Automation and Robotic Process Automation in Warehouses

Study of AI and Robotic Process
Automation for Warehouse

Management in Singapore
Edwin George John - GJ19GL051
GIP Term 1
4/20/19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude and sincerely thank everyone who
has extended their continuous support and helped me in completing the project successfully. I
would like to thank my mentor, Mr. Rajiv Aserkar for his help and guidance throughout the
project. It was because of her continuous feedback and encouragement that I was able to
achieve the outcomes in this project.
Sincerely,
Edwin George John (GJ19GL051)
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DECLARATION
I, hereby, declare that the matter included in this report entitled “Supply Chain Analysis of
Sportswear Retailers in Singapore” is the result of study and research carried out by me. I
further declare that this is my original work and has not been published anywhere before. This
project work has been carried out for the sole purpose of submission in partial fulfilment of
Global Master of Business Administration (GMBA) at S P Jain School of Global Management,
Singapore. The above is true to the best of my knowledge and understanding.
COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT
FOR THE GOOD AND VALUABLE CONSIDERATION, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the
project team (“Assignor”), hereby irrevocably transfers and assigns to S P Jain School of Global
Management (“Assignee”). Located at Dubai, Singapore, Sydney, its successors and assigns, in
perpetuity, all right (whether now known or thereinafter invented), title, and interest,
throughout the world, including any copyrights and renewals or extensions thereto, in --------IN
WITNESS THEREOF, Assignor has duly executed this agreement.
Date: 20th April 2019

Student Details: Edwin George John (GJ19GL051)
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 OVERVIEW .....................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 SCOPE ...........................................................................................................................................................4
1.3 RELEVANCE ....................................................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 6
2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ..............................................................................................................................................6
2.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY APPROACH.........................................................................................................................6
2.3 PROPOSED OUTCOME ...............................................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER III: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 7
3.1 OVERVIEW OF WAREHOUSES IN SINGAPORE ..................................................................................................................7
3.1.1 Total Number of Establishments in Singapore ............................................................................................7
3.1.2 Value added by Logistic sectors in Singapore..............................................................................................8
3.1.3 Profitability per logistic sector in Singapore ................................................................................................8
3.1.4 Volume of sales in the logistic sector in Singapore .....................................................................................9
3.2 WAREHOUSES MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................................................10
3.2.1 Warehouse Design ....................................................................................................................................10
3.2.2 Warehouse Operation ...............................................................................................................................14
3.3 CHALLENGES FACED IN WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS........................................................................................................18
3.4 SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED TO STREAMLINE WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS ..............................................................................19
3.4.1 Warehouse Management Systems ...........................................................................................................19
3.4.2 Warehouse Control Systems......................................................................................................................19
3.4.3 Radio Frequency Identification ..................................................................................................................20
3.4.4 Conveyor Systems ......................................................................................................................................21
3.5 IMPLEMENTATION OF AI AND ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION IN WAREHOUSES ................................................................23
3.5.1 Automated Mobile Robots ........................................................................................................................23
3.5.2 Automated Storage Retrieval Systems ......................................................................................................23
3.5.3 Sorters .......................................................................................................................................................24
3.5.4 Picking Solutions........................................................................................................................................24
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 25
4.1 TYPES OF WAREHOUSES AND PRODUCTS FOUND IN SINGAPORE .......................................................................................25
4.2 CHALLENGES FOUND IN WAREHOUSES WHILE AUTOMATING IN SINGAPORE ........................................................................25
4.3 SOLUTIONS EMPLOYED IN THE WAREHOUSE .................................................................................................................26
4.4 RETURN ON INVESTMENT .........................................................................................................................................27
CHAPTER V: RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 28
5.1 SOLUTIONS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE WAREHOUSE IN SINGAPORE .....................................................................................28
CHAPTER VI: LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE .................................................................................................. 30
6.1 LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT ...................................................................................................................................30
6.2 FUTURE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT.................................................................................................................................30
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 31
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Chapter I: Introduction
1.1 Overview
A warehouse is defined as a connection between the supplier and a customer. It is used for a
number of activities. Along with storage of inventory, warehouses play an integral role in
recovery of products, redistribution of products to other customers with product carriers. Goods
arrive at a warehouse in a carrier and are unloaded at the receiving docks. These are then put
away into storage and is picked up from shelves once an order is placed and is shipped via the
shipping docks (Gu, 2007).
As e-commerce is rising in Singapore, companies are putting immense pressure on the logistical
and warehouse operation of companies. This intern has led to a need for faster and more
automated systems to bridge the gap and streamline warehouse operations for better
throughput, response times and storage capacity.
1.2 Scope
The broader issues that need to be addressed in this domain are

• Warehouse layout planning
• Storage efficiency
• Optimized picking
• Due to the 2016 boom (“Singapore builds ‘smart’ into logistics”, 2017) in the
ecommerce sector In Singapore, companies are putting immense pressure on supply
chains and logistics to fulfil customer demand.
• Obtaining the right formula between human resources and machine components in the
different industries
This in turn has led to the development of new age warehouses where in accurate inventory is
no longer an issue. With the use of AI and RPA, this research will provide companies with
solutions to help improve their processes by streamlining their warehouse with regards to route
optimization, throughput and space efficiency. (Pierce, 2018)
1.3 Relevance
Warehouse management can be a cumbersome process. The major issue is identifying the key
challenges seen in warehouses, like space utilization and route optimization affecting put away
and pick up processes (Faizal, 2018). The usage of manual systems and outdated Warehouse
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Management Systems (WMS) is one of the main factors impacting its inventory accuracy and
redundant process like tagging. (Blanchard 2013)
This study will help companies streamline their warehouse processes to cater to the rising
demand of time centric deliveries. Although there is a high initial investment, new age
warehouses will help in optimizing put away, inventory management and outbound process with
the use of robotic arms, conveyer belts, machine learning robots that are visually connected to
each other for dynamic movement resulting in superior delivery and packaging time. Other major
advantages are the use of AI for demand forecasting which leads to customer satisfaction and
minimizing inventory costs as well as the use of RPA to eliminate human error leading to perfect
order fulfilment.
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Chapter II: Research Methodology
2.1 Research Objectives
• To analyze of warehouse operations

