Being aware of technological developments that will impact supply chains and logistics is essential to prepare large companies to face what the future holds for them.
These processes and advances in the field will allow professionals to become increasingly involved in market trends, which in turn will make their skills grow and evolve along with technology. Logistics automation is one of those advances.
Automating logistics processes
Automation makes it possible to reduce human intervention in various activities in the logistics industry, optimizing control of the equipment and processes involved, thus standardizing performance and improving service levels.
To a large extent, automation reduces uncertainty in response times, while in turn, minimizing operational costs and potential human error.
It is because of the advances in the industry that today automation in certain logistics processes has to be seen as a duty of companies since an economy based exclusively on manual labor would be inconceivable.
A good example is MGN Logistics. Founded in 2000, MGN Logistics works to assist companies with the wonders of technology, offering excellent solutions for their freight management. With its range of tech-advanced planning, management, supplier selection, dispatching, auditing, execution, and other services, MGN Logistics, headquartered in Easton, PA, provides a one-stop-shop solution to all company freight problems.
Furthermore, what separates MGN Logistics from those in the sector is that it not only focuses on offering creative solutions focused on the latest technologies. Yet, it also focuses on delivering cost-effective services that do not place pressure on the company’s finances. In reality, it helps to build strategies that further help businesses minimize costs at each point of dispatching to deliver.
The company brings Market Intelligence, Freight Management, Load Optimization, Carrier Optimization, Embedded Analytics, Carrier Ranking, and a variety of solutions. Carrier Payment MGN is all set to launch its new products, MarketMaker Pricing, a sophisticated truckload metadata aggregator, Invoice Pre and Post Audits.
Warehouse automation
Suppose you look at the work within companies in the logistics industry. In that case, it is possible to notice the unstoppable movement of various materials, boxes, products and merchandise, many of which follow common routes, so personnel are always needed to move them from one place to another.
But these people, when performing repetitive and monotonous tasks, begin to become unmotivated, mainly due to the lack of objectives at work.
They do not have goals to meet, and they often have excess confidence in the vehicles they drive. A small error in those processes can generate economic losses, and in some cases, misfortunes for the workers themselves.
Faced with this, systems with robotic vehicles known as Shuttle have emerged, which are mobilized without a driver and which have been used for some time in the storage and dispatch of cargo in warehouses.
A shuttle is a compact robotic vehicle used in a storage area for the automatic operation of a warehouse or warehouse. It is used to move the load previously inserted in a pallet or box.
In the storage system, the boxes are mobilized by a device that runs individually on rails through the aisles of the warehouse and can move horizontally and vertically to reach the storage cells.
The control of the system is done utilizing a computer program that tells the robot the exact location to drop off or pick up a box, and then where it should take it.
This system is much faster and takes up less space than the traditional one, which works with forklifts operated by an operator.
Applying automated systems within supply chains can translate into a reduction in certain positions that require the work of people.
However, this reduction will be compensated by the need to have more trained personnel in the handling of certain machines, thus achieving greater precision in logistics processes.
This is how these systems make it possible to supply other increases in the supply chain, such as, for example, the price of fuel.
And not only in warehouse logistics
An old proverb says that time is money. This is especially true in container port terminals.
The growing increase in container traffic at a global level, in addition to the need for larger vessels and the pressure to minimize response times, drive the need for greater efficiency in the field.
Today there are port sectors for high-tech container transshipment, such as CTAs in the port of Hamburg, Germany, or ECTs in Rotterdam, which are impressive in terms of their automation and performance.
Since the 90s, many Container Port Terminals (TPCs) have joined the automation in their logistics processes, consolidating as a universal and permanent trend in the sector.
Along the same lines, technological advances and management tools dedicated to automation occupy a large part of the market for equipment and software for terminals of this type.
These systems make clear how the efficient design of a container terminal can provide a new dimension in cargo handling. In this case, automation is the only effective solution for cost reduction.
An automatic Trio for production of excellence
As pioneers in the automation of port activities, and in the improvement of associated logistics processes, these ports have been breaking records for decades.
For the loading and unloading of ships, the transfer and storage of containers with their ship-to-shore cranes, automatically guided vehicles and automatic cranes for the storage of containers, these ports currently offer a trio of processes with a high degree of automation.
The benefits of these automated services are:
- A huge increase in container handling and terminal performance.
- Cost reductions for port fees.
- Better use of storage space.
- Increased production in the movement of containers with the respective reduction in cost.
- The implemented software allows a smoother interaction in all transport components.
And the automation of land dispatch vehicles?
It may seem like science fiction, but it is not. Google created the first autonomous vehicle prototype: the Google Car.
This car would only have a power button and an electronic monitor that would indicate the route that it will follow from start to finish. Its maximum speed would be about 40 km / h, and its sensors with which it is equipped will establish the position of the vehicle, such as the proximity of other cars and people.
But for the field of logistics and delivery processes, having autonomous vehicles would already be a more complex issue, especially for deliveries as such with end customers.
Suppose an automated dispatch management system were to be created. In that case, the vehicle should still be accompanied by a person who would fulfill the role of delivering the product and have direct contact with the end customer.
If we hypothetically think about such a case, it would be beneficial in part because the worker would not be involved in driving the vehicle and, therefore, their stress rates would be almost zero. Consequently, when the time comes when the worker meets the final customer at the destination, they are expected to be in a good mood, which translates into better customer service.
However, the chances of these driverless vehicles being involved in accidents also present a risk factor.
The first autonomous vehicle fatality occurred in the United States in May of this year. The accident occurred aboard a Model Tesla S, which had the autonomous pilot activated.
The reason was that a truck turned improperly, to take an exit to the left. This maneuver was so fast that it could not be anticipated by the autonomous pilot system, nor by the driver either.
The figures, however, represent another reality in this regard. The results of a study presented by the University of Virginia Tech, showed that human drivers have an average of 4.2 accidents for every 1.6 million kilometers traveled, while autonomous cars reduce that figure by a quarter: to 3, 2 accidents for every 1.6 million kilometers.
This makes us think about how safe autonomous cars can become in the future, proposing their security system, in addition to the mixture of human drivers with electronic drivers.
