Big data can provide a wealth of information that helps businesses to make informed decisions. Data analysis can help every aspect of business more predictable, understand new opportunities, and uncover inefficiencies. This is increasingly evident in the logistics heart of every organization: warehouse management. Big data applications are transforming the way warehousing is done, and will continue to do so for years to come.
Internet of Things
More of the data being collected is not input by human hands, but gathered via the sensors and switches in a variety of equipment, such as imaging systems and barcode scanners. Information such as product, weight, inventory, process time and date, and much more can be manipulated automatically in the system based on the information encoded on every label or RFID chip. The number of IoT devices is expected to reach 50 billion by 2020.
All this data collection can be done automatically with every parcel in every process. In-house Wi-Fi transfers all this information into computer databases where it can be scrubbed, categorized, and streamlined into structured volumes ready for big data analytics.
The partnership between big data and the IoT will forever change the way warehouse operations take place. It is also beginning to transform the perceptions of the value warehousing brings to an organization.
Big data
Big data is more than gigabytes or terabytes of compiled information. The term refers to data volumes that are so big or complex that traditional means of analysis are inadequate. Big data integrates data from a variety of sources – the internet, shipping and invoice records, IoT devices, and much more. This data must be organized and classified so that the same large datasets can be used in different contexts.
The data is selected and processed through appropriate data modeling techniques to provide quick predictive, statistical, and associative reporting from a comprehensive set of the company’s data. Big data looks at all appropriate measures to detect patterns that identify problems and suggest solutions as well as forecast future events.
The impact of Big Data on logistics
More systems are becoming automated and interconnected to generate greater amounts of data each day. One research study estimates that the amount of data available is growing so fast that it will reach 44 trillion GB by 2020. That data can be of immense value to warehouses and supply chain management.
Among the information flooding into ERP (enterprise resource management) delivery routes, times, pricing, accuracy, revenues, stock levels, order history, item location, and order fulfillment stats on a wide spectrum of prep, picking, and packaging tasks.
Companies analyze all this information to discover ways to cut costs, improve efficiency, and track historical inventory levels. In most inventory-based businesses, 20 to 30 percent of the inventory on hand is dead or obsolete.
Big Data will change everything
With the IoT constantly feeding fresh data into computer memory, Big Data is poised to deliver the same advantages to the warehouse that it does to manufacturing or sales. Every bit of information that’s fed into a big data system adds further accuracy. The flow of new, real-time data adds more value by letting analysts see what’s happening now, vs historical data that rapidly becomes outdated as conditions change.
Cost-savings and greater efficiency in all aspects from ordering raw materials to distributing products means greater revenue. One of the biggest advantages to big data is that it’s specific to a particular company’s business in terms of products, materials, and processes. It can provide immense value to the company that generates it, but little or none to rivals who operate differently.
Data can be a company’s greatest asset, and its application to logistics means that warehouses are coming to be seen in terms of value rather than simply function.
