In warehousing, efficiency is everything. Every second shaved off your processes translates to productivity savings and bottom line gains. The explosion in online shopping has placed ever greater demands on the supply chain, and the drive to do more with less is top of the agenda for warehouse operators. For those who are still using older ‘brick-on-a-stick’ technology, there is a significant opportunity to drive productivity and ROI by switching up to newer devices. Far from simply a ‘nice to have’, today’s advanced warehouse technology is an investment that delivers a significant return.

The costs of legacy

Legacy, Windows-based mobile devices not only expose you to the security risks of an unsupported operating system (o/s), but their slower speeds, shorter battery life and lower memory put the brakes on supply chain operations, no matter how good your staff.

Changing up – the benefits of Android

Moving to enterprise mobility devices, such as Zebra Technologies rugged mobility platform, which run modern Android o/s, opens up a world of productivity gains for the supply chain and delivers impactful ROI.

1. Fewer hardware devices – unlike ‘one device, one app’ legacy systems, Modern Android devices can run multiple apps on a single device. So alongside the Warehouse Management System (WMS), your staff can access, for example, email, leave requests, push to talk communication apps (like Zebra’s Workforce Connect), and safety checklists. This convergence of technology, reduces the need for separate devices, s, reducing cost, and reducing the number of devices users need to carry and access
2. Productivity – the single device eliminates staff having to go backwards and forwards to check safety procedures or access email. They’re not having to switch between mobility device and radio. They spend more time on the warehouse floor doing their core job, increasing their productivity.
3. Health and safety – by digitising, for example, a forklift safety checklist, and making it available on the same device that your operator uses for scanning, it’s more likely to be checked and mishaps avoided.
4. Process efficiency – processes such as reporting damaged goods are time consuming with older tech. An Android device with a camera streamlines the process, means your staff can manage the entire process end to end from a single device, saving time and cost.
5. Faster training/better operator experience – today’s warehouse workers, especially millennials, use touch screen tech every day. Giving them this familiar interface for their work device makes for faster training and a better operator experience.
6. Future ready – warehouse technology is advancing at a rapid pace. But legacy mobility devices, simply can’t take advantage of today and tomorrow’s functionality – including 2D scanning, NFC, wearable devices and voice picking systems. Even if you’re not yet ready to implement these advances today, investing in a Modern Android platform is a sound future-positioning strategy. Your investment will be protected, and you’ll be able to simply and rapidly implement advance tech and gain benefits such as:
   • 2D scanning – Enables data capture from any orientation, reducing body movement and the risk of injury.
   • NFC – fast and easy ‘tap and pair’ functionality saves time when adding new devices such as mobile printers and accessories.
   • Wearable scanners – Enable faster, safer scanning, with fewer, RSI-inducing repetitive movements and allowing for hands free picking functions
   • Voice picking drives greater efficiency with staff not having to check written picking lists, and is particularly productive in small case picking and split picking operations.

 Next steps

So, you understand the benefits of stepping up to new warehouse tech, but how do you go about it? What are the next steps to ensure you make the right choices and implement a successful project? Here’s the three essential actions to take:

1. Modernise your WMS app – if you’re still using green screen tech, the first step is to migrate your app to a touch interface, ready for Android. This process is made simpler if you use a Terminal Emulation (TE) program such as All Touch TE (ATTE) from Zebra. It will take your legacy apps and convert them to a modern, Android-ready interface.

2. Select your devices – Zebra’s range of rugged, enterprise ready devices are certified by Google within the Android Enterprise Recommended program, providing you 100% confidence that your selected devices will drive productivity and lower risk.

3. Select your partner – rolling out a mobile device upgrade requires experience and expertise, and you’ll need to have the right partner to help you design, deploy, manage and support your new fleet. Selecting an Android Enterprise Approved partner, such as Skywire, will ensure that your project is in safe hands.

Having the right partner to roll out your mobile device upgrade is essential. Typically, the pain point will be felt most by CIOs and CTOs from and IT perspective who have registered challenges with their warehouse operations.

With more than two decades experience, Skywire has the longevity and the experience to make such a transition as seamless as possible. We currently manage 30,000+ devices for organisations across Australia and New Zealand.

