Most warehouse operators face significant increases in shipment volumes, number of SKUs managed, and overall inventory turns. Customer service requirements have increased as well. As a result, a greater percentage of products are picked by either the “each,” the “case,” or the “layer” in the modern warehouse.
A new report, Warehouse Operations 2022: Streamlining Technology Investment Time to Value and Overcoming New Technology Investment Challenges, from VDC Research on behalf of terminal StayLinked provides insight on evolving warehouse operations and operator optimization priorities.
“The respondents agree that optimizing warehouse performance is critical. They are looking for new ways to improve on-time shipment and receipts,” says StayLinked Chief Technology Officer Justin Griffith, in a statement.
The data was gathered from 169 operations technology decision makers in North America, Europe and Asia. A survey focused on warehouse operations technology decision makers in retail, manufacturing, transportation/logistics, retail and wholesale organizations. VDC supplemented the survey-based research with in-depth interviews with leading warehouse technology investment decision makers and solution providers.
Results show many warehouses rely on manual paper-based processes. They also continue to bleed legacy assets that are not capable of addressing today’s needs. This has created an environment where many warehouses are supported by an infrastructure that has not been updated for more than three years and formed a separation between warehouse operations leaders and laggards.
Another priority cited by warehouse leaders is modernizing infrastructures. Improving existing operations, they say, will give them greater agility to seamlessly test, evaluate and implement new technologies prior to making investment decisions.
