5 Warehouse Automation Trends Boosting Efficiency in 2025

Do your customers often return goods?

There are times when you get complaints from your clients about getting the wrong items. This may lower the trust the buyers have in your enterprise.

According to PwC, 32% of customers will stop buying products from a business after one bad experience. Incorrect shipments could make you lose clients.

The problem of wrong deliveries can be brought about by errors in picking, packing and shipping. By incorporating the latest warehouse automation trends into these processes, you can be able to solve this problem and enhance productivity. 

This technology will also help you to solve other warehouse management issues such as order fulfillment speed, inventory shrinkage, space utilization, labor management and demand variability.

In this article we’ll look at the five warehouse automation trends that’ll help you boost efficiency in your daily supply chain operations in 2024.

Let’s get started.

1. Automated Mobile Robots

Experiencing low order fulfillment speeds?

Sometimes, your team gets overwhelmed during high demand periods. They have to carry a lot of heavy goods from one point to another. This brings about fatigue hence lowering their productivity.

The exhaustion can cause them to make mistakes that delay operations. They might also need to take regular breaks throughout the day. 

Interestingly, Zebra established that 60% of surveyed warehousing professionals report labor efficiency to be a top challenge in their facility.

By curbing this ineffectiveness, you are able to increase your profit margins.

A great warehouse automation trend you could utilize is the incorporation of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) into your business activities.

The AMRs have sensors that enable them to navigate the warehouse autonomously. They are often integrated with a WMS to help in location of items. Because of this, they are able to quickly track down goods and transport them to the designated areas.

They are also able to automate packing. 

Since these machines can work around the clock without the need for breaks, they hasten operations. 

The robots also minimize errors in your facility. This helps you to reduce redoing of works therefore speeding up operations. 

Shican, a Chinese e-commerce company, was struggling to deal with the surge in demand for their goods.

By adopting 80 Geek + robots, they were able to deliver goods on time 99% of the time. This was possible because the robots were able to assist in picking and packing. They also autonomously updated the inventory records.

2. Predictive Maintenance

Experiencing a lot of equipment downtime?

Oftentimes, you wait for machines to break down before you carry out repairs. This can greatly affect your business operations. As a result, your deliveries are delayed and customers become frustrated resulting in revenue losses.

Infact, according to a 2024 Siemens report, unplanned downtime costs companies 11% of their total revenues. This shows that unexpected breakdowns may significantly increase your operational costs.

Equipment failure often leads to increased labor costs. This is because your team members carry out the tasks that were being done by the machines before the malfunctions. This either necessitates overtime or hiring more people.

If you are able to minimize the abrupt stoppages, you can significantly increase your earnings. 

One great way to minimize equipment downtime is to leverage a warehouse automation trend that has greatly revolutionized the industry – Predictive maintenance.

It works by first strategically positioning IoT devices in your facility. 

AI systems, integrated with the IoT framework, are then able to pinpoint anomalies that indicate potential failures. They also give you a timeframe of when the machine is likely to stop working.

With this data, you are able to structure your servicing and maintenance activities in a manner that prevents downtime.  

Israel Electric Corporation, produces 95% of Israel’s electricity. The company was experiencing huge losses each time a turbine went down.

Israel Electric Corporation worked together with SPSS to integrate predictive maintenance to their system. IEC was able to save 20%. This was because they could now detect problems early and take proactive measures.

3. AI Powered Demand Forecasting.

Predicting demand can be difficult.

It involves analyzing factors such as market conditions and seasonality. Using low figures results in stockouts which means less goods than the demand. On the other hand, overestimating the demand causes overstocks leading to more goods than your clients need. 

Both of these scenarios increase operational expenses.

In fact, inventory imbalances were projected to cost $1.77 trillion in 2023 according to a IHL group report. It means poor forecasting of consumer behavior can significantly eat into your profits.

Shortage of stock may cause your customers to purchase from competing businesses making you lose sales opportunities. Excess inventory increases your holding costs.

How can you address this?

