Page 10 - ITLN May - June 2022 issue

Cover Story
Warehousing

to 14 meters are some of the reasons in warehousing and logistics are collaborative robots with human
for the insistent demands towards the looking to grow by harnessing these intervention and the surging use and
creation of a more ‘built-to-suit’ model new technologies. Shah added, implementation of autonomous robotics,
of warehouses from the previous ready- “Self-governing vehicles, warehouse have contributed to the agility and
to-move models are some of the big industrialization, predictive analytics, efficiency of work in the warehouse,
changes at the top of my mind.” and smart roads are all examples of logistics, and supply chain management.
Varun Gada, Director of Contract technologies that are becoming the new We can also imply that digitalisation and
Logistics at the Liladhar Pasoo (LP) norm in today’s world.” automation of processes and operations
Group told ITLN, “E-commerce majorly The creation of ‘smart sectors’ where kept the industry safe from the impact of
supported the metros during the storage, processes, and operations would the pandemic, which despite witnessing
pandemic and during that time a lot of be done with higher accuracy, shorter restrictions be it in terms of supply chain
start-ups like Zepto, PharmEasy grew time span, and lesser to no hazardous or operations could still deliver and also
along with the advent of many dark incidents, all adapting to the consistently recover, thereby establishing fulfillment
stores. The backbone of everyone’s changing demands and environment is of the prime objectives of technology that
operations is the warehouse and slowly gaining traction. This has led to is speed, span, and scope.”
these players are investing a lot into a spate of Indian and global start-ups The implementation of automation
automation and robotics because they that specialise in the implementation and robotics is imperative for the future
need to process a large number of orders of the very technologies of drones and of the supply chain and especially in
and a smaller number of orders in lesser robotics in the warehousing sector and a post-pandemic ‘Just in case’ world.
time. And they have the deep pockets to heavy investments are flowing in the Companies are increasingly trying
fund the entire automation and still work implementation of automation through AI to strike a healthy balance between
at a nominal fee to acquire market share. and robotics in India. automation and manual intervention not
Most of these are also asset-light as they Verma told ITLN “The incorporation only in terms of operations but also in
need to keep moving their warehouses of RFID, GPS, IoT, automated monitoring warehouse management.
on the basis of demand.” systems along with Co-robotics or Gubba Kiran, CEO Gubba Pharma
• Push For 3Pl Warehousing Cold Storage said, “Gubba has already
The 3PL sector is likely to retain a large finalised its investments for Automated
market share even as e-commerce and Storage and Retrieval Systems in its
other sectors continue to outsource food and pharma facilities. By December
their warehousing and logistics 2022, our warehouses will be more than
requirements to them. semi-automated. We are on the path
Ronak Shah, Executive Director, to bringing world-class innovations
V-Trans (India) Ltd., V-Trans(India) said, to our facilities. We will incorporate a
“Companies are now focusing on core barcoding system for elevating the levels
business products to regain the economic of accuracy in inventory, our ERP system
dip they faced and are preferring to is getting upgraded, and we are talking
outsource warehousing operations. about IoT and a lot more.”
This will create a huge opportunity for • Multimodal Parks - Next Best Thing?
third-party logistics (3PL) companies Multimodal parks provide a real big
that can provide them with complete We can also imply opportunity for warehouse developers as
logistics solutions and the scale to grow. that digitalisation and the volumes at these parks are going to
The uncertainty due to the Covid-19 automation of processes be huge, and efficiency and technology
pandemic and the focus of companies on and operations kept the support will enable better services.
regaining the market will further push Planned infrastructure projects
the development of the 3PL segment. The industry safe from the alongside multimodal logistics parks
development of outsourcing will result impact of the pandemic, would help secure a drop in logistics
in increased demand and growth for the which despite witnessing costs from the current 14% to about
warehousing industry.” restrictions be it in 9%, observes Sundaresan Vaidyanathan,
• IoT, Robotics, And Automation terms of supply chain the Chief Investment Officer, Welspun
The warehousing industry holds or operations could still One Logistics Parks.
immense potential for adopting the • Policy Support
Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, deliver and also recover. In recent years there has been a surge
and artificial intelligence (AI) driven Abhijit Verma in infrastructure development through
automation, and most businesses Avigna Group budget allocation as well as through
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May - June 2022 www.itln.in