Wearable Technology & Augmented Reality in Supply Chain & Warehousing

Wearables on Your Wrist

The global logistics has probably never taken any cues from Silicon Valley. However, the next wave of innovation in SCM, Warehousing and Logistics will come from the Internet of Things. Indeed, connected networks of factory hardware are already enhancing process transparency and enabling previously untapped analytics in several plants.

The next big advance in logistics technology could be augmented reality: wearable digital systems that promise to reinvent the costly and cumbersome picking process in warehouses. Many warehouses today still use a paper-based approach to stock picking, which is slow and error-prone.

Augmented reality systems currently being offered by companies such as Knapp, SAP and Ubimax consist of a smart-glasses display, a camera, a wearable PC and a battery pack. By using the augmented-reality system, workers can see the digital picking list in their field of vision through smart glasses.

With the help of indoor navigation capabilities, they can discern the best route to specific items, significantly reducing travel time by more efficient path planning. So-called “vision picking” software offers real-time object recognition, barcode reading, and data integration with the warehouse management system to ensure the correct items are being picked.


DHL recently concluded a pilot project that tested smart glasses and augmented reality systems in a warehouse in the Netherlands; the result was a 25 percent efficiency increase during the picking process. Please view Video on Vision Picking in Logistics & Warehousing

Wearable technologies have the opportunity to further improve operational efficiency. Also known as wearables, the term refers to devices, often connected to the Internet or to other devices that are worn on the body and can be used to enhance communication to and from the users. Wearables are likely to be adopted quickly, given the potential benefits in communication, productivity, and safety - and depending on the type of technology that’s employed.

For example, communication can be improved through smart glasses or voice command devices. Step-by-step manufacturing instructions can be transmitted visually through smart glasses, while two-way audio headsets can give users real-time notifications pertinent to their activities on the floor. Productivity increases from wearable voice command tools can increase factory warehouse efficiencies up to 30 percent, according to vendors of the technology. Other wearables can monitor health and stress levels of employees through fitness trackers, while GPS and beacon technology can easily locate employees and prevent them from entering a dangerous zone, such as machine cages and boilers.

Work Metaphors in the Post-PC Era Optimized by Device

If you stretch your imagination and go back a few decades, mainframe computers were the dominant form of enterprise computing and occupied the physical space of a room.

During the next stage of the computer evolution, mainframes evolved into a client-server architecture, with clients running as desktops and servers running as towers or domes. Following Moore’s Law, computers have become smaller while providing the same or greater computational and memory capability.

Today’s tablets and smartphones can fit inside a purse or pocket while providing greater capability than the desktop computers of yesteryear. This process is comparable to the evolution of timekeeping devices, which advanced from community-wide clock towers to pendulum clocks to pocket watches to wrist watches to a point where many carry no watch at all, but rely on mobile technologies.

The success of each version was judged by how well each device helped users tell time. Just as clocks shrank from giant towers to smaller devices on our wrist or phone, computers have evolved from colossal size to a wearable design. This unrelenting march towards miniaturization provides us with a new platform aiming to provide us with the most pleasing and intuitive design to make our interaction with the computer seamless.

This is the advent of wearable computing.

We will take a look at some of the wearable technologies that are likely to change the way you operate on the factory floor in the future.

Wearables On Your Head…

While smart glasses largely remain a niche in the consumer market, many of their capabilities can be put to good use in industrial settings. Smart glasses decouple operators from stationary terminals and paper documentation. For example, pick-by-vision provides benefits in operator safety and ergonomics by allowing operators to be hands free. It also increases efficiency by eliminating paper or stationary terminals, and increases accuracy by visually confirming via scanning. 

Another smart glasses application is remote video conferencing, which is emerging in field service industries because it increases asset uptime and reduces support cost by remotely supporting operators using cameras, instead of having them wait on a technician to arrive. Smart glasses can also decrease training lead times, improve quality rates, and reduce cycle times in assembly operations.

