Automation and Robotics: Key Trends in Smart Warehouse Ecosystems
Abstract
The emergence of e-commerce and globalization has changed the situation within supply chain dynamics. Smart ecosystems need to transform traditional warehouses. This paper presents the major trends in automation and robotics in smart warehouse environments, focusing on advancements and their ideas in technologies, implementation strategies, and impacts on efficiency, cost, and sustainability. This study highlights the automation of critical processes such as inventory management, picking, packing, and transporting using an extensive literature review between 2003 and 2023. Such technologies like AI, ML, and IoT have further enhanced the adaptability and intelligence of warehouse operations to allow them to perform predictive analytics or real-time decision-making, as well as better control of one's inventory. Moreover, this paper focuses on the socio-economic impacts of automation, such as transition workforce and cybersecurity issues, besides giving a comprehensive overview of future trends like blockchain and sustainable practices. The conclusions thereby emphasize the crucial importance that robotics and automation can provide in defining the future supply chain management in terms of resilience and innovativeness in logistics services.
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