• To study the challenges faced in the various stages of warehouse processes
• To research the current mechanical solutions for challenges faced in warehouses
• To examine the impact of AI and robotic process automation (RPA) in warehouses and
evaluate the influence of AI and RPA to transcend current mechanical solutions
2.2 Research Methodology Approach
The method of research being used in this paper is both secondary and primary. During this
study, the objective is to understand warehouse operations and the challenges faced in its
design and operations and find out the solutions employed to tackle these challenges by
reading literature using resources like ESBCO host, ProQuest, ProQuest E Book SP Jain Library,
Google Scholar, Euromonitor, Elsevier, and Industry Reports from The Department of Statistics
in Singapore. For warehouse operation processes and design processes (Rimiene, 2008) &
(Frazelle, 2002) was used. For challenges in warehouse processes (Blanchard, 2013) & (Labell,
2017) and (“The Top 5 Challenges Faced By Warehouses In 2018”, 2018)
The primary research done was a face to face in depth interview with Mr. Carsten Spiegelberg,
General Manager at Shaefer Systems International Pte Ltd to validate the findings intended by
the study which is aligned with the research objectives.
2.3 Proposed Outcome
This study will add to the current academic research on the implementation of AI and robotic
process automation in warehouse operations by providing an in-depth analysis of warehouse
operations and challenges being faced in warehouses in Singapore.
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Chapter III: Literature Review
3.1 Overview of Warehouses in Singapore
3.1.1 Total Number of Establishments in Singapore
TOTAL NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS

Land Transport Air Transport Water Transport
Other Transport Warehouse & Storage Courier & Parcel
581
379
2602
5543
198
3253
Figure
The number of land transportation companies listed in Singapore accounting to over forty
percent of theoftotal
1: Total number listed transportation & supply chain companies in Singapore. According to
establishments
Singstat.gov.sg, the total number of listen transportation companies are 12,555 as off 2017, going
Source: Singstat.gov.sg, 2017
on to signify the importance of Singapore as a premium, international, intra-port hub in the Pan-
Asian region. (Singstat.gov.sg, 2017)
From the above we can also identify that, the warehousing and storage sector accounts to only
3% of Singapore’s total transportation industry followed by air transport at 1.6%. However, the
projected profitability is the highest for both these sectors (as seen above) (Singstat.gov.sg, 2017)
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3.1.2 Value added by Logistic sectors in Singapore
Value Added in $ Mill
29680
767
1822
Sales in $ Mil 3497
6596
13432
3567
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000
Total Post & Courier Warehouse & Storage Other Transport

Air Transport Water Transport Land Transport
Figure 2: Value added by logistic sectors in Singapore

According to the data published by Singstat.gov.sg, the water transportation accounts to over
$13 Million of the overall transportation industry of Singapore. Followed by the Air transport
industry and other transport sector. Warehousing and storage industry accounts to about 6% of
the overall sales revenue from the transportation industry. (Singstat.gov.sg, 2017)
3.1.3 Profitability per logistic sector in Singapore
% of Profitibility per Sector

45 42.2%
40 35.3%
35
28.6%
30
25 21.7% 20.3%
20 18.7% 17.7% 15.9% 15.5%
13.8%
15 10.2% 8.3%
10
5
0
Land Transport Water Transport Air Transport Warehouse & Other Transport Post & Courier
Storage
2007 2017
Figure 3: Profitability per logistic sectors in Singapore

According to Singstat.com, warehousing and storage showed the highest level of percentage
profitability growth since 2007, that is, a sharp jump of 6.9% profitability increase. While Land
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and Water transport witness a slump of over 10% profitability ratio since 2007. (Singstat.gov.sg,
2017)
3.1.4 Volume of sales in the logistic sector in Singapore
% OF VOLUME SALES
Land Transport Air Transport Water Transport
Other Transport Warehouse & Storage Courier & Parcel
2.6
6.3 12
11.8
22.2
45.3
Figure 4: Volume of sales in the logistic sectors in Singapore

