A&S have invited one of the industry experts to give us his view on the changing world of logistics.
The author: Tony Hughes has worked with most of the major 3rd party logistics (3PLs) and consulting companies in the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia. Tony entered the world of Logistics after studying for an MSc in Logistics and Supply Chain management. Tony has over 30 years’ experience and provides business consultancy, specialising in warehouse design and Supply Chain Management. Tony also works part time as a lecturer at Warwick University.
The changing World of Logistics and the Impact on Jobs!
The way we shop has had a major impact on the way our warehouses now operate. Not too many years ago we would go on a weekly trip to the local supermarket to buy our groceries, and we would buy fresh items such as bread and milk as required from a convenience store. We would have visited the local town or city to buy clothes, and each year we would have looked forward to sale events such as the Boxing Day sales. How times have changed!
Today we can buy our groceries online using services such as “click and collect”, or have our items delivered directly to our preferred location. For other items we are increasingly turning to using apps on our phones, and we have come to expect “next day” or even “same day” delivery by companies such as Amazon, who arguably are leading the way. We now look forward to online sale events such as Black Friday.
Historically most warehousing operations consisted of cartons stored on pallets, and orders picked directly from the pallets in case quantities. Some slow-moving items were picked from shelving. Orders were picked onto pallets or into cages for delivery to the retail store. These operations were processed using trucks and trollies and were relatively slow and very labour intensive.
Now, with continued growth in online orders, we are seeing individual customer orders being picked using automated goods to person picking solutions. The number of orders and the number of picking lines a warehouse must process has never been greater. Warehouse operations are now very complex and require high levels of detailed planning and execution to meet the service levels required. This comes at a time when it is more difficult than ever to recruit skilled warehouse employees and labour costs are high due to many factors, (note: the crisis in Ukraine, a reduced pool of labour from the EU following Brexit, and the impact of the pandemic are all contributing factors).
Felixstowe
Felixstowe is Britain’s biggest and busiest container port, and one of the largest in Europe. Warehouses local to a port are typically used to destuff containers and to palletise loads for either short term storage, or onward shipment to fulfillment centres.
All warehouses, wherever they are located across the UK are facing labour shortage problems, and the speed of service and the volume of orders being processed has resulted in many warehouse operators looking to automation.
The types of automation that are applicable for a port warehouse could be as follows:
• Automated container unloading using robots.
• Conveyors and sortation systems
• Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
• Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS),
• Automated packing and wrapping machines, etc.
All this equipment needs to be designed, installed, configured, tested and there is a major skills shortage in this area.
These skills can easily be transferred to fulfilment centres, where customer orders are processed using other forms of automation including autonomous mobile robot (AMRs)(see below). Fulfillment centres are usually located in the midlands in the “golden triangle” where a four-hour drive can reach 90% of the British population.
There really has never been a more exciting time to enter the world of logistics and warehousing, the opportunities for individuals to learn new skills and to develop further are significant. There are many companies offering on the job training, and many colleges and universities providing training and education.
Tony can be contacted at: The Logistics Consultant
Also, check out his Blogs on all things warehouse related, including some of the automation mentioned below: Blogs