It’s time for a Recap: 10 Technologies that Saved Warehousing in 2020

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Last year, when looking ahead to what 2020 would bring, technologies such as RFID tracking, Internet of Things, and Wearable Computers were cited as revolutionary initiatives to redefine the year. Now, standing at the end of a historical year, it’s pretty clear our list was too short. Facing a long string of challenges, dangers, and changes, warehouses have relied on several indispensable technologies, which will most likely continue to secure efficiency within warehouses in the years to come.

Save Warehousing

Avalon Integration have noted the following innovations as crucial warehousing advantages

While this list is by no means exhaustive, the experts at Avalon Integration have noted the following innovations as crucial warehousing advantages in 2020:

  1. Disinfectant-Ready Devices – Since discovering that pathogens can last from hours to days on surfaces, operations utilizing multiple screens and handhelds required rugged devices that could handle abrasion, chemical exposure, and constant wipedowns. Made for tough environments, enterprise-grade devices rose to the challenge by providing undisrupted performance in the midst of recurrent disinfection and sanitation.
  2. Contact Tracing – As businesses began to reopen, many of our clients sought a way to welcome back their teams without risking dangerous exposure. To minimize employee density and effectively track possible contamination, exposure awareness, and contact solutions were deployed across the nation. New contact tracing initiatives can be neatly embedded onto your handheld devices like Zebra’s Motionworks Proximity or added on your employee’s wrist like Accent’s Exposure Awareness bands. Both methods protect employees’ safety as well as their privacy, which brings us to the next point. 
  3. Android’s Dependable Operating System – After Microsoft ended its support for Windows’ Mobile OS, warehouses needed a new operating system to safeguard their data. Android has served as the best option as it provides recurrent security patches, silent OS updates, and an open ecosystem to house current and new applications to better prepare operations for future changes.
  4. Vibrational Social Distancing Alerts – In addition to contact tracing, vibrational alerts have also helped in securing appropriate social distancing within operations.
  5. RFID Tracking – Facing a major influx of online activity, supply chains were overwhelmed with moving inventory and rising demands from the pandemic onset all the way till the holiday peak season. RFID tracking empowers teams to manage inventory levels in real-time while tracking in-motion products, assets, and resources accurately and quickly to fulfill needs with a faster turnaround time.
  6. Fast Long-Range Data Capture – By combining intelligent scanning with long-range data capture, manufacturers like Zebra Technologies were able to equip workers with ergonomic devices that read labels while keeping workers apart. In the retail landscape, modernized data capture can help alleviate checkout lanes by scanning products quickly and at a safe distance.
  7. 2-in-1 Tablets – As the term “office” gained a new meaning, 2-in-1 enterprise tablets like Zebra’s L10 tablets packed ease-of-use, operational visibility, and adaptability for on-the-go workers. Operating as either a tablet or a laptop, devices like the L10 give remote teams more flexibility without hindering data entry and connectivity.  
  8. Handsfree Technologies – Minimizing touchpoints throughout the supply chain became a chief goal amongst warehouses. That’s when hands-free technologies such as heads-up displays, ring scanners, and even Zebra’s newest WT6300 rose to popularity as they helped workers process orders faster with less movement and wasted labor. Studies suggest nearly 70% of warehouses now plan to integrate hands-free and wearable technologies by 2023 to continue expediting tasks and meet new customer demands for speed.  
  9. High-Speed and Long-Range WiFi – In April, over 50% of Americans cited internet connectivity as an essential tool. In warehousing, connectivity secures communication channels, diffuses crucial information, and sustains visibility solutions beyond the loading dock. Zebra’s flexible networking and WorryFree WiFi enables dependable connections to keep the essential business running.
  10. Push-to-Talk and Videoconferencing Features – Lastly, whether it be Zoom or any other service, videoconferencing and push-to-talk capabilities proved to be essential in keeping teams connected and supply chains running smoothly.  Zebra applications such as WorkforceConnect provided wall-to-wall connectivity in both the warehouse, retail, and grocery setting, allowing your teams to work together in real-time despite any distance.

But, we can’t forget the biggest game-changers of the year. As we close in 2020, we would like to give a special thank you to all the essential and healthcare workers as the ones who truly saved this year. From our team to yours, Thank You!

