84% of Indian and APAC Warehouse Leaders Emphasize Tech Adoption like Robotics for Employee Retention Amid Labor Shortages
Zebra Technologies released the findings of its 2023 Global Warehousing Study. The study highlights the importance of enhancing employee value and retention, with 70% of Indian and Asia Pacific (APAC) warehouse decision-makers planning to automate workflows by 2024 for more customer-centric tasks. The study further confirmed that 58% of warehouse decision-makers plan to deploy radio frequency identification (RFID) technology by 2028 which will help increase inventory visibility and reduce out-of-stocks.
Over the next five years, a majorityof warehouse decision-makers plan to deploy fixed, passive or handheld RFID readers and fixed industrial scanning solutions that can better track assets, workers and goods throughout the warehouse environment. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of RFID, which has become a problem-solving tool for front-line workers in warehouses and other industries.
“Precise inventory updates and efficient return management are imperative in the warehousing sector. This becomes even more critical in the retail sector during the high-demand seasons in a country like India,”
Rajnish Gupta, VP India and Subcontinent, Zebra Technologies
Accelerating Modernization to Manage Returns
Globally, 73% of warehouse decision-makers have or will be accelerating timelines of modernization projects, with decision-makers in APAC similarly align at 69%. This should help with returns management which climbed to the top operational challenge cited by nearly half of warehouse decision-makers surveyed (47% globally, 40% in APAC) — the study records an increase of 5 percentage points year-over-year in the APAC region.
“Precise inventory updates and efficient return management are imperative in the warehousing sector. This becomes even more critical in the retail sector during the high-demand seasons in a country like India,” said Rajnish Gupta, VP India and Subcontinent, Zebra Technologies.”
This comes about as majority of warehouse decision-makers (76% globally, 75% in APAC) say they are under pressure to improve performance while adjusting to shifting consumer ecommerce demands. Inaccurate inventory and out-of-stocks continue to significantly challenge productivity according to nearly 80% of warehouse associates and decision-makers. In fact, both groups — associates (82% globally, 79% in APAC) and decision-makers (76% globally, 79% in APAC)—acknowledge they need better inventory management tools to achieve better accuracy and determine availability. To combat these issues, a significant portion of decision-makers (91% globally, 88% in APAC) are addressing this need, citing plans to invest in technology to increase visibility across the supply chain by 2028.
