Siginon has installed a system for online tracking. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Global warehousing giants are investing in automation with eyes
on lower transportation costs, achieving faster delivery, and expanding
by linking up with new suppliers and locations.
According
to a new report, in the US and Canada warehouse executives are
investing in barcode scanning, warehouse truck loading automation,
tablet computers for inventory, data synchronisation, real time location
systems and radio-frequency identification (RFIR) to identify and track
tags attached to freight, tracking solutions firm Zebra Technologies
has found.
In a survey, 43 per cent of warehousing
executives said the software technologies had lowered transport costs,
41 per cent said they had shortened delivery time, while 32 per cent
reported that automation enabled them to expand businesses across new
suppliers and locations.
“Even if you are saving 15-20
seconds per order, it can add up quickly when dealing with 500-1,000
orders per day. As a distributer, when you take steps to reduce time per
order, it opens up the door to service more customers in the same day,”
the consultants reported. However, some goods move slowly and others
faster, depending on type and size.
Across the world, the demand for modern quality warehousing is
growing. However, in Kenya, such services are in short supply, according
to the 2017 Sub-Saharan Africa report by Broll Property Group.
“Kenya’s
warehousing industry operates at a primary level; meaning that
warehousing is standard and the provision of total warehousing solutions
is barely practised in the market. The market predominantly has B-grade
and C-grade spaces, with A-grade warehousing remaining at its infancy
stages,” says the report.
Last month, logistics
solutions company Siginon Global Logistics launched cloud software in
its Nairobi warehouses that it says has increased operational efficiency
and reduced stock taking and stacking time by more than 23 hours.
The
Streamline Warehouse Management System now rolled out by Siginon in
Kenya has enabled the creation of a web-based portal where clients can
view their shipments in warehouses and instruct the team on shipment
movements.
Overall, Siginon says the system has
reduced stock taking and stacking time from a whole day to 30 minutes
for a 70,000 sq-ft warehouse, with all shipments received now bar-coded
and scanned. The system runs inventory movements within the warehouse,
be it under dangerous goods rules, or to the cold room, inventory
replenishment, or because of expiry dates. Previously, all of this was
done manually.
“Our system now provides real time
reporting of clients’ cargo during inbound, storage and dispatch
timings. Clients’ cargo stock-take is done through scanning of the radio
frequency identification at the warehouse and inventory is updated
automatically,” said Winstone Akweyu, operations manager at Siginon
Global Logistics.
“The
system also generates proforma invoices to the customer and dashboards
for customers to view space utilisation and precise stock location.”
According
to research by consultants Newcastle Systems, when an error is made at
the receiving point of a warehouse, it can have a 10-fold effect on the
rest of the warehouse storage process.
“When it comes
to warehousing, optimising receiving is the first most important step to
optimising the warehouse. On average, it takes a total of 20.75 minutes
to receive and store goods in a warehouse. However, with the adoption
of warehouse management system technologies, the total time taken is
reduced by over half to 9.91 minutes, as it eliminates wasteful
processes,” reads the Newcastle Systems report.
- African Laughter
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