Industrial Automation Magazine India

84% of Indian and APAC warehouse leaders emphasize tech adoption like robotics for employee retention amid labor shortages.

India, November 23, 2023– Zebra Technologies Corporation, a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets, and people, released the findings of its 2023 Global Warehousing Study. The study highlights the importance of enhancing employee value and retention, with 70% of Indian and Asia Pacific (APAC) warehouse decision-makers planning to automate workflows by 2024 for more customer-centric tasks. The study further confirmed that 58% of warehouse decision-makers plan to deploy radio frequency identification (RFID) technology by 2028 which will help increase inventory visibility and reduce out-of-stocks.

Over the next five years, a majority of warehouse decision-makers plan to deploy fixed, passive or handheld RFID readers and fixed industrial scanning solutions that can better track assets, workers and goods throughout the warehouse environment. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of RFID, which has become a problem-solving tool for front-line workers in warehouses and other industries.

Globally, 73% of warehouse decision-makers have or will be accelerating timelines of modernisation projects, with decision-makers in APAC similarly align at 69%. This should help with returns management which climbed to the top operational challenge cited by nearly half of warehouse decision-makers surveyed (47% globally, 40% in APAC) — the study records an increase of 5 percentage points year-over-year in the APAC region.

“Precise inventory updates and efficient return management are imperative in the warehousing sector. This becomes even more critical in the retail sector during the high-demand seasons in a country like India,” said Rajnish Gupta, VP India and Subcontinent, Zebra Technologies. “Warehouse operators must embrace best-in-class technological solutions to enhance operational efficiency, agility, and real-time decision-making during such high-demand times. This involves modernising operations to manage returns effectively, improve inventory visibility, and enhance demand forecasting. Zebra supports its customers in the India with its series of Zebra printers (ZD421/ ZD411, ZQ600plus), mobile computers and tablets (TC53/TC58, ET60/ET65), RFID devices (ZT231 RFID, WS50 RFID), and software (VisibilityIQ Foresight) amongst others.”

This comes about as the majority of warehouse decision-makers (76% globally, 75% in APAC) say they are under pressure to improve performance while adjusting to shifting consumer ecommerce demands. Inaccurate inventory and out-of-stocks continue to significantly challenge productivity according to nearly 80% of warehouse associates and decision-makers. In fact, both groups—associates (82% globally, 79% in APAC) and decision-makers (76% globally, 79% in APAC)—acknowledge they need better inventory management tools to achieve better accuracy and determine availability. To combat these issues,a significant portion of decision-makers (91% globally, 88% in APAC) are addressing this need, citing plans to invest in technology to increase visibility across the supply chain by 2028.

Zebra’s Warehousing Vision Study was conducted in March and April 2023 by third-party research firm Azure Knowledge Corporation. It includes feedback from over 1,400 decision-makers and associates that manage and maintain warehouse or distribution center operations in manufacturing, retail, transportation, logistics and wholesale distribution across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

https://www.zebra.com/ap/en/cpn/warehousing-vision-study.html