The percent of operation revenue generated by water transport is followed by air transport is
the highest percent of volume sales being generated. Water transport accounts for over forty-
five percent of the total transportation and storage industry. While Air transport accounts for
over twenty percent of percentage volume sales, followed by warehouse &storage and other
transport. While warehouse and storage sector within the logistics industry is indicative of being
more profitable, the volume sales generated by it is too low. (Singstat.gov.sg, 2017)
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3.2 Warehouses Management
A warehouse is defined as a connection between the supplier and a customer. It is used for a
number of activities. Along with storage of inventory, warehouses play an integral role in
recovery of products, redistribution of products to other customers with product carriers. Goods
arrive at a warehouse in a carrier and are unloaded at the receiving docks. These are then put
away into storage and is picked up from shelves once an order is placed and is shipped via the
shipping docks (Gu, 2007).
Movement of goods in a logistic chain requires a concentration of stock, these are stored in a
warehouse (Bisenieks, 2010). Warehouses involve large sums of investment and operational
costs. This is why warehouse design and streamlining operational process is so important.
Processes involving labour, machines and management systems are carefully studied before
implementation to prevent incurring potentially huge loses. In a warehouse, managers are met
with many problems in operational processes. Identification and solving these problems at the
right level and time can lead to optimum throughput. (Rimiene, 2008)
Due to increasing global competition and advancing supply chain concepts, warehousing has
become a critical activity in the supply chain to outperform competitors in terms of faster lead
time and costs. The use of high product variety and Just-In-Time production has accentuated the
need for a strong operation process.
Quality and variety of products are not the only criteria from a customer’s standpoint, rather
convenience in terms of faster delivery is a driving factor in today’s market. Managers have come
to recognize that warehouses and distribution centers are areas in which processes can be
revamped to yield better output. According to (Won, 2005), research should go into focusing and
identifying warehouse problems and implanting solutions to the same to increase the efficiency
of the warehouse itself, rather than focusing on the entire supply chain. Cause of the continuous
rise in demand for goods managers should look into processes that help reduce the overall costs
and increase the throughput in the warehouse. Warehouses need to continuously adapt to the
rising change in the market, emphasizing seamless and efficient work flow to reduce the cycle
time, thereby reducing inventory and errors in logistics.
3.2.1 Warehouse Design
Warehouse design and its components such as plan layout development and material handling
design play a very vital role to streamline supply chains. Gopalakrishnan (2004) stated that
decisions made in warehouse operations, facility design, process planning should be taken in an
integrated manner to enhance the companies supply chain objectives. Any underperformances
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in a warehouse processes can lead to high costs incurred, low reaction times further impacting a
company’s services resulting in losses.
Figure 5: Types of Warehouses

Source: Edward Frazelle, 2000
Warehouses can be broadly categorized into three types: -
Distribution Warehouses
This is a type of warehouse in which products are sourced and collated from different suppliers
and packaged for delivery to a new customer.
Production Warehouses
This type of warehouse is used for storage of raw material, semi-finished and finished products
of a production-based company.
Contract Warehouses
This is a type off facility that runs its operation on behalf of one or more customers.
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The design criteria for each type of warehouses may differ in its functionality and operations,
although the overall objective is to establish processes to make cost efficient decisions in terms
of maximum throughput, minimum investment, low operational cost and optimum storage
capacity (Rimiene, 2008)
Table 1 presents a frame work, established by Gu (2007) and Rimiene (2008), for warehouse
design. Most of the steps in the design process is interconnected at different stages. These
decisions may be taken on a short, medium- or long-term basis.
Warehouse Design Decisions
• Material flow
Overall structure • Department identification
• Relative location of departments
Sizing and • Size of warehouse
dimensioning • Size and dimension of department
• Pallet block-stacking pattern (for pallet storage)
• Aisle orientation
Department layout
Warehouse • Number, length, and width of aisles
design • Door locations
• Level of automation
• Storage equipment selection
Equipment selection
• Material handling equipment selection (order
picking, sorting)
• Storage strategy selection (e.g. random vs.
Operation strategy dedicated)
• Order picking method selection
Table 1. Description of warehouse design
Source: Gu, 2007
Rouwenhorst (2000) categorized these decisions processes into three levels: -
• Strategic
• Tactical
• Operational
At the strategic level the decisions are done on a long-term basis, involving high investment.
These decisions deals with process flow design and the selection of the type of warehouse
systems in technical and economical aspects.
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At the tactical level decisions have a lower level of importance than those at a strategic level.
These however involve investment and shouldn’t be reconsidered often. These decisions usually
arise out of decisions made at the strategic level. These decisions deal with storage system sizes,
number of employees, determination of a layout. The tactical design processes is aimed at
optimizing performances in terms of throughput, response times and storage capacity. These
processes are implemented with minimizing operational costs and initial investments.
One of the key decisions in the tactical level is the efficient arrangement of the workspace, which
results in smoother operations. Facility layout is of vital importance to the organization as it is
the most expensive asset of the organization. If the facility is not efficiently designed, it could
result in logistical losses for the company. the layout depends on its particular warehouse
operations and features like its distribution of products, its accessibility and flexibility (Hassan,
2002).
Warehouse design solutions at a tactical level deals with issues relating to assignments of items
to particular storage locations, arrangement of the warehouse functional areas, determination
of location and the number of docks, determination of number of input and output points a
warehouse has, determining the number of aisles and the design and dimensions of the aisles,
estimations of the space requirements for storage of various products, design of the flow pattern
and the form of picking zones.
Design decisions level Problems to solve
• Design of process flow

Strategic level (long term decisions)
• Selection types of technical systems
• Dimensioning of storage system
• Layout design
Tactical level (medium term decisions)
• Selection of equipment
• Design of the organization
Operational level (short term decisions) • Fine-tuning of the organization policies
Table 2. Description of design decision levels