While we are premier partners to major mobility vendors such as Zebra Technologies – with direct access to the sales and engineering resources of those companies – we are staunchly independent and focus on providing the right solution for each unique customer. It doesn’t matter what WMS you use, Skywire has the experience, creativity and expertise to modernise your warehouse to the standards required in today’s competitive environment.

From evolving consumer behaviors to technology, industry, and global trends, a state of perpetual disruption influences shoppers’ new expectations and drives innovation in the retail sector

The Next Norm Unified Commerce

As customers return to levels of pre-pandemic shopping in stores, retailers need to accommodate rising expectations for convenience, fulfillment, frictionless experiences, and price sensitivity.

Market Watch: Retail Transformation by the Numbers

Shoppers are back in stores with heightened expectations as retailers wrangle tight labor markets, supply chain shortages and inflation.

Through the Years: Key Events That Shaped the Retail World

The world is dramatically different today than when the shopper study began in 2007.

Human Aspects: Connecting With Shoppers

The modern store is playing a new role, and retailers are under pressure to keep up.

Most consumers increasingly blend e-commerce and in-store, with seven in 10 saying they prefer shopping with online retailers who also have brick-and-mortar locations. More fulfillment options—from buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) and click-and-collect to curbside pick-up or ship-to-home—mean more work for retailers with increased picking, staging, delivery and return solutions required to meet shopper habits and expectations.

While the reality of simultaneously operating separate fulfillment channels is complex for retailers, most consumers have a simple view: They see online and instore as two sides of one retail experience and bring similar expectations to both.

Over three-quarters of shoppers are satisfied with the shopping experience—both instore and online. Satisfaction with online shopping trends down with age, with digitalnative Millennials and Gen Xers both slightly more satisfied than the global average. Comfort with everyday consumer technology likely influences their experiences.
As further confirmation of a blended approach to shopping, mobile ordering continues to increase, with 82% of all consumers surveyed having used it.

Retail Shifts: How Tech Enhances the Shopper Experience

Savvy shoppers likely recognize when retailers are laggards to tech adoption.

Tech is a must for any retail business seeking to align with how their current and future customers shop. Both shoppers (76%) and associates (84%) expect the retail environment to be just as technologically advanced as their everyday lives, and decision-makers know just how important technology can be for generating positive customer sentiment and increasing workforce retention.

The benefit of technology ripples throughout a retail organization, creating a more positive experience for shoppers and associates and helping to generate a positive ROI for decision-makers. For example, self-checkout and mobile checkout deliver the speed and convenience customers expect and give associates more time on the floor with customers. By the same token, over eight in 10 associates say more inventory visibility would be beneficial, helping speed up in-store fulfillment and ensure more shoppers leave the store with the items they wanted to purchase.

Device investments are brought to life with software solutions that apply automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence to functions like workforce and inventory management, bringing retailers into the next generation.

Perspective: Providing an exceptional customer experience is the ultimate competitive advantage

The future of retail will continue to see the shopper in the driver’s seat, and retailers will have to remain nimble if they want to keep up with shifting preferences and priorities. Retailers must consider future disruption, prepare to reassess strategies, and take advantage of new opportunities.

Getting Ahead of Emerging Technologies

The pace of technology can be overwhelming. Topics like the metaverse seem to go from niche to mainstream in the blink of an eye, leaving retailers wondering what role they will play—and what emerging technologies are worth investing in as the future quickly unfolds.

Disruption as a Catalyst for Change in Warehousing

Change is nothing new for those in warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment. But the pandemic accelerated a number of trends affecting the supply chain, increasing the need to make warehouse operations as agile, automated and resilient as possible

A Global View of Warehousing

For years, warehouse operators have been adapting to changing consumer habits, growing labor recruitment and productivity challenges, as well as increasingly interconnected supply chains. Fluctuating market conditions and new disruptors are prompting decision-makers to accelerate their plans to improve workforce productivity, responsiveness and agility.

Warehousing Evolution by the Numbers

Despite recent challenges, warehouse operators have made progress in several areas they identified as a “priority” in the 2019 Zebra Global Warehousing Vision Study. In addition, they are taking on what were likely long-standing challenges they can no longer ignore.

