In March of 2020 warehousing logistics and manufacturing was forever changed. As the world began to shut down, online purchases went up. Business as usual began to change and shift to accommodate new measures and new ways of doing business. Shipping logistics began to become overwhelmed as millions of people across the world looked to items being delivered rather than picked up in stores, and with storefronts closed, warehousing logistics had to accommodate overload because products werent being moved the way they always had.
These shifts forced warehousing logistics to shift to new ways of moving products, new technology to manage the chaos, and to set new trends to adjust to the new normal the world was now living in. Now, one year later companies are looking to technology to adjust their business strategies and set new trends within the industry.
Warehousing logistics has been forever changed, in some ways for the better, and has now proven the limits of their existing operations in order to improve and make adjustments. Investments in technology such as rugged tablets are at an all-time high to manage internal operations, logistics and teams.
5 Ways Rugged Tablets Assist Warehouse Logistics
1. Automation Trends
Automation is one of the major technological advancements that is assisting warehousing managers to handle the uptick in stocked product and shipping logistics. Rugged tablets integrate with automation software to track inventory, shipments coming into and going out of the warehouse, and packaging automation tracking. Automation with the use of rugged tablets increases the efficiency of daily operations and maximizes productivity.
2. 3D Camera for Precise Volume Dimensioning
The 3D RealSense camera that is integrated into rugged tablets for warehousing, has the capability to scan products and determine the exact dimensions needed for packaging. This feature improves the time it takes to determine what the needs for packaging are in order to ship products, reduces wasted space and shipping costs, and records and logs the data accurately into the system with no risk for errors. The 3D RealSense camera can also scan what is inside the packaging and produce exact weight for the shipping logistics team.
3. Long Range RFID Reading
As products are organized in a warehouse, they can be stored in hard-to-reach places. It can be time-consuming to shift cases around with forklifts. With integrated long-range RFID readers, rugged tablets and handhelds can scan packages that are high up on shelves and arent quite ready to be shipped from the floor or moved with a forklift. Saving time and employee labor and safety from having to physically get closer to scan the package. Thus increasing safety in the workplace and productivity of logging inventory on the warehouse floor.
4. Tracking Goods
Accurate tracking of products within the warehouse from the production of the product to loading the product on a truck is an important task for logistics teams. Data needs to be recorded and logged during each step for each product on the warehouse floor. Rugged tablets simplify this process, by accurately recording data in real-time. Team members with the appropriate access to the network can then see all recorded data in real-time thus improving internal communications between departments.
5. Real-time Order Status
Delays in communication between teams cost time and money in warehousing logistics. The old way of doing business by recording order statuses by paper are officially a thing of the past. It costs delays and increases the risk for human errors during the transfer. Rugged tablets for warehouse logistics minimize mistakes and log order statuses in real-time. This allows for orders to be processed faster and billing departments to invoice more quickly thus getting paid faster.
Rugged tablets are the perfect technology match for warehousing logistics as trends from the past are upgraded and new technology is on the horizon to improve productivity and logistical efficiency. As the world adjusts to this new way of doing business, rugged tablets help with the shift by making it easier to integrate new operating procedures that automate, track, and record data efficiently and with accuracy.