The world is changing fast. In the past, we drove polluting diesel trucks and faxing was the most efficient way of communicating transportation orders. And were we in need of information? Then, we asked our old friend Google for the answer. However, development is inevitable. It changes the way we live and work. As a result, now, we drive much cleaner electric cars and if we have a question, we go to our new BFF: Chat GPT. Because this friend seems to know everything! Are you ready to apply these and other technological developments in your operation? Is your business ready for the future?

Robotization finally put into practice

For years, robotization has been ranked highly on the logistic trend overviews. However, this hasn’t led to many practical results. Up until now. Because due to labor shortages, rising labor rates, and even the remaining consequences of Covid-19, many companies are forced to invest in this. According to Gartner, 75% of the big companies in the supply chain will use intra-logistic robots in their warehouse operation by 2026. And this step is smaller than you may think. In other industries, robots are already used in the operation. For example, have you seen the robots in restaurants that take away the used plates? Before you know it, robots will also be standard in your order pick process!

The future of scanning: RFID

Besides robotization, automation is (still) a hot topic in logistics. However, in the upcoming years, this will go beyond implementing a WMS in your warehouse. This is already a must-have to stay competitive in the logistics industry. The next steps in automation will be to find ways to downgrade the number of manual activities even more and to make processes in the supply chain even more efficient. Think of replacing your warehouse employees’ scanning activities with RFID.

RFID in your warehouse

With RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), many processes in your logistic operation can be supported. Your employees do not need to scan every article any more to gain an overview of the inventory. Instead, with the help of RFID they can “scan” an entire rack and link the data to the WMS, simply by walking by with a receiver.

In addition, RFID can play a part in the safety of your operation. It is possible to provide not only carriers but also resources with tags and readers. For example, a transmitter on the forklift truck sends out a signal. Colleagues that work in the same zone as the forklift truck wear a tag that picks up that signal. And is the tag (and therefore the person) too close to the truck? The driver will receive a warning.

Artificial Intelligence

The next technological development you cannot ignore any longer is Artificial Intelligence (AI). These days, we are confronted more and more with the practical uses of AI. Recently, we wrote about the new Form Recognition module that recognizes incoming documents based on AI and Machine Learning. In that way, 3PL Dynamics helps you adopt these latest technologies into your logistic processes. But many more AI-based programs can help simplify your daily activities. To start with our new BFF ChatGPT.

ChatGPT in your logistic operation

For example, ChatGPT can help your logistic employees with tasks like planning based on historical information, answering questions from customers, and automatically generating invoices and labels. Furthermore, ChatGPT is an extremely fast source of information. Contrary to Google, where you must search for the right information in the jungle of sites and advertisements, ChatGPT provides an answer in no time. And its knowledge is huge.

Does Chat GPT know everything?
We put our new BFF to the test with a question that requires very specific knowledge. Creating a contact in 3PL Dynamics is nothing special. However, as a developer, I would like to know how to do so in Dynamics BC AL code. Does ChatGPT know the answer to this too? It will surprise you. The possibilities are endless: try it out yourself!

More information?

Do you want to learn more about the technological developments that help your operation to the next level? Or do you want to know how to integrate these developments in 3PL Dynamics? Contact us.