With 2021 less than a few days away, we are eager to see what other devices, solutions, and innovations will continue to reshape our futures. For more information on how to implement any of these solutions into your operations, contact our modernization experts today.

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Meet 5 Eco-Friendly Labels Your Warehouse (And our planet) need

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While recycling and trade-in programs can reduce the prevalence of e-waste, there are more ways to reduce costs and environmental impacts. Accounting for less than 10% of your operation’s total expenses, enterprise labels can still contribute to warehouse waste over time. Paper waste accounts for 85,000,000 tons of waste filling landfills per year, and product packaging tends to lead the way in most disposed paper products. Although reducing paper waste may require more effort than label optimization, your consumables are still a good place to start when creating a sustainable warehouse.

As a Zebra Premier Solutions Partner, Avalon works alongside a committed team to provide future-forward sustainability solutions, which is why we’re exploring the leading ways businesses are minimizing waste down to the smallest details.

Which Labels Should You Be Considering?

Which Eco-Friendly Labels should you be Considering
Which Eco-Friendly Labels should you be Considering

Although you can still customize a label to fit your sustainability efforts with Avalon’s labeling experts, there are a few ready-to-ship alternatives available as well, such as:

  • Z-Perform 1000D PF Label – Phenol-engineered labels usually find their way into bodies of water where they do not readily dissolve. To protect label resilience without in an eco-friendly way, 1000D PF labels are made with Vitamin C coating, minimizing the impact on aquatic environments. 
  • 8000D Dissolvable Label – The 8000D Dissolvable label takes sustainability a step farther as its face stock and adhesive readily dissolves under running water, further reducing waste and pollutants
  • 8000D Linerless Label – Due to its silicon release top-coat, Zebra’s Linerless labels eliminate the need for a liner. Labels can be peeled away from the roll and applied directly to inventory without additional waste.  
  • PolyE 4000D Label – Working alongside polyethylene bubble mailers, this label can enable easy recycling to lower the amount of packaging that hits landfills. 
  • Stora Enso ECO Bumper Inlay – This eco-friendly inlay replaces PET film, which takes longer to decompose, with paper to retain flexibility and thinness. The result is a recyclable inlay fit for even the most rugged applications.

Environmentally Friendly Supplies Solutions PDF Download

For more information on how these labels can empower your sustainable warehouse, download our fact sheet. 

When developing an end-to-end sustainability plan, even the smaller details matter. To see how you can go beyond minimized label waste, contact our team for a free assessment of your workflow to pinpoint hidden optimization areas.

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Meet Customer Demands or Lower TCO? See How Sustainable Warehousing Does Both.

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Energy consumption can account for a substantial part of your operation’s total expenses. However, the push for sustainability goes beyond lowering operational costs. Sustainability has gathered the attention of most North American consumers as studies indicate that nearly 70% of consumers prefer brands that integrate eco-friendly practices into their supply chains. In addition to fulfilling customer expectations, sustainable warehousing can help in the following efforts:

Establishing cost-effective traceability

Establishing Cost Effective Traceability

80% of consumers wish to know the origin of their purchased products

Studies conducted by IBM and the National Retail Federation, at least 80% of consumers wish to know the origin of their purchased products. Moreover, today’s changing compliance standards have also increased the need for fast and accurate traceability down the whole supply chain. 

Sustainable traceability solutions built with RFID tracking can help eliminate errors by providing real-time insight and data throughout a product’s lifecycle from production to checkout. By monitoring operations in real-time, your team can reduce wasteful labor and ensure compliance on the go without adding new devices or complicated steps into your workflow.

Allocating limited resources efficiently

Allocating Limited Resources Efficiently

By streamlining crucial tasks through one platform, operations can reduce the number of deployed devices

High turnover rates continue to be a prevalent issue in today’s supply chains; plus, new worker safety measures require warehouse managers to be mindful of high-density areas. This means your workforce as well as your digital devices must be intelligently distributed where needed most without overcrowding. While equipping workers with more devices can solve this problem, it may lead to future e-waste that results in a larger carbon footprint

By streamlining crucial tasks through one platform, operations can reduce the number of deployed devices while empowering the workforce to do more.  Modern enterprise-grade technologies, such as Zebra’s line of mobile computers, can help minimize purchasing and/or leasing new equipment since they can combine data capture, data sharing, connectivity, and visibility all into one platform.

