate unneeded expenses, as it does the work that previously required numerous employees and technology formats, at a relatively low costs, it tracks and ships merchandise quicker and more accurately. Whereas in the past the function of product tracking and inventory maintenance involved a complex system of labels, bar codes and inkjet stenciling, according to Carver, "With RFID you have the ability to encode additional data, allowing you to track merchandise more precisely."

During the 1990s, the "future" of warehouses was seen as involving highly automate functions involving scanning and bar coding. However, these technologies were not only expensive to purchase, they were even more costly to implement into the warehouse's overall operation scheme. Thus, the result was that many warehouses failed to become automated due to the expense involved.

The future warehouses on the other hand, which like those of the 1990s will involve the use of technology, will avoid this same mistake by developing and implementing technologies that are costs and time efficient.