Warehousing, in this blog, is living a great moment since it is interesting and can lead to a multiple of different solutions. But I will try to make it a little bit more fun, but first an introduction.

Warehouse-based stockpiling of inventory has been transforming into high-velocity distribution center, which are considered to strategic in providing competitive advantage. Industry 4.0 can lead to a new evolution of these center’s because can make human and machine work better together.

Connected technologies didn’t only affected the private sphere of the home but also the manufacturing and distribution value chain. Industry 4.0 is the union of digital and physical systems experiences that impact every aspect of the production. It can be used in: designing and producing goods, as well as these finished goods are moved, warehoused and in the end distributed.

The “old way” of warehousing, the warehouse-based stockpiling, is slowly being left behind and every medium-big, big industry is implementing their work with high-velocity operations, thanks to this new way of warehousing. They are now called DCs: Distribution Centers, they are an important part of the supply chain and they might be key for the competitive advantage.

What kind of technology Industry 4.0 deal with?

Low-cost sensors, computer vision, Augmented Reality, wearables, Internet of Things, robotic prehensility, human-robot safety, analytics, high performance computing and so on, all of them are being used to enhance existing automation.

And here comes the fun part.

I’ve found a couple of beautiful examples of augmented reality which can help to have an idea of a small part of what Industry 4.0 deal with.

Here it is a video of a brilliant commercial, back in 2011, in London.

 

Here is National Geographic at the Rotterdam Train station in 2013.

 

and here there is another example of a partnership between Coca-Cola and WWF, aimed to raise awareness to help conserve the Artic Home of the polar bear.

 

These just a couple, the most interesting from my point of view, but on YouTube there are many more. What is amazing, is how far has the human gone so far and how many other great improvement can achieve.

Stay tuned! 🙂