Source: Rouwenhorst, 2000
According to Rouwenhorst (2000) the main decision at the operational level deals with the
assignment and control problems concerning with people and equipment. In the operation level,
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the key element is fine-tuning organizational policies in their storage strategy and order picking
method.
Decisions taken in the storage strategy are mainly revolved around the assignment of
replenishing tasks to personnel and allocation of the incoming products to storage locations. The
problems solved in the order picking process is centered around tasks like routing, order
sequencing, assignment of picking tasks, etc.
Decisions made at this level have a strong relationship with those made at the strategic and
tactical level. All these are aimed to minimize wasteful processes and maximize throughput and
storage in the most cost-efficient manner.
Rimiene, (2008) has noted that warehouse operations is strongly related to the design decisions
and warehouse operations are set in accordance with the design process, resources and its
strategic and tactical decisions.
3.2.2 Warehouse Operation
The basic requirements in warehouse operations is to receive stock keeping units (SKUs) from
suppliers, store the SKUs, retrieval and shipping of the SKUs after an order is placed by the
customer. From the quantity of decisions mentioned in section 3.3.1, Rimiene (2008) has inferred
that there are many issues involved in warehouse design and operations. These processes are
centered around customer order fulfillments, space utilization, inventory management,
distribution costs, automation levels and implementation of warehouse management systems
(WMS).
Warehouse operation processes are broadly categorized into the following categorized as seen
below
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Figure 6: Warehouse operation processes
Source: Edward Frazelle, 2000
Receiving
Receiving is a set of activities involved in unloading of materials coming into the warehouse,
staging, qualitative and quantitative screening of the materials, disbursal of materials for storage
(Hamdan, 2007). Prepackaging is an optional activity done in this stage if there is an inflow of
products received in bulk from the supplier. This is done to improve the storage capacity in the
warehouse.
Put-away
This is the act of placing the materials or products into assigned storage locations. This step
includes the movement of material into their assigned locations (Frazelle, 2002)
Storage
Storage is the main activity of warehouses and it identifies the location where the materials are
placed, while awaiting a demand for shipment. The storage method depends on the size and
handling characteristics of the product (Gunasekaran, 1999).
Order Picking
This process is the retrieval of a product or material from their warehouse storage locations to
satisfy customer orders (Petersen, 1997). It is the basic warehouse function warehouses provides
to satisfy customer demands (Frazelle, 2002).
Shipping
This process includes sorting batch picks into individual orders and accumulating various
distributed picks into orders. the orders are sent for packaging in an appropriate container for
shipping. The orders are then staged on the shipping docks and checked for accuracy after which
the orders are accumulated by outbound carriers and are loaded into outbound trucks (Hamdan,
2007)
Receiving and shipping are the interface that tend to the inflow and outflow if material. Order
picking is generally the most expensive task in warehouse operation as it deals with very high
intensive labour or very high investment (Gu, 2007).
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Warehouse Operations Decisions
• Truck-dock assignment
• Order-truck assignment
Receiving and shipping
• Truck dispatch schedule
• Assignment of items to different

SKU-department warehouse departments
assignment • Space allocation
• Assignment of SKUs to zones

Storage Zoning • Assignment of pickers to zones
Warehouse
• Storage location assignment
operation
Storage location • Specification of storage classes (for
assignment class-based storage)
• Batch size
Batching • Order-batch assignment
Order • Routing and sequencing of order

picking Routing and picking tours
sequencing • Dwell point selection (for AS/RS)
Sorting • Order-lane assignment
Table 3: Warehouse Operation Processes

Source: Gu, 2000
The type of warehouse plays a key role in the proportion of work performed by labour or
machines. Accordingly, they will be further classified into manual, mechanized or automated
warehouses. The level of warehouse mechanization or automation is determined by the storage
and order picking system implemented in it.
Organization policies are required by some warehouses processes.
Receiving
In the receiving stage an assignment policy is used which determines the allocation of trucks to
specific docks.
Storage
In the storage stage, various storage policies are used depending on the type of products and the
type of warehouse. Dedicated storage policies are often used by most warehouses. In this model
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materials are assigned a particular location to be stored. Random storage policy allows an
operator to decide where materials can be stored. A class-based storage policy allots specific
zones for product groups according to their turn over or other criteria. Replenishment policy is
another metric indicating how the replenishment of goods is timed.
Order Picking
In this stage, zoning policies are used to divide picking areas into zones, tended to by different
order pickers. Batch picking or single picking policies determining on how orders should be
picked. Routing policy is what determines the sequence of retrievals in a warehouse.
Shipping
Dock assignment policy assigns orders and trucks to certain docks. Operator and assignment
policy is addressed particular tasks to personnel and equipment.
According to Rouwenhorst (2000) picking the right policy for the right type of warehouse would
help the company manage efficient throughput, storage utilization, inventory management and
cost minimization.
Performance measures of a warehouse

