Warehousing has progressed in the past few years by becoming more purposeful, sophisticated, accessible, and automated. And it will continue to further evolve to suit our requirements as technology advances. Warehouses are no longer just storage rooms; they offer multiple suites of functions to accommodate the various needs of the user.
The Logistics News ME Forum was held on 29 March 2022, at Sofitel Dubai The Palm.
“Warehouse automation has evolved in the past few years by becoming more strategic and necessary. Automating the warehouse is now a simple process and automated warehouses are environment friendly and sustainable. A word of advice to warehouse users is keep it uncomplicated, identify the obstacles and challenges in the operations, and ask the integrator to automate tasks.
“As industry experts, we look forward to witnessing more high-bay automated warehouses to reduce operation costs and increase capacity, accuracy, productivity and safety.”
Atanas Khagerian, VP Sales (Middle East & Africa), Acme
“Customer demand and expectations have evolved exponentially, and the region is catching up to implement technologies that can keep up with this demand. Delivery windows used to be one week or 10 days, now it’s down to an hour. Success is no longer measured by maximum capacity but rather by maximum fulfilment — maximising your velocity to the customer, delivering packages accurately and on time.
“Therefore, the next evolution in warehouse automation technology is focused on increased standardisation to further reduce deployment times without compromising functionality. Automation helps with several operational issues such as achieving efficiency and productivity goals, dealing with stock-keeping unit proliferation, reducing errors and minimum dependence on human labour.”
David Dronfield, General Manager, Swisslog Middle East
“eCommerce is an area where we focus more on as we move into business-to-consumer (B2C), which puts more force on our warehouses and resources. This is where automation allows you to reduce the pressure by planning your volume better, managing deadlines and workforce, providing round-the-clock support, and preventing the cause of COVID-19 outbreak.
“It is also closely associated with the Lean and CI methodologies we are applying across GAC Contract Logistics – Dubai business to ensure we offer our customers a lean supply chain. We are moving with the times. Companies struggle to keep their businesses running and plan significant strategic changes. Automation is making our supply chains far more flexible, agile, and localised as a complete end-to-end logistics solution, which will evolve further in the coming months and years.”
Trevor Stamp, General Manager – Contract Logistics, GAC Dubai
“The logistics and supply chain industries are changing at a rapid pace, and front-end customer portals and last-mile delivery will only be able to do so much. The data revolution is here, and it is front and centre in this industry. Customers’ expectations are exponentially changing, moving from multi-day delivery windows to two-hour deliveries and we are even seeing 20 minutes delivery times. We cannot forget that accuracy and efficiency are what make or break a deal. For that to happen successfully, companies need to invest in the right warehouse automation for their needs.
“Warehouse automation has advanced to cope with these demands, modernising warehouses from endless aisles of static shelving and manual processes. The technology is there and improving all the time. From fully automated storage and retrieval systems, high throughput sortation systems, and guided picking modules, all managed intelligently with very advanced warehouse management systems.”
Rami Younes, Chief Operating Officer, ALS Logistic Solutions