Greater Focus on Outbound Operations

With the rise in e-commerce, decision-makers in the current survey ranked returns management as their top operational challenge, along with many fulfillment-related outbound operations. Concerns and priorities in the 2019 survey were more generalized around recruitment, productivity and utilization. Today, warehouse operators are focused on identifying their weakest operational areas. This will enable them to prioritize improvements more effectively

Warehousing Evolution by the Numbers

Desire for Increased Productivity-Related Outcomes In 2019, nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents managed operations with all paper-based or fixed workstation systems. Decision-makers say that will drop to only 5% within the next five years, and a greater focus will be placed on augmenting workers with mobile devices and automation solutions. Back then, decision-makers were focusing on simply connecting warehouse workers with enterprise systems (31%), and some were optimizing that experience (32%). Since then, there has been a noticeable shift, as 41% said they were focused on giving workers the right technology for the task to ensure improved team productivity and workflow compliance outcomes. In five years, almost 70% of decision-makers would like to achieve more realtime visibility of people, assets and goods, as well as the ability to automate decision-making.

E-commerce Impact: Where Do We Go From Here?

Decision-makers surveyed across all sectors have plans to address the rise in e-commerce that are both immediate and expected to persist over time.

Modernization: Labor Constraints: A Leading Automation Driver

Warehouse labor is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain. Decisionmakers say it takes an average of 4.7 weeks to train new staff to full productivity in warehouse operations. Despite these concerns, it is clear people will continue to play a significant role in the warehouse—but technology will too. Decision-makers need a backup plan in case it takes longer than expected to hire enough people, especially during peak periods. Eight in 10 say a greater reliance on automation is in their future. Of those who have already implemented automation or plan to within the next three years, 66% say they are doing so to offset their recruitment challenges.

Technology’s Value in Labor Recruitment

Associate sentiment is greatly influenced by the technology their employer provides them, with 83% agreeing they would be more likely to work for an employer that gives associates modern devices versus one that provides older or no devices. Decision-makers concur, with nearly nine in 10 agreeing technology advancement will make the warehouse environment more attractive to workers. Fortunately, most decision-makers report some level of their workforce is already augmented with technology or devices, and they hope to achieve greater levels of automation to advance their worker augmentation plans within the next five years. A significant advantage of today’s automation technologies is that organizations can start small with options that do not require reconfiguration of floor space, then scale up as use cases are proven.

Perspectives: Warehouse Operations by Industry

Each industry sector plays a critical role in supply chain execution. In a dynamic market like today and the foreseeable future, collaboration will be the key to everyone’s success. Warehouse industry leaders are adapting and evolving their operations to do their part to make a stronger, more resilient ecosystem to do business.

The video highlights the problems Zebra is solving for healthcare customers and clinical personas and highlights the Zebra’s TC5X-HC Series & TC2X-HC Series Healthcare mobile computers as well as our overall portfolio of printers, scanners, and supplies.

Workforce Connect Push to Talk Pro connects workforces with enterprise-class instant push to talk voice communications and secure messaging services that support text, images, and audio, for users who are carrying an Android or iOS mobile device.

Workers can talk to any user or group with the press of a button. With User Presence information, workers can identify who is available before placing a call or sending a text to ensure an instant connection. Unlike consumer cellular standard text message services, all text messages are encrypted in-transit, meeting enterprise security needs.

Services are available over cellular and Wi-Fi networks, so they are always available to workers, regardless of where they are located. Deployment of the solution is simple and straightforward through remote subscriptions to the WorkForce Connect Push to talk Pro cloud service.

Transform your business with the industry’s broadest, field-proven RFID portfolio for unmatched accuracy and interoperability. Connect it all and create a platform that elevates every system, device, tag and worker.

Missing and misplaced medical equipment can have considerable impacts on patient care and delaying procedures, leading to bed blockages and delays in patient discharge. Zebra MotionWorks medical equipment tracking technology is helping free up care givers time to give back to patients.

This video outlines the steps on how to manually calibrate the Zebra ZT411 and ZT421 industrial printers.