Logistics Automation - The Next Generation of Industrial Automation

In today’s highly competitive and demanding society, consumer needs are becoming more and more diversified. So how can organizations meet these diverse needs, in an efficient and timely manner? Improving and innovating logistics operations has become a major theme for most companies. As industrial automation takes over the shop floor, automating a host of manufacturing processes, it is also automating many of the activities involved in logistics across industries such as medical devices, food, publication, apparel and transport.

Logistics Automation

Logistics automation makes use of various control systems for operating factory equipment, with minimal or reduced human intervention. It streamlines the process of planning the movement of procured and sold goods in the supply chain, and helps decrease costs (and risks) while improving overall customer service. Logistics automation enables organizations to efficiently and effectively manage their transportation and freight departments. Using logistics automation, organizations can decrease manual entry of processing freight shipments and automate retrieval of goods. What’s more, logistics automation provides automatic notifications and real time updates of freight information.

Benefits

The biggest benefit of logistics automation is that it saves labor; it also helps in optimum use of resources, enabling organizations to save energy and also improve quality, accuracy and precision. However, there are several other benefits too. Let’s look at some of them:

1. Access to Real Time Freight Data: Imagine if your customer contacts you to check where the shipment has reached, and you do not have an answer to provide! With logistics automation, you can have access to real time freight data with ability to run reports. This way you are in a better position to make business decisions based on your trends and history. Access to valuable data at your fingertips empowers you to see the total cost of your decisions and mitigate future costly and awful decisions.
2. Access to Real-time Freight Rates:  Combating rising transportation costs has become a major challenge for logistics companies. Logistics automation makes it easy for users to execute policies that deliver immediate freight savings. Built with state-of-the-art web services architecture, these systems receive live carrier rates. When you have multiple carriers to choose from based on cost, delivery time, and insurance, you can make the best choice and save money over the long haul.
3. Reduction in (Costly) Errors: The risk of manual data entry errors often leads to increased shipping costs – you might end up paying for shipping twice or pay a higher freight rate as a result of having entered incorrect data. With logistics automation features such as integration to your commodities or automatic entry of fuel surcharges, you never have to worry about keying in the wrong information.
4. Increased Customer Service: Imagine how high a price you have to pay when you lose a customer due to poor service? With logistics automation features such as real time freight tracking, and auto pick-up built to your custom specifications, you can empower your customers to know exactly how much the freight will cost and when the freight will arrive through regular notifications.  
5. Enhanced Scalability and Speed: In a fast moving world, addressing customers with speed and agility is the need of the hour. With powerful logistics automation features in your system, you need no additional resources to manage your transportation department, even as your business grows. Quickly and easily input new users into the system, manage them with a simple click of a button, and consolidate invoices based on your requirement.
6. Improved Organizational Control: Isn’t managing a multitude of logistics operations using different systems a harrowing experience? With a logistics automation system, you can seamlessly control all of your operations through a single system – from managing your freight, to tracking costs and risks. You can accommodate custom business rules, and follow policies that ensure efficient and cost effective shipping and have more control over your operations.

Improve your Bottom Line

Automation, when employed correctly, drives many benefits to help your bottom line. Whether it's automation through the use of robots on the shop floor, or features that eliminate manual process, or capabilities that give instant access to information seamlessly - one thing is for sure, automation helps simplify and streamline logistics, enabling organizations to drive efficiency, eliminate waste, and most importantly save money.