In right now’s retail atmosphere throughout the Southeast Asia area the place buyer expectations are consistently evolving, a key differentiator has turn out to be the flexibility to deal with various merchandise and ship orders quickly, precisely and on the lowest price to numerous channels together with brick and mortar shops and on-line prospects, the place they need it and when they need it.
The expansion in e-commerce has additional heightened the necessity for optimised and environment friendly order fulfilment processes. Prospects demand merchandise to be reasonably priced, available, delivered rapidly, with out errors and anticipate a seamless returns course of. To stay aggressive, companies should navigate complexities akin to elevated product ranges, seasonal fluctuations, and disruptions brought on by environmental and geopolitical elements.
This makes provide chain efficiency and effectivity paramount for retailers looking for to achieve a aggressive edge in Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, provide chains face quite a few challenges: labour shortages and reliability, growing prices, and land & real-estate constraints to fight transportation challenges and be near prospects who anticipate speedy supply. With all these fluctuating market dynamics, provide chains can turn out to be a aggressive differentiator.
Provide Chain Automation
Many Southeast Asia and international retailers, together with main on-line retailers, recognise that provide chain automation applied sciences are an crucial for addressing these challenges. These corporations – massive and small – have been investing in logistics automation methods as a key strategic enabler and differentiator for optimising customer support ranges whereas minimising prices, and enhancing provide chain resilience and agility.
4 automated order fulfilment options — Dematic Multishuttle®, AutoStore™, Autonomous Cellular Robotic (AMR) Bin-to-Picker and Shelf-to-Individual — have emerged in Asia and globally because the main options for provide chain optimisation.
Engaged on the Items-to-Individual (GTP) precept, the place automated storage engines ship product for orders routinely to pickers at ergonomic workstations, every of those options offers vital advantages when it comes to productiveness (from 250% as much as 600% improve versus guide methods, with the corresponding lower in labour required), elevated capability, pace, accuracy, flexibility and scalability. These methods might be tailor-made to fulfil various kinds of orders within the one system, whether or not to retail shops and/or on-line purchases. Superior software program oversees and manages the system, guaranteeing seamless integration into host methods, optimum efficiency and complete administration, reporting and decision-enabling capabilities.
AS Color: Multishuttle GTP
Premium attire firm, AS Color, launched into a method to help its anticipated progress over the subsequent decade by constructing a brand new 7,500 sq. metre distribution centre in Auckland, New Zealand. A key automation characteristic of the brand new DC was the deployment of the Dematic Multishuttle GTP system to assist improve throughput by 344% per employee, drive accuracy, fulfilment speeds, operational efficiencies and cut back the general dimension and energy necessities of its warehouse.
“The Multishuttle GTP system has been a recreation changer for our enterprise, and we’ve really seen an enormous improve in gross sales in New Zealand on account of having it in place as a result of our prospects see how briskly and precisely we get their orders to them,” says Lawrence Railton, Managing Director, AS Color
Radial: Bin-to-Picker AMR
Radial Europe is a number one international e-commerce third-party fulfilment supplier whose trend, well being and wonder prospects embody doTERRA, Calvin Klein, Cole Haan, Categorical, Gymshark, Fortunate Model, TaylorMade and Tommy Hilfiger.
With a dedication to buyer and operational excellence, and dealing with challenges of high-volume volatility, a sprawling storage space, and a various array of 20,000 consistently altering merchandise, Radial deployed an modern Dematic Bin-to-Picker AMR system at a brand new facility within the Netherlands.
The system includes 300 robots delivering merchandise routinely to pickers. The system offers a major enchancment in operational efficiency, with selecting speeds quadrupling and accuracy considerably elevated, all in a diminished footprint.
“We at the moment are in a stronger place the place we will fulfil each requirement a buyer has. They merely inform us what they wish to have occur and we will do it. Automation has confirmed to be an incredible assist in reaching the targets we had from the beginning,” says Ron Kleinsmit, Warehouse Supervisor at Radial Europe.
Benetton Group: Autostore
Benetton Group, one of many best-known trend corporations on the planet , carried out a Dematic AutoStore system at its logistics services in Italy to spice up the corporate’s e-commerce channel by optimising storage capability and order processing.
Cellular robots, traverse the highest of high-density storage items to retrieve objects in bins and ship them to pickers, considerably enhancing selecting effectivity whereas decreasing journey beforehand undertaken by Benetton workers.
“We selected Dematic as a result of we had been inquisitive about a associate with vital expertise within the e-commerce sector and a strong worldwide background,” says Valentino Soldan, Head of Logistic at Benetton Group. “The AutoStore-based answer will meet our enterprise wants completely, and we’re assured in dealing with an more and more difficult market with a structured and technologically superior answer, able to accompanying our growth for a few years to come back.”
Comparative Evaluation
Every automation answer provides distinctive benefits and concerns, making it important for companies to fastidiously consider their choices earlier than making a call. Bin-to-Picker AMR methods prioritise pace and suppleness, making them ultimate for dynamic environments with fluctuating order volumes. AMR Shelf-to-Individual methods are sometimes relevant in small order fulfilment methods or the place headroom utilisation, storage capability, decide charges, and ergonomics are much less of a consideration. AutoStore excels in maximising storage density and area optimisation, making it appropriate for companies with area constraints. Multishuttle methods prioritise throughput and scalability, making them ultimate for high-volume fulfilment centres the place productiveness is of utmost significance, and with the aptitude to go excessive, they probably present the very best storage capability in tall warehouses.
Automation a Necessity to Keep Forward of Your Competitors
Automated order fulfilment options supply super potential for enhancing provide chain effectivity and agility. In an period outlined by fast change and intense competitors, automation isn’t just a luxurious however a necessity for companies looking for to thrive within the Southeast Asia retail panorama.
To assist corporations decide which automation answer is one of the best match for his or her operations, Dematic has launched an Optimising Retailer and On-line Order Fulfilment eBook, deep diving on the challenges dealing with retailers, alternatives for optimisation and aggressive differentiation, and evaluating the options and advantages of those main automation applied sciences. Obtain the eBook.
By: Garret Lu,Senior Gross sales Supervisor for Dematic Asia.