Voice control headsets are one of the oldest wearable technologies and have been in use in industrial settings for more than a decade. Today, this technology is used almost exclusively in warehousing applications such as piece picking; verbal commands direct operators to a picking location, tell them what quantity to pick, and where to place the picked items. Often, the device software links with existing ERP software, allowing real-time inventory updates and progress.

So it’s not a big leap for these warehouse applications to make their way into a manufacturing environment such as an automotive plant. Where older devices rely on radio frequency (RF), newer generations of voice control headsets can use WiFi so that, combined with location detection, they can provide for much more flexible applications (for example, materials handling in plants).

Because WiFi modules are now inexpensive, allow for easy setup of applications, and integrate easily with existing network security, they will most likely be the better option for manufacturers looking to “get their feet wet.”

Wearables on Your Wrist

The recent explosion of fitness bands and smart watches lets users better monitor their health and fitness levels and communicate with the world around them. The fitness bands on the market today use biometrics that detect and monitor a user’s heart rate, determine how many calories the user burns, or how well the user sleeps.

Smart watches share many of the capabilities of fitness bands, but with more communication functionality because they’re typically integrated with a smartphone and can display text messages, e-mails, and calls without needing to access the phone. They also operate many of the same applications as smartphones.

Both of these devices present interesting opportunities for the factory floor. For example, the pedometer technology in the fitness bands can measure efficiency and ergonomics by tracking the steps required to execute particular operations.

This data can then be used in simulation software to further optimize the storage locations of tools and parts in order to minimize movement, similar to how you once videotaped changeovers to reduce setup times. The GPS functionality in these devices may prove increasingly useful from a safety point of view as location-based applications can automatically shut down robots or machines when employees are in danger, including stopping a forklift that is rounding a blind corner.

In addition, employee biometrics could be monitored to identify which operations or situations cause excessive exertion on an operator that could result in future injury. QR codes on parts, ingredients, or along process steps may provide traceability and help maintain inventories. Or, instead of using clunky barcode scanners, employees could use their smart watch to easily update locations and quantities of inventories.

Finally, transactional operations that typically require computer terminals or barcode scanners may now be performed in-line.

HOW WEARABLE COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING WAREHOUSING

Wearable computing technology is changing the way work gets done in fulfillment centers and distribution centers and transforming traditional approaches to warehouse automation. It’s a technology that has the potential to increase the efficiency of your workforce, enhance the productivity of your warehouse, and lower the costs associated with fulfillment and distribution center operations. And what’s more, it’s not one of those technologies that’s looming out there on the horizon somewhere just out of reach. It’s here now.

In a nutshell, what it does is to enable your workforce to interact with various forms of wireless wearable computer devices while performing a wide array of physical tasks requiring the use of both hands.

Instead of having to hold a tablet, laptop, radio, or smartphone, workers are now able to gain access to, and interact with, rich data, graphic visual displays, audio, video, and, depending on the device, even live remote expertise — all while going about their normal operational activities. Wearable computing technology enables workers to interact with body-borne devices through the use of vision, voice, gesture, and/or minimal touch, depending on the task and application.

The wearable computing headset fits beneath a hard hat, is outfitted with a micro screen, and runs on voice and gesture commands. That means workers are being empowered with greater accessibility to information and knowledge without the burdens of traditional computing technology.  As a result, wearable technology is enabling workers to:

• Accomplish tasks with greater efficiency.
• Achieve higher levels of accuracy in executing tasks.
• Use greater flexibility and mobility in completing tasks.
• More easily acquire the information needed to accomplish a task correctly.
• Complete tasks in less time than traditional methods allowed.

Wearable technology is also enabling management to better:

• Visualize and monitor operations without having to be on the floor.
• Anticipate and tackle problems that might affect productivity.
• Communicate and collaborate with workers in the process of completing tasks.
• Adapt to continuing improvements in technology.

