Augmented reality is here to optimize logistics

Optimizing your company’s logistics may seem like a complex and challenging prospect. For warehouse operations such as picking, packing, inventory management, and quality control, the focus should always be to improve accuracy, speed, safety, and flexibility. Why? Because when these are improved, companies inevitably see cost savings and efficiency improvements.

Illustration showing industrial AR solutions

Logistics optimization in 6 simple steps

Optimizing your logistics processes is essential if you want to increase the value you deliver to your customers and gain a competitive edge in the market. However, optimizing logistics can also be complex and challenging, involving many factors such as costs, volumes, employees, service levels, lead times, inventory levels, transportation modes, routes, suppliers, customers, and more. How can you optimize your logistics operations and achieve the best results possible?

Here are six simple steps that you can follow to optimize your logistics:

  • Adopt industry best practice

    Always review your performance and practices, particularly against your competitors. By adopting industry best practices, you optimize your performance, quality, and customer satisfaction.

  • Leverage the power of software

    Use advanced technology and systems to digitalize your logistics. Innovative systems streamline your processes, reduce human errors, and increase productivity.

  • Integrate every stage of your supply chain

    Get your suppliers involved! Connect and coordinate all parties involved in moving raw materials/components and finished products to optimize supply, inventory, and deliveries.

  • Establish clear and open communication channels

    Share information and feedback among your employees, suppliers, customers, and stakeholders. Honest, fair communication enhances collaboration, trust, and problem-solving.

  • Invest in your employees’ skills

    Offer training and development opportunities and create a modern workplace to improve your employees’ knowledge, abilities, and performance. By doing so, you will improve motivation and staff retention, too.

  • Always concentrate on sustainability

    Eliminate production waste and streamline deliveries to create a more sustainable business. You’ll also deliver on corporate responsibility and improve control over intralogistics and transport costs.

Future-proof your logistics with digitalized processes

By using logistics optimization strategies and digitalization technologies, your company can lower logistics costs, improve the accuracy and speed of order processing, and shorten delivery times, thereby increasing customer loyalty and retention.

Reasons for logistics process improvement

  • Higher efficiency
  • Lower error rates
  • Greater flexibility
  •  Improved ergonomics
  • Streamlined operations
  • Increased customer satisfaction

Which logistics processes hold the highest optimization potential?

  • Manual order picking
  • Packing and sorting
  • Sequencing and kitting
  • Incoming and outgoing goods
  • Inventory control
  • Replenishment and put-away
Learn more about xPick

vision picking

How augmented reality optimizes logistic processes?

Augmented reality (AR) is a powerful technology that can transform your warehouse operations by enhancing precision, performance, and proficiency. By using AR devices and applications, the warehouse team can access real-time guidance, information, feedback, and support that can help them complete their tasks faster, more accurately, and more efficiently.

This solution called “vision picking” is one of TeamViewer Frontline’s industrial AR solutions, tailored for enterprises, ensuring the smooth incorporation of augmented reality (AR) remedies.

Enjoy optimized logistics with TeamViewer

Part of the TeamViewer Frontline platform, xPick is an award-winning AR solution that seamlessly integrates vision picking into your warehouse systems. Your warehouse team can visualize real-time order data and information on any wearable device such as smart glasses, thereby allowing faster, hands-free work with fewer errors. See an improvement in service quality, reduce your operational costs and enjoy an enhanced competitive advantage with xPick.

With xPick, warehouse staff can also integrate body-worn barcode scanners or RFID tags for easy on-the-go confirmation, saving time and ensuring verification. On top of that, articles and quantities can be confirmed using the camera on each picker’s smart glasses. Picking lists are updated in real time and issues or exceptions reported instantly with xPick seamlessly synchronizing data between remote devices and the warehouse management system.

Speak to an industrial AR expert

Key features of Frontline’s solutions:

Improved picking efficiency

Order picking is one of the most labor-intensive and error-prone tasks in the warehouse. AR-based vision picking technology in logistics help team members locate and identify items faster and more accurately by displaying visual cues and instructions on their devices. The vision picking solution shows pickers the optimal route to follow, highlights the correct item, indicates the quantity needed, and automatically confirms the task is complete.

Enhanced packing quality

Packing is another critical task in the warehouse. Getting the wrong products or selection annoys end-consumers, severely affects customer satisfaction and loyalty and increases the number and cost for returns. Staff can pack items more accurately as smart glasses or other wearables verify the items packed match the order. Team members are alerted if any discrepancies are found.

A simplified sorting process

Using individualized interfaces, such as color-coding or article pictures, AR-based vision picking helps employees sort items more quickly and accurately by showing them where to place or move items. The vision picking solution shows relevant information on each item, such as its origin, destination, or priority, ensuring mistakes are avoided.

Streamlined inventory management

The warehouse team can track and control the quantity and quality of items more effectively using augmented reality. AR technology such as vision picking is invaluable during inventory audits as it clearly displays the expected and actual counts of each item, with any discrepancies or anomalies flagged instantly. Also, cycle counting can be integrated into ongoing picking operations.

Optimized loading and unloading

Industrial AR solutions support employees to load and unload vehicles and containers more competently by displaying advice on how to lift, stack, and store items safely and securely. What’s more, by showing the weight and volume of each item, ergonomically problematic situations can be spotted immediately.

Coca Cola HBC streamlines picking operations and reduce error rates on-site

The Coca-Cola HBC distribution centre in Thessaloniki, Greece equipped a team of 16 order pickers with smart glasses, and TeamViewer Frontline’s vision picking solution xPick:
  • 99.99% accuracy
  • 10% productivity increase
  • 6–8% increased picking performance

Frequently asked questions about optimizing logistics

To reduce logistics costs such as warehousing, inventory, packaging, and labor, companies can optimize supply chain, stockkeeping, order picking and deliveries. Innovative technology, such as augmented reality, can help improve logistics by enabling efficient and cost-effective processes. And this is where TeamViewer’s Frontline platform comes in with its diverse industrial augmented reality solutions.

Logistics management software, data analytics, and business intelligence can help companies collect and analyze data on their current logistics operations. Based on these measures, you can implement changes that optimize logistics, with metrics and KPIs to track and evaluate the results.

Creating an experience that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations ensures brand loyalty, retention, and growth potential. Optimization in logistic processes helps companies achieve the 7 Rs of logistics: getting the right product, in the right quantity, in the right condition to the right customer in the right place at the right time. And all at the right price!

We’ve done this before. Now, let us do it for you.