Neeraj Bajaj, Head – Warehousing & Distribution, CJ Darcl Logistics Limited.

What is the current status of automation in material handling and intralogistics operations in the industry today?

The larger players in the industry are increasingly leveraging advanced technologies in their warehouses to automate tasks such as locating goods, intralogistics movement, inventory management, and maintaining temperature balance. To locate consignments in the warehouses, technologies like Pick-to-light and Put-to-light are used which help in increasing the speed of order fulfilment. Then, there are autonomous mobile robots (AMR) that pick the items and move them to packing stations. Apart from this, the usage of inventory management software, IoT devices and sensors has evolved from a desirable enhancement to an indispensable necessity for modern warehouses.

What are the key challenges companies are currently facing in warehousing and logistics?

While there have been significant developments and advancements in the warehousing and logistics sector in terms of technology, infrastructure and policy reforms, certain bottlenecks that the stakeholders are still working towards resolving include inadequate infrastructure of charging stations for electric vehicles along with the high cost of such assets, poor connectivity in rural areas, and shortage of skilled labour that can harness tech advanced solutions to their full potential. 

Realistically speaking, what are the technologies widely adopted by the industry that have matured and provide a good RoI?

Technologies that are being adopted across the industry and I believe have actually contributed to the betterment of business include Warehouse Management Software (WMS), blockchain and IoT enabled devices. While WMS has mostly taken over the entire process of a warehouse management from manual processes of receiving, stocking, packing, shipping, and billing of orders, blockchain and IoT enabled devices have provided the customers with visibility into these operations. Together, these technologies have empowered logistics players to serve their customers better.

How has the post-pandemic era changed customer expectations around warehousing and last-mile logistics?

After the pandemic, there was a significant surge in digital commerce driven by a shift in consumer behaviour which led to a rising demand for real time monitoring of shipments. To cater to this, we deployed a cloud-native Transport Management System (TMS) that facilitates a digitalised approach from order booking to shipment tracking. At CJ Darcl, we provide end-to-end delivery of goods from Depot to the end (D2C) customer along with warehousing and value-added services such as sorting, kitting, bundling, packaging and reverse logistics to execute a seamless supply chain to enable our customers to focus on their core operations while we take care of the rest.

What are the top emerging technologies or innovations that will shape the future of material handling and warehousing? How is the role of AI and data analytics evolving in this space?

The future of material handling and warehousing would be driven by Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs) that streamline processes like material handling and intralogistics. The use cases of technologies like AI would also extensively contribute to a better future of warehousing with evolution in its use cases to encapsulate more precision backed insights on predictive analytics and demand forecasting. At CJ Darcl, we have deployed AI-based Driver Fatigue Monitoring System (DFMS) that monitors driver’s behaviour while driving, setting new standards in the safety of our drivers and cargo. Apart from this, we also offer our clients sustainability-as-a-software platform that offers them insights on the carbon emissions for their consignment journey by blending in the use case of AI with data analytics. With these insights, we help them plan their roadmap to a sustainable journey by focusing on practices that generate minimal to zero carbon emissions.  

What progress can one expect towards fully autonomous warehouses or dark warehouses?

As mentioned earlier, the journey towards fully autonomous warehouses would be driven by larger adoption of technologies like AI, blockchain, IoT enabled devices, sensors, and smart robots that can efficiently manage operations that are still led by humans. Talking about dark warehouses, the one factor that makes them stand apart is the speed of order fulfilment and in India, we are progressing on that front by investing in technologies for enhancement in efficiency in terms of time and cost. At CJ Darcl, we are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies patented by CJ Logistics Korea that possess the abilities to digitise a multitude of operations in warehouses from robot guided picking system to unmanned forklifts.

(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented.)