siliconindia | | JULY 20229wholesale distribution, logistics and retail. This may not be surprising considering that respondents indicate their shipping volumes have increased more than 20% on average over the past two years.Like associates, though, warehouse operators are viewing these challenges as catalysts for change and growth. Between now and 2025, over eight-in-10 expect to increase the number of stock-keeping units (SKU) they carry and the volume of shipped items. They also plan to expand returns management operations, offer more value-added services, and increase their physical footprints, with both the number and size of warehouses increasing.While 61% of warehouse operators globally also want to increase headcount within the next year to right-size their workforces, they admit finding (55%) and training (54%) workers in a timely manner remain big challenges. This is especially true in APAC (including India) where 53% report difficulty finding workers and 59% indicate training is challenging. As a result, over eight in 10 decision-makers around the world agree they will have to rely more on automation in the future.Balancing the Scales: Augmenting the Workforce with AutomationWhile most warehouse operators worldwide will deploy AMRs for person-to-goods (P2G) picking, material movements and other automated inventory moves, more will invest in software that helps automate analytics and decision-making. In APAC (including India), 95% of decision-makers indicated this willingness to invest in such software in a bid to raise worker effectiveness and efficiency and reduce labor costs, outpacing the global average by just a bit (94%)."Today, the average time to train workers to full productivity is 4.7 weeks," said Mr. Rajnish Gupta, Vice President and Head ­ India & Subcontinent Business, Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific. "As such, 51% of global decision-makers and 56% of APAC (including India) decision-makers feel the most important labor initiative is to reduce unnecessary tasks so associates can focus on more customer-centric work and utilize their workforce more efficiently. To enable decision-makers to scale warehouse operations and keep up with the on-demand economy, Zebra Technologies has come up with a series of warehouse technologies including printable indicators, RFID scanners and readers like RFD90, ATR7000. Apart from these, Zebra Technologies has also launched new series of enterprise tablets and mobile computers including the L10ax, ET80/85, ET40/45, TC53/58, TC15, as well as the new DS3600-KD ultra-rugged scanner and WS50 Android wearable computer."The portfolio of warehouse solutions including printable indicators, RFID scanners and readers, among others are meant to support the continued upscaling of warehousing operations driven by the on-demand economy. Through the introduction
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