Quality Accuracy in storage Accuracy in picking Inventory
Operational costs
Finances
Total storage costs per unit
Cycle time Commodity cycle time Order cycle time
Labor productivity (employees/moved unit)
Resource consumption (space, equipment, labor)
Productivity Flow (moved units through the system in a given period) Throughput volume
(moved units/day)
Productivity ratio (handled units per day/working hours per day)
Table 4: Performance evaluation metrics for warehouses
Source: Huertas, 2007
By estimating each criterion of the warehouse operations, resources and organizational policies,
the efficiency of the warehouse can be evaluated. Cycle time and finances of operation must be
carefully estimated and controlled to maximize warehouse throughput and cost-effective
operational processes.
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3.3 Challenges Faced in Warehouse Operations
Having understood the process and key variables in warehouse design and operations, it is
understood that there are a number of challenges that should be tackled to maximize throughput
and increase in efficiency of the warehouse.
One of the most persisting problems a warehouse manager faces is the poor layout of a
warehouse. This often leads to ineffective storage utilization and inventory oversight which
builds up to lot of inefficiency within the warehouse (Blanchard, 2013). This is mostly caused by
the increase in cycle time to find products to ship which causes delays in packaging and shipping.
The poor layout also causes increase in time to move from station to station. The lack of route
optimization drastically reduces the throughput in a warehouse (Labell, 2017). Another pertinent
problem that adds to the inventory oversight is the poor storage of products, there are many
products that don’t have a high volume of sales as some other products. This causes delay in
availability of some products which isn’t easily available for picking and shipping causing further
delay (“The Top 5 Challenges Faced By Warehouses In 2018”, 2018).
Inventory accuracy is one of the biggest challenges faced in warehouses. This often causes huge
problems in stock, where companies either run out of supply or has excess inventory which
affects the company’s cash flow. (“The Top 5 Challenges Faced By Warehouses In 2018”, 2018).
This is seen as a major issue as this directly affects the customer when it comes to delay in
purchasing a product due to unavailability (Labell, 2017).
Outdated redundant processes such as pick tickets, documentation having to pass through
multiple personal are practices multiple managers are trying to get rid of to increase the
warehouse efficiency (Blanchard, 2013).
Unoptimized picking is one of the biggest bottle necks in warehouse operations. Manual picking
still works in today’s warehousing world, but the problem arises when there is an increase in
orders. (“The Top 5 Challenges Faced By Warehouses In 2018”, 2018). This calls for need of
standard optimized routes for order picking (Blanchard, 2013).
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3.4 Solutions implemented to streamline warehouse operations
3.4.1 Warehouse Management Systems
Managing operations in a busy warehouse requires many factors working in tandem with each
other to move from one point to another. Warehouse management systems (WMS) along with
warehouse control systems (WCS), help warehouse operators to keep track of large inventories
and help the warehouse in optimizing their order fulfillment in the most cost-effective method.
Regardless of the size of the warehouse, WMS results in keeping nearly perfect inventory with
complete traceability of the products, most wholesalers make use of these systems to optimize
their order fulfillment strategy to increase their overall performance (Harfmann, 2017). A strong
WMS system used along with WCS, warehouse execution systems (WES) and learning
management systems (LMS) makes it possible for a warehouse operator to manage the workflow
inside the warehouse while accounting for multiple factors like labour, truck departure time,
route options, visibility of the supply chain ensuring accurate inventory, fulfillment management
and optimal operations. WMS alerts supervisors about potential problems faced in the
warehouse, thereby allowing certain proactive actions to take place to avoid any bottlenecks in
its operations.
WMS is moving in a direction where it brings even greater value in distribution operations. Data
analytics integrated with WMS can improve the flow of the product using predictive analysis.
Demand can be anticipated which will lead to adequate requirement of inventory and can
increase the amount of throughput in the warehouse.
Data analytics coupled with WMS systems can help improve the workload and work flow and
manage optimize the inventory level and staffing within the warehouse. It also helps with picking,
tracking time in order to pick each item and can predict the time required to pick an order (Forger,
2018).
3.4.2 Warehouse Control Systems
A WCS is a software package that guides and leads the activity of equipment’s like conveyor
systems and picking systems etc. within a warehouse. Its main activity revolves around running
the equipment within performance parameters designed to suit the facilities requirements in
order to optimize and streamline operations within the warehouse. It can be coupled with a WMS
and acts as a bridge between the equipment in the warehouse and the WMS (Stone, 2016).
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WCS synchronizes multiple equipment, manages work flow and materials so that they work in
synergy to optimize the operations within the facility. It can control the timing, activation, cycles
and stop of multiple equipment to optimize throughput.
WCS ensures that there is no lag between the order fulfillment and the orders coming in. It helps
in controlling equipment in the warehouse safeguarding no backlog with increased velocity of.
Incoming orders. The system helps in tracking productivity at an individual and overall level
(Stone, 2016).
3.4.3 Radio Frequency Identification
Warehouse applications are the earliest ways in which radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology was implemented. Warehouse operations revolves around all kind of processes in
which RFID technology is used like manufacturing, logistics, inventory management, receiving
and picking and shipment of material (Liukkonen, 2015).
RFID technology makes use of radio frequency to identify objects and transfers data by wireless
communication and can be tracked by the application of RFID tags on the product. The systems
consists of three parts antenna, tag and a reader. When the tag passes through the scanning
range, the signal is read and transmitted to the antenna. This helps in tracking packages and helps
in optimal inventory management. RFID tags have a distinct advantage over other types of
sensors like barcodes where they can be scanned in a wide variety of circumstances
(Sooksaksun,2014).
Figure 7: Warehouse receiving stage using RFID technology

Source: Sooksaksun, 2014
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When the products are ready to be shipped in a pallet, an RFID tag is generated and attached on
the pallet and the same is loaded on the truck while passing multiple RFID readers ensuring
accurate shipment. When the product is transported to the warehouse, the items are scanned
and moved to the assigned location for storage.
Figure 8: Warehouse picking stage using RFID technology