Reducing upgrade costs

Reducing Upgrade Costs

Zebras’ most recent Warehouse Vision Study shows that nearly 77% of warehouses worldwide have moved towards automation

Zebras’ most recent Warehouse Vision Study shows that nearly 77% of warehouses worldwide have moved towards automation to meet customer demands without exacerbating costs. However, inefficient cheap upgrades can contribute to the production of e-waste, which capped at 53.6 million tons last year alone.

To make modernization equally available to everyone, Avalon Integration partners with Zebra Technology in the GO Zebra Trade-In Program. Instead of just purchasing new upgrades, we recommend trading in outdated devices to prevent them from ending up in landfills that could later damage the environment as well as your brand’s values.

When choosing between remaining competitive or lowering expenses, Avalon eliminates compromise by creating a sustainable modernization solution that minimizes waste while meeting consumer demands. To measure the efficacy of your workflow’s current sustainability efforts, meet with one of the specialists for a step-by-step assessment of your operations.

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6 KPIs you should have already been tracking in your warehouse

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Rapid advances in technology have left little room for errors to be tolerated by today’s customers. RFID technologies, faster data processing, and high-speed connectivity have helped shape new customer expectations, yet fulfilling these expectations without complete operational visibility may be difficult. As more brands move towards partial and full automation, warehouses must track and manage several crucial performance indicators to:

  • Spot bottlenecks before they cause downtime
  • Reduce inventory misplacements to prevent out-of-stocks
  • Adjust to surprise changes in product demand
  • Streamline workflows for faster processing and reduced labor costs
  • Lower overall operational costs without reducing efficiency
KPI Warehouse Tracking

KPIs warehouses have cited as top priority indicators to track in order to remain competitive

Next-generation visibility solutions can help expand control over your operations, yet in addition to implementation, one must consider which indicators to emphasize. Below are several KPIs warehouses have cited as top priority indicators to track in order to remain competitive in today’s highly digitized age.

  1. Cost of Order Processing Per Order – By measuring labor costs per order, you also gain insight into worker productivity and average estimated cycle time.
  2. Resource Utilization – From your mobile devices to your docks and storage, every part contributes to overall expenses, which is why it’s crucial to make sure every resource is properly used and maintained to prevent downtime.  
  3. Picking Accuracy – With so many businesses offering similar products, order accuracy, and positive customer service have become differentiating factors that can make or break a purchase. As a result, tracking order accuracy provides insight into possible customer retention.
  4. Carrying Costs – Stored inventory can lead to either possible revenue or financial loss over time. By tracking carrying costs, you are able to manage low and high-risk inventory, ultimately regulating stock levels.
  5. Inventory Turnover – What was cited as one of the most important KPIs, inventory turnover is directly linked to customer demand as you can track how often inventory comes and leaves the warehouse to travel down the supply chain. 
  6. Rate of Return – About 51% of customers report abandoning a business after one bad experience. Tracking return and backorder rates can give better insight into how your customers are interacting with your products after purchases are complete.

RFID tracking has become a popular visibility solution gaining traction across several industries; however, despite its high accuracy rates and promising future, it may not be suitable for everyone. Consequently, Avalon’s experts have teamed up with Zebra Technologies in the latest Avalon podcast to shed greater light on the versatility of RFID.

In the event RFID does not sound suitable to your operations, Avalon specializes in many other visibility and identification systems such as:

  • Bluetooth Low-Energy  Locationing – More adaptable to smaller budgets, BLE can help locate assets for greater worker productivity, managed device utilization, and less downtime and misplacements. 
  • Enterprise-grade Data Capture – As a Zebra Premier Solutions Partner, Avalon provides pretested labels and consumables that retain product information from production to checkout. 
  • Versatile Mobile Computers – Modernized mobile computers and enterprise-grade operating systems such as Android OS can help streamline workflows while connecting your workforce in real-time either through high-speed connectivity or push-to-talk capabilities. Access our portfolio to explore all of Zebra’s enterprise-grade mobile computers.
RFID KPI Warehouse Visibility

Expand your RFID Visibility with Avalon Integration

To see how you can expand operational visibility, reach out to our RFID and automation specialists for a free assessment of your workflow, and integrate a future-forward solution tailored to your goals.

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