Leverage AI powered demand forecasting. 

This warehouse automation trend helps you to determine the optimal stock levels.

The AI models first studies relevant data such as past sales records and seasonality. The system then makes use of advanced statistical models to accurately predict future demand. From this, you are able to ascertain the optimum inventory levels. 

Here is a roundup post of the best warehouse management software to acquire, including those that leverage AI to predict consumer behavior.

This helps to reduce the likelihood of having low stock levels that leads to losing your clientele. It also ensures that you do not have surplus goods that increase your holding costs.

Shoeboy, a German footwear company, was having challenges in optimizing stock in its 240 stores.

By integrating WAIR AI Replenisher, Shoeboy was able to record a 4% increase in inventory turnover. This was because the software was able to make accurate demand forecasts.

4. Automated Inventory Systems

Manual inventory management is inefficient.

How it works is that your team often counts inventory at intervals. These gaps can be a few days or even weeks in some instances. These intervals create an opportunity for theft of your goods.

Cargonet recently reported that $44 million worth of goods were lost to theft in warehouses in the second quarter of 2023. This can be significantly eating into your profit margins.

You have also come across instances where people falsify records after stealing items to cover up their tracks. This is really concerning to you as a warehouse owner.

What’s the solution?

Leverage automated inventory systems.

This warehouse automation trend helps you to conduct real time tracking of your inventory.

To facilitate this process, you first tag your items with barcodes and RFID tags. You  then strategically position your scanners so that when a product is moved the system can be able to detect and update records instantaneously. 

Any person who steals your goods is easily tracked. Furthermore, this framework does not give room to the falsification of records.

These measures help you to eliminate inventory shrinkage. You are therefore able to get maximum profits on your stock.

Arya.ag, an Indian grain trading network, was experiencing inventory shrinkage due to theft and miscounting errors.

Assert AI developed an innovative solution that was able to detect and prevent stealing of their stock. The system was able to do this by automating the counting and recording of inventory in the warehouse.

5. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems

Manually storing and retrieving goods wastes space.

To facilitate this process, you have to leave a gap between storage units to enable your team to access items efficiently. You also minimize the storage of goods in elevated positions to enable easy retrieval. 

This is wasteful especially when you consider the expensive leasing rates.

Colliers reported that the leasing rates for warehouses are increasing at a rate of 20.6% yearly. Optimizing your space utilization can help you significantly lower your operational costs.

If you use forklifts in your facility, you need to have wide paths between shelves to allow the machine to traverse your facility.

How do you solve this?

Adopt automated storage and retrieval systems.

This warehouse automation trend allows you to optimize on vertical spaces. This is because items stored in higher positions of the storage racks can be easily retrieved by shuttles and automated cranes.

This allows you to store more materials in the same storehouse.

Moreover, the AS/RS systems need smaller aisle spaces than forklifts because they can efficiently maneuver tight spaces. You can therefore adopt compact, high density storage. This frees up more room for inventory storage.

Martin’s Famous Pastry Shop, an American bread manufacturer, wanted to improve space utilization after expansion of its product line.

By leveraging Westfalia’s AS/RS, the company was able to register a 50% increase in space utilization. This was because the system facilitated a more compact storage configuration in the storage facility.

Conclusion

Accidents are common in warehouses.

This is because of the presence of heavy machinery. If these equipment are not handled properly they can cause serious injuries. 

Cluttered spaces and unmarked hazards can also contribute to mishaps.

According to a study by Forbes, working in a warehouse is the third most dangerous job after firefighting and the police. 

Ensuring a safe working environment may aid in reducing your staff turnover.

How do you achieve this?

Incorporate automation in your business activities.

By utilizing robots, conveyor belts and AMRs you minimize manual handling in your storage facility. This reduces the possibility of injuries and accidents.

You can use these systems to perform tasks that are dangerous such as handling hazardous materials and working at high elevations.

All this might seem overwhelming, a great place to start is by incorporating Automated Mobile Robots to help in automating operations.

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