Source: Sooksaksun, 2014
When an order is received, a picking list is generated, and a pallet is picked by scanning the pallet
tag thereby leading to real time updated inventory information. The product is then moved to
the loading dock where the products are verified and then loaded onto the truck.
3.4.4 Conveyor Systems
Conveyor systems used to work as simple modes of transportation of the product from point A
to B. Nowadays conveyor systems perform more complicated tasks to save time, space utilization
and increase the throughput within the warehouse. With conveyor systems in place, maximum
amount of product is moved in the least amount of time and effort to get the product to the
person at the picking station (Rogers, 2012).
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When a warehouse employs automation and conveyor solutions a WCS is used to control the
equipment and a WMS is employed, which has the information of the product, and the orders
received. All these systems working in synergy leads to increased throughput and increased
efficiency.
Conveyors are laid into place to reduce travel time, and the softwares are used to control where
the product should go based on the operations and layout in the warehouse. In a goods-to-person
picking operation, the software guides the conveyor to the picking station at the right time and
sequence for order fulfillment (Rogers, 2012).
The storage and put away of the products start with scanning the bar codes or RFID tags on the
product. To streamline this process, the conveyors are fitted with sensors across the belt to get a
good read of the product. With the help of WMS and scanners, once the product is deployed for
picking, the scanners read the product and the information is sent to the software and the system
recognizes what is sent for picking thereby minimizing the chance of errors.
Another addition made to traditional conveyor systems are weight sensors that acts as another
cross check to see whether or not the right product was sent to the packaging station. This is done
via cross referencing with the information recorded in the WMS (“Conveyor systems boost
warehouse efficiency”, 2009).
22
3.5 Implementation of AI and robotic process automation in warehouses
3.5.1 Automated Mobile Robots
The increasing pressure imposed on warehouse operations due to the sheer number of orders in
the shortest time, forces companies to look at solutions to increase the throughput within the
facility. In traditional rigid warehouses, automation often remains unsuccessful as it remains
inefficient either due to space constraints or layout limitations. One of the promising solutions
that give efficient results are autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
AMRs are a goods to person systems used for put-away, inventory storage, replenishment and
order picking for fulfilment. This type of system works seamlessly to the changing inventory
requirements and demand patterns and peaks. AMRs are coupled with pick/put stations, mobile
storage units and WMS. And WCS software’s that are integrated with the robot to control the
seamless running of the systems installed (“Robotic Goods-to-person, Goods-to-man
automation, Autonomous Mobile Robots in warehouse”, 2019).
The AMRs have the ability to enhance throughput in the warehouse by seamlessly adapting to
the changing inventory profiles and demand patterns via means of the WMS and WCS systems
installed. Installation of AMRs reduces operating costs and saving on operating time by up to 70
% by reducing waste and increasing efficiency (“Robotic Goods-to-person, Goods-to-man
automation, Autonomous Mobile Robots in warehouse”, 2019). With the installation of such
systems it helps improve on accuracy and time taken for order fulfillment.
3.5.2 Automated Storage Retrieval Systems
An automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) are a combination of controls and equipment
that help in storage, handling and retrieval of SKUs with precision and accuracy thereby
increasing the throughput within the warehouse and reducing the wastes. These systems can
vary from manual picking systems with a very small degree of automation in small facilities to
extremely large systems integrated with WMS and WCS set into place, customized to best fit the
facility it is installed in (“Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems”, 2019).
AS/RS in general terms refers to a variety of computer control methods for automated storage
and retrieval of loads to and from defined storage locations. Within the AS/RS there can be a
combination of systems used like horizontal carousels, vertical carousels, vertical lift modules
and/ or fixed aisles which use specialized storage machines to insert, extract and deliver loads to
or from designated locations (“Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems”, 2019).
The right type of system installed for a particular facility, keeping in mind the type of picking
needed and the number of units required for storage, can provide immense benefits in terms of
storage space, integration with an existing WMs and WCS leading to complete visibility of the
23
inventory and also help with work force optimization leading to improved efficiency and
reduction of waste within the facility (“Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems”, 2019).
3.5.3 Sorters
Challenges in the warehouses such as increasing costs and high volume of orders have to the
adoption of sortation systems to improve on the operational efficiencies within the warehouse.
These systems are coupled with WMS and WCS systems to control the functionality of the sorter
which leads to increased efficiency within the warehouse by offering quick and efficient package
handling capabilities. It routes parcels and packages based on the volume, weight or with any
customized logic based on the business (“Linear sorter, Parcel Sorter, warehouse sorting system”,
2019).
Sorting systems are designed to work on a variety of payloads and can work on products which
are as thin as 3mm. Fluctuating demands are easily managed with integration of WMS and WCS
allowing reconfiguration of the sorting program based on the requirement. With the
implementation of sorter systems, deliveries are fulfilled quickly and accurately, drastically
reducing chances of errors (“Linear sorter, Parcel Sorter, warehouse sorting system”, 2019).
3.5.4 Picking Solutions
Picking by voice is an extension of RF picking and offers a completely voice-based interaction

between the picker and the system. With this kind of system in place, the chance of errors is
minimized by having systematic checks after each step. This picking can combine multiple types
of scanning either by using barcode or screen inputs after each pick.
Pick by light is another system consisting of three components, namely, the pick face, the line
controller and the WMS. The pick face consists of a display and the operations unit where the
picker sees the required quantity to be picked and confirms the order after picking the same.
These systems provide innumerous benefits like flexible order processing, easy handling,
transparent order tracking, accurate order picking and enhanced performance by the
implementation of pick by light in connection with conveyor systems increasing the overall
throughput within the warehouse facility.
24
Chapter IV: Findings and Conclusion
The findings from an in-depth interview was held with Mr. Carsten Speigelberg, General Manager
at Shaefer Systems International Pte Ltd and the secondary research performed is as follows.
4.1 Types of warehouses and products found in Singapore
The main type of warehouses found in Singapore are multistoried warehouses with a 9-meter or
12-meter vertical pitch with a huge truck ramp to bring the product up or down from the
respective floors with a lot of manual operation on each of these floors.
The products stored in warehouses are mostly transit items as Singapore is a trading hub. So, a
lot of storage space is used for pallets that come from overseas and are then moved to another
hub. The second type of products found are those meant for regional fulfillment. Companies get
product from their factories in Singapore then they’re distributed in to countries in ASEAN
The third type of product found in warehouses, are those meant for domestic distribution.
4.2 Challenges found in warehouses while automating in Singapore
One of the biggest challenges found in warehouses these days is the utilization of space and
minimizing the void volume to increase the storage space found in a facility. Another problem is
that the building design, limited ceiling height and floor loads which puts a lot of restrictions on
the solutions that has to be employed in a facility to give the company the most efficient.
It is often seen that companies employ the wrong type of solution for their facility which makes
it uneconomical and inefficient. Warehouses in Singapore have very limited usable floor space to
work with as the government doesn’t permit facilities to add mezzanines to pick and drop SKUs
from the upper levels as usable footprints can’t be added to a facility.
The second biggest issue is that the market is very defragmented. There are a lot of companies
that chase after relatively small businesses, which makes it really hard for companies to attain
enough capital to get their facility automated
The third factor is that lot of business is routed via 3pl and these 3pl companies are usually only
given a 2-year contract period. This is one major factor why companies don’t choose to automate
as they don’t payback during the stipulated time frame. The basic problem is the mindset of the
business men in Singapore, where they don’t concentrate on retention of customers. Instead of
spending on automation they would rather rely on the cheap labour from Malaysia and
Bangladesh.
The government is pushing automation. To a certain extent, it is driving automation in a wrong

