The importance of accuracy has doubled in two years; drive to adopt new technology in the warehouse to improve accuracy also increasing

The latest report from StayLinked, independently conducted by VDC Research, shows that the focus on accuracy within warehouse operations has reached new heights. The drive for accuracy, to achieve the ‘perfect order rate’, has almost doubled since StayLinked’s 2022 survey. Provided with a list of ten different areas of improvement, accuracy was listed as the most important area by 15.1% of respondents, rising from 8.7%.

“As market conditions continue to be volatile and unpredictable, this latest survey shows the importance of building accuracy into warehouse operations to drive resilience, flexibility and agility through accurate visibility of warehouse operations,” said Justin Griffith, StayLinked’s chief technology officer.

The latest research from StayLinked, conducted by VDC Research, is published here: Making Supply Chain Resilience Work: Keeping Up with Ever-Demanding Warehouse Operations. The research of warehouse operations technology decision makers, across multiple industries including retail, manufacturing, transportation/logistics, retail, and wholesale organizations was conducted in 2023 and the report is being published now.

“The 2022 survey was all about speed, with the focus being on-time shipments and getting orders out the door as quickly as possible,” continued Griffith. “That is still relevant now, but the focus on accuracy has leaped up.”

Increased accuracy is not a pipe dream as emerging technologies can dramatically improve the accuracy of warehouse operations. Technologies also exist that can meet the survey’s other top improvement initiatives: continuing to ensure that goods are shipped quickly and helping to significantly improve the warehouse worker’s experience.

However, to be adopted in the warehouse, these new technologies need to integrate with and ‘talk to’ the organizations’ warehouse management systems (WMS). This latest report highlights the link between the age of the underlying enterprise applications underpinning supply chain and warehouse operation and the ability to successfully deploy new technology. The report states:

“There is a strong correlation between the age and flexibility of the underlying enterprise applications supporting logistics operations – be it WMS, ERP, WCS or others – and the ability for organizations to streamline logistics technology evaluation and integration. Maximum system flexibility is required to be able to integrate the planned, growth-defined future adjustments in warehousing and to control them in a coordinated manner.”

The survey data showed that there has been an increased emphasis on the WMS – 61.1% of organizations were on the most current WMS or running just one or two years behind – a significant increase from 45% in 2022. This has seen a comparative increase in new technologies introduced into the warehouse.

Warehouses that haven’t been able to move to the latest WMS will fear that they are in danger of permanently losing ground on their competitors. That fear is often combined with frustration at the impossible task ahead of them to replace the WMS. However, for those running an older WMS, it’s not true that a complex, risky, and expensive ‘rip and replace’ option is always required.

“It’s like renovating your house. For most of us, we have to do it bit by bit, prioritizing different rooms as we go,” explained Griffith. “StayLinked can help warehouse operators similarly introduce new technologies. They don’t need to knock down the house – or rip out the WMS – in one go. They can simply adopt the new technology they need when they need it.”

StayLinked’s enterprise-grade terminal emulation (TE) software SmartTE and its no-code technology adoption platform, Evolve, allow warehouse operators to modernize their existing WMS so that they can deploy a mixture of new technologies. One emerging technology will not rule them all, so it is crucial that multiple new technologies can be integrated into the warehouse operations’ workflows where they best fit and can deliver the most benefit, and at a pace that works for the warehouse operator.

The research highlighted some of the emerging technologies that are most likely to be adopted by warehouses:

• Over 97% of warehouses plan to be using Locationing Systems and Predictive Analytics by 2027.
• Currently only in use by 20% of warehouses, nearly 85% of all warehouses plan to have deployed Person-to-Goods AMRs by 2027.
• Drones are the least popular of the emerging warehouse technologies. 36% of all surveyed said they had no plans to use drones at all.

StayLinked can help warehouses quickly and easily integrate all of these new technologies into their existing warehouse management system to help them improve productivity, increase efficiencies, and most importantly, according to the research, improve accuracy.

Download a copy of the report from StayLinked’s website: Making Supply Chain Resilience Work: Keeping Up with Ever-Demanding Warehouse Operations.