The internet of things (IoT) is smart technology that collects data from sensors that is used to transform the management of warehouses.
Anjana Sadanandan, a senior marketing manager at Trigent software says:
“Logistics companies are striving to increase efficiency and provide better transparency. This has led to some serious innovation and investment in the IoT space.”
The operation of a warehouse can be broken down into five key areas: receiving, storing, picking, packing and shipping. IoT helps improve the efficiency of all these areas.
RFID sensors attached to inventory items monitor goods coming in and out of the warehouse. RFID is not new technology, but IoT takes this technology to the next level of automation, gathering and analysing data from multiple sensors.
RFID is not expensive and can easily be used in traditional warehouses that rely on manual handling and picking of orders using storage trolleys, heavy duty garment rails and other standard manual handling and storage equipment.
IOT systems allocate the place where items are stored and guide the transporters of goods to the exact location.
Smart glasses are used in some warehouses to guide pickers to product locations. They optimise the travelling distance of picking journeys. Voice headsets are an alternative way to direct pickers to order items. They understand voice commands and enable hands-free order picking. Smart glasses and voice headsets systems require little worker training
Finger trigger gloves read bar codes which identify items and confirm that the correct one is being picked.
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