Supercharging Logistics with Wearables, Machine Vision, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Written by Vivien Tay, APAC Marketing Leader for Warehouse & Distribution, Zebra Technologies

The transportation and logistics industry serves as the lifeblood of Asia Pacific’s thriving economic landscape, helping businesses worldwide operate smoothly and efficiently. However, the industry continues to battle immense waves of disruption, from the rise of new business models and evolving consumer behaviours to labour shortages and black swan events like COVID-19.

These events have driven demand for fast, reliable, and affordable logistics to new heights, stretching operators to their limits. For example, the retail sector faces skyrocketing demand for deliveries, driven by booming omnichannel e-commerce and an evolving returns culture—spiking demand for accelerated last-mile and reverse logistics services. According to Zebra Technologies’ 2023 Global Warehousing Vision Study, 40% of warehouse decision-makers in APAC cited returns management as their top operational challenge.

As costs rise and trade landscapes continue to shift, retailers and businesses across industries are under greater pressure to ramp up productivity in logistics. The same  Zebra Study found that 75% of warehouse decision-makers in APAC are under pressure to improve performance while adjusting to shifting consumer e-commerce demands.

How can logistics operators overcome these issues while they face mounting challenges, like tightening budgets and labour shortages? The answer lies in next-generation technologies.

Enhance Front-line Efficiency with a New Generation of Wearables and Devices

Logistics workforces have long relied on connected devices, like mobile computers and scanners, to help warehouse workers complete tasks faster and more accurately. However, a new generation of human-centric technologies, like wearables, presents an opportunity for businesses to supercharge efficiency.

These devices can direct users to the right pick locations and verify their picks, improving accuracy, accelerating task times, and reducing ramp-up times. Purpose-built wearables offer superior ergonomics and efficiency compared to mobile computer applications. Head-mounted displays, for example, can provide warehouse workers with the most relevant contextual information through augmented reality to complete their tasks. Wearables can be particularly effective, as they are ruggedized to withstand heavy physical use and function optimally in direct sunlight, cold conditions, or dusty environments—making them perfect for warehouse settings.

Businesses can equip front-line workers with wearable scanners to enhance efficiency even further. For example, delivery workers out in the field can use hand-mounted scanners to quickly process goods on the go. The hands-free ergonomic design and low profile of these scanners gives workers the flexibility to better handle goods—especially when dealing with numerous boxes in confined spaces, like a fully-loaded truck.

One of Vietnam’s leading express delivery companies recently integrated finger-mounted scanners and other visibility technologies into their operations, which increased operational efficiency by 15%, reduced costs by 5%, and enhanced employee satisfaction and retention. More businesses are looking to empower their front-line employees with human-centric technologies—with 94% of decision-makers globally planning to deploy wearables to support their workforce by 2028, up from 43% in 2023.

Enhancing Productivity and Visibility with Machine Vision and Automation

Logistics operators can also turn to machine vision (MV) solutions to enhance visibility and productivity across the supply chain. MV uses a combination of hardware, software, and electronics to enable computers to ‘see’ items in the real world, analyse them, and make decisions based on that analysis. In a warehouse or industrial setting, MV solutions enable businesses to perform automated inspection, process control, and operational guidance based on image analysis—enhancing accuracy and efficiency throughout the supply chain.

For example, in a warehouse, fixed industrial scanners mounted overhead or by a conveyor belt (scan tunnels) enable rapid automatic scanning and tracking of goods as they pass through the hands of workers and throughout the supply chain. The capability of MV solutions to recognize elements in an image also enables businesses to read shipping labels with high accuracy, confirm label presence and placement on packages, and even check if they are correctly and accurately placed via these scan tunnels, giving clear visibility over every item wherever it may be in the supply chain. 

This automation reduces manual labour, minimises delays from misreads, and enhances the overall productivity and quality of service in logistics operations. Businesses can also use the data from such MV solutions to glean actionable insights and optimise processes across environments—enabling better quality control, cost reductions, and increased operational flexibility on a larger scale.

One leading logistics provider in Germany recently implemented MV solutions to improve its handling of goods, given it was dealing with very high volumes and rapid turnovers of inventories. To enhance productivity, the group installed fixed industrial scanners at inbound and outbound gates at their warehouse, which automatically scanned shipping labels on goods—even poorly printed, faded, or damaged ones. This autonomous system enabled the logistics provider to process packages much faster, generating over 50% time-savings for the logistics provider. 

Helping Workers Do More with Less Through Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) solutions can also be used as a catalyst to help businesses boost productivity and visibility at scale.

These solutions, powered by large language models like ChatGPT, have the capability to analyse vast amounts of data across the enterprise and provide personalised, actionable insights in an easily understandable format. With the ability to understand nuances in natural language and conversation, GenAI solutions enable workers to obtain answers to specific questions in intuitive ways—like asking a human coworker.

By training GenAI models on standard protocols, operational insights, and leading practices—and providing staff access to these solutions, logistics operators can accelerate onboarding and training of workers to achieve full productivity, especially useful during periods of high demand. Fifty-four percent of decision-makers globally believe the onboarding takes too long, according to the same Zebra Study.

In Europe, one supermarket chain is already piloting GenAI with Zebra Technologies’ mobile computers. By empowering employees with these computers and feeding the GenAI-enabled models their entire SOP library, the business saved time, accelerated training, elevated customer interactions, improved worker autonomy and enhanced employee satisfaction.  

Deliver Success Today with the Technologies of Tomorrow

Embracing innovations in the fields of wearable technology, MV, and GenAI, is crucial for businesses seeking to stay ahead of evolving challenges. These next-generation technologies have the potential to enhance organisational efficiency, productivity and visibility—all while helping companies better close manpower gaps and develop a more engaged workforce. While implementing new technology may seem daunting, businesses can realise tremendous benefits by starting with something as small as equipping workers with wearable computers.

As stakeholders become more comfortable with these technologies, companies can gradually scale to use more advanced solutions—enabling the organisation to tackle bigger logistics challenges and stay competitive in the long run.

Read Zebra’s Warehouse Vision Study here.