direction, it gives Singapore as a whole the image of being a high-tech country, but in the end it
limits companies to only invest in those products that the government are subsidizing.
25
Companies are looking into AGV’s, drones or robots for the same reason. Although this does work
if the facility layout doesn’t support the systems put into play which makes the investment
inefficient and redundant
Automation is not done much for ecommerce as much as it could be, because it is a challenging
field as there are a huge range of products. You need a lot of space to accommodate all the range
of products and you need to still have accessibility to them and another problem in this sector is
that the order fulfillment process would be for a lot of small orders. There are operations which
can work really well without automation, especially when you’re looking at operations which are
really small like TV shopping which has a small range of SKU’s, which can be picked, following
which a sticker is placed on the package and is then sent out for delivery. But in the case of
Lazada, if an order of 3 to 5 items are placed. They need to be picked consolidated and packaged.
In this case automation definitely makes sense. Although there is reluctance to automate
because no ecommerce company knows where they will be next year, so they’re looking for fast
solutions and that’s where, they invest in less than efficient systems.
4.3 Solutions employed in the warehouse
The WMS is one of the most important system that helps you to streamline the processes in a
warehouse. It helps you gather the data real-time and you always have an overview of what you
have in stock. It supports order picking. It’s mainly a tool to improve the processes related to
productivity. AI is integrated with the WMS in the warehouse depending on the level of
automation that is being applied in the facility. Whether it is a manual conventional operation or
whether it has automated operation.
WCS is a subordinate of WMS. This scheme was introduced when automation came up. Because
traditional WMS covered the whole operations of several parts of the warehouse, they were
initially not designed to run automated systems because of its dynamics. They needed another
system to run automated process which reports to the master WMS which controls the inventory
in the warehouse. This is where WCS come into play, where they run all the equipment in the
facility and work in symbiosis with the WMS.
Warehouses in Singapore have a lot of products ranging from plastic products to huge products
like televisions. Elevators are used to move goods in between floor taking up a lot of space and
manpower to maneuver these goods around. A possible solution to save up on these factors to
improve on efficiency is by implanting an AS/RS.
VLM system is used more for small items, they have low performance and aren’t fast enough for
large number of orders. They are typically used for storage of small SKUS and can not store
pallets.
26
4.4 Return on investment
When operations of a facility have upgraded its systems from a paper and pencil system to a more
automated system for all stages of the warehouse process, it is seen that there has been an overall
rise in productivity by 25%, a gain in space by 10-20% and then 15-30% more efficient use of
stock (“20 Warehouse Automation Statistics That’ll Blow Your Mind”,2019).
Pick-to-Light systems can improve pick rate productivity by 30-50%. These processes have
reduced the error rate by 67% compared to manual picking methods (“20 Warehouse
Automation Statistics That’ll Blow Your Mind”,2019). Thanks to increased accuracy, shorter order
cycle time, increased throughput, and other factors, pick-to-light systems have a lot of potential
to improve an operation’s bottom line.
Moving from location to location within a warehouse takes time, especially when done manually.
By leveraging automation technologies like sorters, AS/RS, conveyors, and more, time spent
“walking” can be reduced by up to 40%.
The average order picker can pick between 60 to 80 picks per hour, compared to a pick rate of
up to 300 picks per hour when leveraging sorters and conveyors.
By reducing travel time, conveyors and sorters can dramatically increase the overall productivity
of an order fulfillment operation.
Robotics and automation technologies have increased labor productivity by about 0.35%
annually. As robotics and other automation technologies are applied to more and more industries
and tasks, their impact is being felt more and more. There is potential that in the next few years,
the impact of these new technologies will even outpace the impact experienced in the industrial
revolution (“20 Warehouse Automation Statistics That’ll Blow Your Mind”,2019).
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) have the potential to increase order accuracy
levels to above 99.99%. Order accuracy has always been important and has only gotten more
important as customers have grown accustomed to increased service levels. By integrating
directly into a warehouse management system, AS/RS removes a large percentage of human
error associated with picking and shipping orders (“20 Warehouse Automation Statistics That’ll
Blow Your Mind”,2019).
27
Chapter V: Recommendations
5.1 Solutions to be employed in the warehouse in Singapore
A certain strategy should be defined according to what it is that the company wants to achieve.
Once the storage and orders exceed the facilities capacity, the operations redundant operations.
So, one way is to define the space required in a warehouse or look into areas where you can
expand space that is single story building can be built but they should be planned in such a way
that they can be stocked on top later on, as expandability is required for automation.
Orbiters are an intermediate solution, that comes into places. These types of systems fit into all
sorts of building heights and provides high density storage. This type of system is ideal for bulk
storage. Although the problem with setting up this type of solution is that the price for this system
is not subsidized making it really expensive to set up.
Traditional pallet racking systems is a system which can work well to save up on space in the
warehouse facility. These systems store pallets in a rack which is found on an aisle.
The first pallet sits in the floor level and an aisle can have up to 5 pallets stored in them. In pallet
racking warehouses forklifts are used to maneuver in between two aisles.
normally in warehouses, the forklift trucks can pick and store pallets up to a height of 9.5 m.
If a facility requires more throughput within the warehouse, more forklifts are used. Although, a
lot of space is used, because the pallet is only 1.2 m in width, but the forklift needs 3.5 m to
maneuver around the aisles, so it takes up a lot of space. The problem with this type of solution
is that in generates more void space than usable spaces. The ceiling height should be about 11 m
for fire hazards and sprinklers. Any type of products can be stored in this system.
If a product needs to be cooled, then the entire warehouse is cooled. There are machines that
can operate in a cold room environment. Nowadays, there are forklift trucks with a heated cabin
or an AGV. Piece picking and case picking is not done in this environment as pallets need to be
opened, which can cause items to fall down. So, it is usually not efficient and not recommended
for palletized racking systems
VNA trucks can be applied to the same type of environment. These trucks require an even floor,
which can reach up to height of 14- 14.5 m. They have a fork, that can twist left and right, so it
doesn’t require a lot of space to maneuver around. This typically would require about 1.8 m
between the aisles to make sure they don’t hit the rack. These systems have a very high
requirement on the floor, which causes people not to invest in theses systems. Up to 8 pallets
can be stored on top of each other and it takes up half the space in between the aisles compared
to traditional systems. Therefore, there is huge amounts of saving when it comes to utilization of
space.
An ASRS system, is a machine that runs on a balance and can store pallets on the left or right with
help of a telescopic fork. The aisles can be placed even closer to each other, as the systems
requires a space of 1.5 m in between the aisles providing more usable storage space. The fork
28
can store and pick items from a height of 45 m. It can work in the cold store environments as
well. Typically, the machine takes 1.2 tones/ pallet but can take up to 1500 kg based on the
required of the warehouse. ASRS can be used for 16meters. But the lowest pallet can be stored
only from 900 mm above floor level.
29
Chapter VI: Limitations and Future Scope
6.1 Limitations of the project
This study is mainly dependent on the secondary research available for the project. There was very
little or no data available to calculate the cost of automation for each solution employed in the
company and to calculate the return on investment.
The study has taken into account only one personal interview with an industry expert to validate
the findings taken from the secondary research found. Only one warehouse was visited in
Singapore to examine the systems put into play to analyze the improvement in efficiency and
productivity within the facility.
Another major limitation is that the current systems set in place that aid to solutions will soon be
invalid due to the rapid advancement of technology.
6.2 Future scope of the project
An area that can give more focus to this project is to interview more field experts to understand
more about the automation processes applied in Singapore to examine the increase in
throughput and the overall productivity of the facility.
A study must be conducted on the new warehouse set up by Pacific Refreshments to understand
the methodology of how their newly automated facility has been set up as they have designed a
warehouse around the automation systems that they needed to employee.
More field visit to warehouses like that of Pacific Refreshments should be done to understand
the different AS/RS systems used to study how these systems have benefited its overall
productivity by addressing the challenges faced in warehouses in this market.
30
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Automation and Robotic Process Automation in Warehouses

