Tomorrow’s world: A rundown of the connected warehouse and its benefits to logistics

Scott Allison, president, Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector, DHL, gives us a rundown of the connected warehouse and how innovations in logistics are benefitting this rapidly changing world.

Before you can optimise a function, you must first be able to visualise it. Running a life sciences and healthcare warehouse provides a great example of this.

Key operations in the warehouse include receiving, sorting, storing and shipping pharmaceuticals in precise and correct quantities. These goods must be safely protected from temperature excursions, shock and water ingress. Warehouse personnel must strive to meticulously record and label each item of stock, as well as strategically position and schedule everything for timely rotation. Batches of pharmaceuticals must be ready for shipment as soon as the next dispatch request comes in.

So how can today’s pharmaceutical manufacturer visualise these functions? It takes logistics innovation and the application of technology. By fully digitising the warehouse, all physical entities can be defined in bits and bytes — from objects such as blister packs of prescription meds and the crates they are packed in to the equipment that is being used, such as conveyors, forklifts and numbered racks and shelves, and even to the people who are working in the warehouse.

Once all physical entities in the warehouse have been described by unique data blocks, they correspond to virtual objects which can be usefully manipulated. This data can be crunched and analysed in exquisite depth. It can be subjected to sophisticated ‘what-if’ scenarios. It can be combined for greater customer centricity and much more.

Many of our customers have embarked on a digitalisation journey that embraces the concept of the connected warehouse, seeking to create new efficiencies and secure higher levels of productivity while lowering operational costs and gaining competitive edge. Let me share just a few examples.

Deploying robots

One customer — a multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company — recognised that time was being wasted during product packing because warehouse personnel had to walk long distances inside a vast warehouse. By equipping the facility with wifi infrastructure beacons, robots can now be deployed to undertake this time-consuming task. These machines can precisely locate digitally tagged items anywhere in the warehouse and travel safely thanks to heat maps that clearly track the movement of assets and people throughout the warehouse. Meanwhile, with more time on their hands, the human packers can take on more specialist and value-adding tasks in the warehouse.

Augmenting reality

With another customer — one of the world’s premier biopharmaceutical companies — we are piloting an innovative warehouse ‘vision picking’ solution in Australia. Together we hope to establish whether augmented reality smart glasses can be used for order picking in a more cost-efficient manner than standard manual scanning processes. Warehouse personnel see the digital picking list and the optimal warehouse route in their field of vision (an ‘augmented’ view) to save time, reduce errors and enable real-time inventory updates. Similar pilots with other companies in Mexico and in the Netherlands have achieved 15–25% productivity gains.

IoT tagging

Many of our pharmaceutical customers are using Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled tagging technology to gain tighter control of product inventories and reducing waste while increasing service levels and availability. This stronger link between physical products and data also empowers each organisation in its efforts to eliminate theft and counterfeiting.

Smart sensing

In addition, most of our pharmaceutical customers are using smart sensor RFID technology to track the temperature of inventory across their warehouses and distribution centres. This not only protects the integrity of highly temperature-sensitive and valuable products, but also ensures compliance with stringent quality regulations. In our own global network, we have more than 100 certified life sciences stations providing monitoring, intervention and storage services according to industry-specific GDP standards.

In the connected warehouse, logistics innovation and technology are enabling pharmaceutical companies to tackle many different challenges in a changing world. So, it comes as no surprise that logistics managers are very keen to explore digital transformation and see the latest trends and innovations at first hand. It was my recent pleasure and privilege to accompany delegates at DHL Global Life Sciences and Healthcare Conference in Singapore on a tour of DHL’s Advanced Regional Center. This new multi-user hub includes a large-scale multi-shuttle solution capable of handling product throughout the facility 24/7. To witness this makes you feel that anything is possible in the connected life sciences and healthcare warehouse of tomorrow!