Wearable Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Solutions

To understand how wearable technology is affecting the world of intralogistics, think about how warehouse operations have improved through the years with the addition of visual and voice directed technologies. Pick-to-light, put-to-light, voice, and RF have all improved worker efficiency and accuracy. Receiving, stocking, sorting, and shipping have benefited from visual and voice directed solutions as well. Now, ponder the kind of improvements that can be made when you replace or complement existing warehouse automation technology with wearable technology. There is a potential for efficiency and accuracy improvements in all of the following areas:

• Incoming receiving, item identification, and PO reconciliation
• Sorting, staging, palletizing, and transportation to storage
• Directed and non-directed inventory put away Inventory management, lot control, and serialization
• Forward replenishment and pick line slotting
• Order management and pick line optimization
• Order selection either by order or by batch
• Outbound consolidation, unit sortation — either automated or manual
• Packing, void fill, and collateral materials insertion
• Transportation management, shipping labeling and manifesting
• Sortation, shipping, staging, and carrier loading
• Inventory management including cycle counting
• Quality control

 As a result, workforce could utilize wearable computing devices to aid in warehouse automation activities and expedite tasks associated with fulfillment and distribution center operations. In the process, we have to adapt the task directed functionality of Warehouse Execution Software to be delivered via apps to be used in conjunction with wearable technology for best results.

Security Concerns

As wearables gain a foothold in manufacturing, security concerns will have to be addressed. The same security concerns inherent in other digital applications apply, including phishing, malware attacks, and network overloads. Wearables collect specific data for manufacturing use, but they never turn off, collecting extraneousdata that could be harmful if used incorrectly. Privacy is also a concern because wearables can be used to collect data on personal habits, behaviors, and the health of employees.

Making this data secure, and abiding by government standards, is of paramount concern if wearables are to become widespread. Addressing these includes a variety of tactics, starting with secure software and hardware development, and by creating proprietary tools that cannot easily be infiltrated. The judicious deployment of devices (including role-based access and specific user privileges) is another way to improve security.

Opportunities – Are you Ready or Not ?

There is an opportunity for manufacturers to achieve both tangible and intangible benefits from leveraging wearable technology. However, there are several considerations before implementing a wearable solution in your factory.

Wearable devices are still relatively new. The consumer applications in this space have only emerged in the past three to four years, and the limited products that are available still have some shortcomings that need to be addressed to make them suitable for industrial applications.

First of all, consumer products are not designed or tested to endure the everyday wear and tear of industrial operations, so wearables need to be adapted to ensure structural integrity. Battery life is also a concern as some of these devices, particularly smart glasses, do not currently have enough battery life to last a full manufacturing shift.

Finally, many factories do not have full Wi-Fi coverage on the factory floor, or may not have the bandwidth to handle full-scale wearables deployment, so manufacturers should ensure their network infrastructure is prepared to accommodate new devices.

Wearables suppliers also need to address cost. Because most of today’s devices are designed to accommodate consumer preferences and needs, their functionality is probably exaggerated for the shop floor and developers should “de-scope” functionality to reduce the price. But, with the proliferation of the Internet of Things, most manufacturers will already have the systems, resources, and knowledge in place to accommodate at least some wearable technologies.

Future is Wearable technology - Unlock the Benefits !

Wearable technology will become as popular and common as smart phones. The adoption of wearable technology on the shop floor has the potential to tap new areas of improvement across industries. Smart glasses, voice control headsets, fitness bands, and smart watches are only the beginning of this next phase of industrial modernization.

To realize the full benefits, manufacturers need to look at wearables not just as a gimmick to modestly improve upon activities that are already done with other tools and technologies. Instead, they should be seen as a tool to capture a combination of connected data (for example, location info, biometrics, and product data) that is otherwise hard to come by.

Analyzing this data for trends and improvement opportunities has the potential to unlock otherwise hard-to-identify benefits, both for employees and employers.