In response to a wide range of challenges, many businesses around the world are automating their warehouses in an attempt to maximise efficiency, bring down costs and increase throughput. However, the issue of “under-automation” remains a problem.
What is under-automation?
By our own definition, “under-automation” describes a problem that thousands of businesses are experiencing across the UK right now, occurring when a business is still relying on outdated and disjointed technology. Outdated legacy systems and workload automation tools are not only hard to stay on top of, they make efficient data and information sharing a needlessly time-consuming task.
What are the challenges created by under-automation?
With the rising increase in online orders, efficiently managing the warehouse and its daily processes is key to meeting order fulfilment. As a result, if a business chooses to stick with their current under-automated processes this could face a number of setbacks long term such as:
- An underutilised workforce. Staff become tired, frustrated, and disengaged with older systems. Automation means giving more meaningful and less monotonous work to employees with a user-friendly system.
- Inadequate levels of customer care. A lack of connectivity between ecommerce channels, customer service teams and warehouse staff can often lead to a compromised service for customers. Extra strain is then applied to customer support teams which can create negative customer relationships.
- Inaccurate reporting and decision making. Without integrated data from all departments being fed into quality reporting tools, decision making can become slow and inconsistent. No clear or immediate connection is being made between the efforts or shortcomings of different teams.
- Growth stunts. Operations may keep running, but less time is spent on innovation and growth which is key within the current climate. Time is wasted on organising multiple outdated processes; it can be difficult to keep track of all the different processes.
Automating with the times
It’s common for businesses relying heavily on legacy or disjointed systems to view upgrades or business-wide automation as a luxury that can’t be afforded or one that they simply don’t have the time or expertise to implement. However, a PwC report revealed that by 2030 it is predicted that up to 30 per cent of manual processes could be automated.
With that in mind, no business will have the same automation journey but there are benefits to upgrading systems. ThinkAutomation revealed highly automated companies are 6 times more likely to see revenue growth of at least 15 per cent which makes automation a promising investment.
There are several things we can learn from high-growth companies making purpose-built automation a priority:
- Automation frees businesses and people up to focus on more worthwhile tasks.
- Any fast-growing business needs a fast-hiring process. Automation closes that gap between what jobs need to be done, and what people are available to do it.
- If identified, automation provides the opportunity for hundreds of ‘quick wins’ across day-to-day processes. For example, implementation of a warehouse management system (WMS) simplifies the picking process by wirelessly synchronising in real-time to a picker’s handheld device (HHT).
- Automation doesn’t need to be done all at once. It can be done gradually, keeping costs managed and stakeholders happy.
- A streamlined database provides a huge plethora of valuable data about the business which supports better cost management, efficient processes and better business decision making.
The benefits of automation
During the COVID-19 pandemic, automation became a critical part of survival for businesses in the UK. Being “too busy” to implement high-level automation went from an excuse to a critical part of surviving. Businesses were forced to adapt, and despite this shift being one of reluctance for some, it laid an important foundation.
Automated solutions can serve a number of different purposes that go far beyond simply speeding up processes and reducing manual data entry. Automating day-to-day processes can act as a fundamental basis for increasing productivity, empowering staff, and creating a stable infrastructure for years to come.
For more information on automation please visit, https://orderwise.co.uk/. To access OrderWise’s latest webinar, ’Create your automation success story’ hosted by Jon, click here.
