Increase read rates and reduce rejects with machine vision intelligence for logistics
After two decades of scaling up, the logistics industry has changed its focus from growth to efficiency and improvement. With transport costs and wage bills rising, consumer demand faltering and the challenges of recruitment, supply chains and net zero ever-present, fulfilment centres are looking for savings in time and costs.
For logistics, technology has been the great equaliser; businesses can live or die by their warehouse management systems. But the price of making improvements – financially and operationally – can be huge. A badly managed upgrade can cause lasting damage to a brand’s reputation.
Automated inspection and monitoring to transforming logistics operations
Increase barcode read rates
Failed barcode readings cost business time and money. Improving read rates can make a huge difference to a logistics operation. Image-based barcode readers can hit read rates of 99.9% or higher by using deep learning technology to learn and handle variations in label quality, application or position.
Tote tracking and inspection
Totes are essential within the warehouse for the safe and easy movement of products through conveyor and automated factory systems. Vision intelligence can identify and track totes right across the warehouse to prevent shipping errors and reduce downtime caused by product damage, contamination or overfilling.
Early fire detection
As more battery-powered products enter the market, the risk of battery fires during shipping is a growing threat. Lithium-ion batteries are especially prone to damage. Vision intelligence can automate inspections to spot damage, or check parcels for high temperatures using thermal imaging to catch fires before they start.
Improve shipping rates and protect your assets
24/7 conveyor monitoring
When a conveyor stops, everything stops. So catching issues early through preventative maintenance is vital to avoid missed deadlines and delays. Swapping from manual checks using handheld thermal cameras to fixed-mount conveyor monitoring lets logistics departments monitor the temperature of conveyor belts and drives using vision intelligence, predicting future maintenance needs before problems happen.
Door dock scanning
In the highly controlled world of logistics, the dock door still has an uncontrollable element of risk. Forklifts move pallets at high-speed around operators who still manually scan barcodes outside the relative protection of the cab. It’s dangerous and time-consuming, risking bottlenecks in a vital part of the site. Automated door dock scanning can remove manual scanning to achieve read rates of 99.9% and cut scanning time by 30 seconds per pallet.
Reverse logistics
As e-commerce has continued to grow, companies are now facing a new issue with processing returns. According to industry research, as many as 1 in 3 online orders are now returned, presenting a huge challenge for so-called reverse logistics. Automated vision intelligence can help to streamline the task of handling high levels of returns – using deep learning technology to carry out complex inspections quickly and accurately.