5 Key Warehouse Automation Technologies to Increase Distribution Profitability
Customers are rapidly migrating to online order placement of goods for B2C or store pick-up. Customers have become accustomed to having their online goods delivered within a day or two. Companies are finding that in order to compete, they must invest in automation for omnichannel ecommerce fulfillment solutions.
As a result, companies that provide their own fulfillment and logistics services and third-party logistics operations (3PLs) face the same challenges. They need to upgrade their offerings and become omni-channel operations with automated order fulfillment services that support not only full pallet and mixed case pallets orders, but also seamlessly handle e-commerce pick, pack and ship operations.
The growth in e-commerce fulfillment has created a paradigm shift. To remain successful, in house distribution centers and 3PLs that handle a company’s outsourced logistics need to be able to process single SKU carton shipments direct to consumers.
Distribution center fulfillment requires a highly efficient blend of automation technologies to control picking, packing and shipping costs. Right now, unemployment is so low that hiring and retaining reliable labor to run distribution operations is much more challenging and costly than investing in automation. There are several key automation technologies that will help distribution operations overcome the challenges of omni-channel e-commerce.