A peek into Tomorrow’s Warehouse

THESE THEMES and pressures are bringing great change to the warehouse today and will shape the warehouse of tomorrow. But while we may all have assumptions about what will happen, and what issues and capabilities will have an impact, it is always important to remain open to uncertainty. Indeed, the last few years have taught us this, over and over again.

That’s why we opened the conference with BearingPoint manager David Noll outlining principles to keep in mind when designing the layout of your warehouse, from considering the interplay of automation, warehouse layout and IT, as well as avoiding the pitfall of purchasing ‘toys’, solutions that sound amazing in isolation but do not necessarily line up with business aims effectively. Interestingly, David emphasised that warehouse transformation is a trend hard-wired into the UK, long before the pandemic. 

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David argued that while we have had many sudden disruptions caused by world events, underlying changes such as channel shift (physical to online in retail), warehouse space, and labour and skills shortages are the key drivers in warehouse transformation. BearingPoint carried out pre and post pandemic surveys on warehouse suitability and found little change, with small majorities in both surveys (56% pre-pandemic, 53% post-pandemic) characterising their warehousing as ‘unsuitable’ and planning to make significant changes.

We took the issues of skills shortages very much to heart with the next presentation, with Marisa Baker speaking as division manager at Encore Personnel. Drawing on her own early life in foster care as well helping a homeless man into successful warehouse work, Marisa encouraged us to look past our biases, and give people a chance.

It is the compassionate thing to do. It’s also a practical solution, as there are many people in disadvantaged groups that are habitually overlooked for warehouse roles, who are more than capable of making a valuable contribution.

In a broader sense, we have historically benefitted from coupling efficient, inexpensive supply chain activities. Simon Dixon, founder and CEO, Hatmill asked are those days now over as many companies are seeking greater resilience. However, there remains a question over whether companies are willing to foot the bill. 

We also zeroed in on warehouse automation, with Kirsten Tisdale, owner, Aricia Consulting speaking on 2022: A fresh context for logistics? Kirsten used data from a variety of sources to give insights into the context in which UK logistics is now positioned and pointed to some of the available solutions.

We want to tackle the key issues on warehouse automation, even when they are difficult. For that reason, we were delighted to have Alison Phillips, Head of Fire Safety Risk Management at Ocado talking about lessons learned from the 2019 Andover fulfillment centre fire.

Alison said: “Fire Safety; it is made up of component parts that must come together like finely oiled cogs in a classic timepiece to work effectively and seamlessly. Stakeholder engagement, collaboration and a growth mindset are key.”

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We also looked at the companies who are creating the digital distribution operation of the future. Alex Stinton, Digital Model Realisation & Continuous Improvement Leader, GXO spoke about reviewing the four pillars of the “Digital Agenda” at the heart of its Digital Distribution Operation of the Future project for Nestle at East Midlands Gateway and how they inform GXO’s exploration of how the warehouse of the future might operate.

Alex explained: “The onus is on us to keep improving. We don’t want it to be state-of-the-art for 2020 and less so as the years move on.”

Alex continued: “We improve the automation, to make additions as well as carrying out process optimisation. The AI-driven camera system which we have been developing for the automated layer picking is one example of this, where we have been able to subsequently make better use of the time of our colleagues.”

Next we looked at making the most of warehouse space. Andrea Ferranti, Head of Industrial and Logistics Research at Colliers spoke about Soaring Demand – The inside view on UK warehouse property, where Andrea shed light on the boiling hot UK warehouse market, where demand is fast out-stripping supply.

Clare Bottle, CEO, UK Warehousing Association took this idea and explored what can be done to cope with these challenges, asking what measures occupiers can adopt to maximise warehouse space within a healthy supply chain.

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Tomorrow’s Warehouse aims to give you actionable insights that will help you make sure operations are a match for changing commercial realities. We are seeing major changes in approach to sustainability in the warehouse.

Louisa Hosegood, Digital and Strategy Director Bis Henderson gave attendees food for thought on some of the less obvious ways that impact your warehouse and supply chain sustainability, while Gary Brandwood, Owner, Perfect Sense Energy spoke about Achieving the low-carbon warehouse of tomorrow.

This provided an overview of how a future warehouse would reduce its carbon footprint, take better control of energy security, cost and volatility while working toward a Net Zero carbon future. Covering tariffs, AI automation, robotics, electric vehicles, and bi-directional charging.

All-in-all there was plenty of opportunities to network, learn and start to build partnerships to take your warehouse into the future. 

Date for the diary: The Safety in Logistics Digital Conference launches on 23 November 2022. A must-attend online event, it will equip you to deal with many health & safety challenges. You can register to attend here – _________