AR and VR Logistics Solutions to Improve Enterprise-Wide Efficiency

Published in

AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine

5 min readFeb 9, 2021

While AR and VR are not technologies we associated with the shipping and logistics industries, they can significantly improve warehouse workers and the supply chain’s efficiency. In fact, the share of supply chain leaders who plan to invest in AR or VR increased last year from 25% to 34%. Since both virtual and augmented reality logistics are being used more and more every year, let’s take a look at some of their practical applications and the benefits they offer.

Safety and Security of the Personnel

Working in a warehouse can be exhausting, especially since the volume of e-commerce orders is growing so rapidly. This fatigue can lead to worker fatigue, which could lead to serious injuries or even fatalities. There are also monetary losses due to worker fatigue as a result of less productivity and lost working hours. AR-powered headgear can help workers keep track of the number of houses they worked and when it’s time to take a break. With additional development work, the company management can create a fatigue index for each worker that can be used for optimizing worker schedules and shifts.

Fulfilling Orders Faster

Order fulfillment warehouses, such as ones owned by Amazon and large retailers, can be huge, making it hard for employees to navigate them. All of the time spent searching for the right supplies and orders can cause significant lost time and shipping delays. One of the latest developments in AR shipping is using headgear that will guide the workers through the warehouse and keep them updated about the list of items they need to ship out. In addition to all of these benefits, AR can allow companies to eliminate time-consuming training processes since the technology will guide new employees step-by-step and every stage of the process.

VR Predictive Modelling

Speaking of Amazon, such large companies are always looking for new and efficient ways of streamlining processes with as little human intervention as possible. This is becoming a necessity since it is impossible to have human managers supervise all of the work involved in fixing all of the various errors, delays, and other irregularities. This is why many companies create a virtual reality warehouse where they can model the proposed changes and make improvements if needed. When their supervision is needed, managers can also VR warehouse technologies to observe the process in real-time in many other locations without physically having to be there.

Loading Everything Into the Truck

When we think about the freight delivery process, first, all of the cargo needs to be loaded onto a vehicle, then it needs to be delivered from one location to another and then unloaded at its new destination. Any inefficiencies in these processes can cause significant delays and lead to lost time and resources. AR warehouse operations can significantly improve all of these processes by tracking all of the driver locations and providing them with real-time information on the best route to take, the cargo’s weight, and a lot of other useful information to make the process more efficient.

Final Mile Delivery

The last step of the logistics and supply chain processes is delivering the goods to the customer. However, even at this last stage, there are a lot of pitfalls that could cause delays. For example, when the driver is loading the truck with all of the packages that need to be delivered, they need to stack everything to allow for the maximum amount of boxes to fit. This allows for better utilization of human resources and delivery time. Companies can create custom virtual reality solutions to allow the driver to see the best way to load the truck to make sure everything fits and the load is distributed evenly. The driver can also use AR glasses to guide them on the best delivery route to avoid traffic and also keep track of the safety and security conditions.

Start Implementing Virtual and Augmented Reality Warehouse Solutions Today

While there are many warehouse VR and AR solutions, it takes an experienced technology partner to help you create them. Also, the VR logistics solutions need to be customized to your individual needs, which adds to development complexity. Skywell Software is a VR and AR company that has been developing such solutions for some of the biggest brands in the world. Our AR and VR development expertise allowed companies to achieve their business goals while keeping costs under control.

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