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Automation and Robotic Process Automation in Warehouses

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Study of AI and Robotic Process

Automation for Warehouse

Date: 20th April 2019

The broader issues that need to be addressed in this domain are

2.1 Research Objectives

• To analyze of warehouse operations

2.2 Research Methodology Approach

2.3 Proposed Outcome

3.1 Overview of Warehouses in Singapore

3.1.1 Total Number of Establishments in Singapore

TOTAL NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS

Value Added in $ Mill

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

Total Post & Courier Warehouse & Storage Other Transport

Figure 2: Value added by logistic sectors in Singapore

3.1.3 Profitability per logistic sector in Singapore

% of Profitibility per Sector

Figure 3: Profitability per logistic sectors in Singapore

3.1.4 Volume of sales in the logistic sector in Singapore

Figure 4: Volume of sales in the logistic sectors in Singapore

3.2.1 Warehouse Design

Figure 5: Types of Warehouses

Warehouses can be broadly categorized into three types: -

Warehouse Design Decisions

Rouwenhorst (2000) categorized these decisions processes into three levels: -

Design decisions level Problems to solve

• Design of process flow

Operational level (short term decisions) • Fine-tuning of the organization policies

Table 2. Description of design decision levels

3.2.2 Warehouse Operation

• Assignment of items to different

• Assignment of SKUs to zones

Order • Routing and sequencing of order

Sorting • Order-lane assignment

Table 3: Warehouse Operation Processes

Organization policies are required by some warehouses processes.

Performance measures of a warehouse

3.4.1 Warehouse Management Systems

3.4.2 Warehouse Control Systems

3.4.3 Radio Frequency Identification

Figure 7: Warehouse receiving stage using RFID technology

Figure 8: Warehouse picking stage using RFID technology

3.4.4 Conveyor Systems

3.5.1 Automated Mobile Robots

3.5.2 Automated Storage Retrieval Systems

3.5.4 Picking Solutions

Picking by voice is an extension of RF picking and offers a completely voice-based interaction

4.1 Types of warehouses and products found in Singapore

4.2 Challenges found in warehouses while automating in Singapore

The government is pushing automation. To a certain extent, it is driving automation in a wrong

4.3 Solutions employed in the warehouse

5.1 Solutions to be employed in the warehouse in Singapore

6.1 Limitations of the project

6.2 Future scope of the project

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.mhi.org/as-rs

Petersen,Charles G.,II. (1997). An evaluation of order picking routeing policies. International

Robotic Goods-to-person, Goods-to-man automation, Autonomous Mobile Robots in

Rogers, L. K. (2012). Conveyors: Gaining, control, getting smarter. Modern Materials

Singapore builds ‘smart’ into logistics. (2017). Retrieved from

The Top 5 Challenges Faced By Warehouses In 2018. (2018). Retrieved from

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