The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is facing unprecedented change in the face of growing e-commerce volumes and the need for faster delivery.
According to Anthea van Breemen, a director at Forte Warehouse Solutions, as volumes move from in-store shopping to on-line platforms and the customers demand more speedy delivery, the pick and pack of goods will have to become more efficient.“There have been more enquiries for voice picking which is hands free and faster,” she told Freight News.
“The move towards increased efficiency is clear to see. There are trends towards more pick to light systems with mobile put walls for example.”
According to Van Breemen pick to light is a light-directed picking technology that provides an accurate and efficient method of paperless picking, putting or sorting and assembling products, while put walls are a cost-effective way to assemble multi-line orders for e-fulfilment. In a put wall, a warehouse management system (WMS) disaggregates the order lines from different customer orders.She said following the outbreak of the coronavirus, automation had gained momentum.
“With less staff allowed to work in any given environment due to social distancing and lockdown regulations, there has been a spike in interest in automated solutions.
Ultimately we will see solutions such as driverless vehicles within distribution centres become more common.”Van Breemen said automation with robotics and artificial intelligence solutions would increase across the supply chain.
“South Africa is already starting to enquire about the availability of these products locally and there are increased enquiries for local suppliers offering support,” she said. As warehouses and distribution centres have had to operate at the same or even better levels but with fewer staff, the FMCG sector has seen some real challenges in the past few months.
“If one considers the increase in online shopping and expected delivery turnaround times, the last mile distribution can now include the stores where customers can either collect or have goods delivered.”She said from a logistics perspective this was particularly challenging.
“Pick and pack for these deliveries is from the closest most convenient place, if not the DCs then from within the stores, especially for the more remote areas. This is a challenge for the store when it comes to demand planning as they now have to cater for both in-store and online orders simultaneously.”
In light of this changing environment, demand planning for stock to stores – especially where expiry dates and shelf life are involved – is critical.
“This is where data collection and interrogation will have to play a big part in helping to forecast demand per area,” said Van Breemen.Commenting on how the company has coped in the new operating environment, she said Forte had adopted new ways of providing software onboarding and handholding services to their FMCG customers.
“Traditionally our method of bridging the software gap rested on the personal touch and face-to-face industry knowledge our project leaders offered onsite. Now we still showcase our value proposition with more frequent client calls, the ability to reach and schedule time with our project leaders at short notice, and fine-tuned video material for continued reference.”