The warehouse can be a busy, chaotic place, and if you’re relying on outdated traditional processes or systems, you could be missing vital opportunities for optimization. Fortunately, this is the AI age, a period of innovation and automation that has introduced various revolutionary technologies.
With the right tech and smart implementation, you could optimize your day-to-day warehouse operations, reducing waste, increasing productivity, and ultimately improving your bottom line.
These are the latest technologies that all steel and metal manufacturers should consider.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions
An ERP is a centralized business management system that integrates various programs and provides a comprehensive solution.
Rather than relying on various independent programs designed with specific departments and tasks in mind, ERPs provide a central solution that everyone can use, thus improving collaboration and cooperation.
It means your sales team doesn’t need to communicate with the warehouse department to check if they have sufficient stock, and if production suddenly slows or quickens, every department can react accordingly.
RealSTEEL™ is an affordable, scalable, cloud-based ERP for the metals industry. Not only does it bring previously disconnected departments and processes into a single, easily manageable system, but it was designed in collaboration with industry experts and can meet the exacting needs of this sector.
Here are just a few of the ways that RealSTEEL™ can help you to optimize your warehouse processes:
Improve Inventory Management
Get full visibility on your inventory at all times. Check stock levels—including criteria such as weight and dimensions—and learn how it moves through your warehouse. Armed with this information, you can strategize simpler solutions that promote faster inventory movement.
Automate Simple, Time-Consuming Tasks
RealSTEEL™ uses a Wireless Data Capture System (WDCS) to collect and transmit data in any environment, including the warehouse floor. It tracks inventory wirelessly and displays data in real time, eliminating the need for paperwork while automating tasks like receiving and picking.
Maximize the Use of Your Warehouse Space
Do more with the space you have by letting RealSTEEL™ optimize your warehouse. It plots your available space in real time, instructing operators to place items in locations that best suit the product and maximize the available space.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT uses various sensors to gather data from across your business and feed that data into a single system.
If ERP is the brain of the business, then IoT is the neurons firing information from one location to another.
Sensors can be placed anywhere you want to gather data:
- On shelves and in storage units to track inventory levels.
- On forklifts to monitor their positions.
- On equipment to detect the early signs of failure.
- On employee clothing to detect the proximity to dangerous machines.
- Throughout the warehouse to monitor temperature and air quality.
By feeding this data into an ERP, you’ll have greater control over your operations and can spot issues that would have otherwise been missed, such as unsafe working conditions and under- or over-stocking.
Automation and Robotics
Advancements in AI and robotics have transformed warehouse operations. The right implementations will reduce labor costs, improve accuracy, and generally create a safer and more efficient workplace.
For instance, industrial robots are regularly utilized for tasks such as stamping, marking, or engraving finished products, as well as dross cleaning. They’re also used during packing and wrapping, a manually intensive process that comes with a significant risk of injury when performed by human workers.
Automation is far from a new concept in the metals sector, but these machines have improved significantly in the last few years and can operate with a high degree of accuracy.
We’ve also seen a big leap forward in collaborative robot design. Known as “cobots”, these machines work alongside skilled operators and can perform tasks such as material handling, welding, and machine tending. They are generally cheaper than fully automated machines, but still provide enhanced efficiency while making life easier for employees.
Voice-Activation
Voice-activation technology, just like robotics, has advanced leaps and bounds in the last few years. Its scope of use has greatly increased, and it’s now capable of recognizing any voice, regardless of accent, tone, or volume—even in a busy warehouse.
Using voice commands, employees can instruct machinery, access information on a terminal or mobile device, perform data entry tasks, order materials, and more. They’ll work faster and with fewer interruptions, but more importantly, they can keep their hands away from dangerous machinery and work from a safe distance.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Many new technologies are powered by machine learning. It’s often discussed in the context of creative fields or the medical sector, but it’s making huge waves in manufacturing.
These technologies rely on vast quantities of data, which they use to understand a specific process. With finance and accounting software, for instance, it knows what an invoice looks like, what it should include, and how it should be processed. The more that you use the software, the more it learns about your specific needs.
In that sense, it functions like an experienced employee who has spent years poring through invoices, sending quotes, requesting additional information, and reeling off emails to the sales team. The difference is that it can learn the role in a fraction of the time, and as there’s no risk of human error— such as a misplaced decimal point or missing line info—it is extremely accurate.
Modernize Your Metals Business With RealSTEEL™
ERP solutions are not the reserve of major manufacturers. At RealSTEEL™, we offer a cost-effective solution tailored to your specific needs. You choose the integrations, you specify your requirements, and we’ll do the rest.
Whether you specialize in metal framing or steel fabrication, and whether you need advanced coil slitting software or plate processor software, we have the solution for you.
To see RealSTEEL™ in action and discover how it can transform your warehouse operations, contact us today and request a demo.
