With the technology revolution in play, 5G is enabling warehouse and logistics managers to boost efficiencies, increase visibility, and lower their ongoing costs.
Global organizations that have already implemented this technology within their four walls have successfully transformed their warehouse, distribution, and fulfilment operations to handle more speed, capacity, reduced data latency, and improved capability that hasn’t been possible before.
5G can support over 1,000 more devices as compared to 4G at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (10Gbps), or 100 times faster. 5G data can also be transmitted with a lag time of only 1 millisecond, which is 50 times faster than 4G.
These winning organizations are now capable of doing more with less.
5G opens the door to innovation.
5G should not be seen as a technology upgrade—it should be viewed as a wireless revolution.
This technology is faster than its 4G predecessor and brings the next level of wireless connection to all businesses. 5G will significantly improve data latency and capacity; it will be 100 times faster and support 100 times more devices than 4G networks. 5G technology works by using smaller cells that can connect many more devices at once than a 4G cell, resulting in a latency improvement from 1–50 milliseconds to 1 millisecond. Increased capacity and bandwidth will help to build resilience across networks as well as improve overall network efficiencies.
5G will elevate the mobile experience for everyone, enhance mission-critical communications, as well as support new services such as the Internet of Things (IoT). With 5G technology, every device and unit will connect seamlessly across the network; automation will streamline operations from start to finish.
5G will revolutionise the way we work.
It will be the fuel for innovations never before imagined. Every aspect along the supply chain can become a part of IoT.
What does 5G do for you?
This fifth-generation technology provides the opportunity for organizations to respond to many of the challenges that exist today, enabling a fresh approach to be taken for warehouse, distribution, and fulfilment management across the supply chain.
5G and IoT
Increased automation and IoT will allow everything to be connected—from the tracking of individual SKUs, through warehouse robotics, to automated pick-and-pack processes. You will instantaneously know what the product is, where the product is, and how it is getting to the customer. The cumbersome job of tracking pallets and loads will be a thing of the past.
Detailed Reporting and monitoring
Interconnectivity and reduced latency across the network mean you will have access to a continuous flow of real-time information from insightful, accurate data. This increased level of connectivity will enable logistics and operation managers to make better and more informed decisions.
Visibility across the entire supply chain will be vastly improved.
Broader network coverage and increased bandwidth will solve warehouse signalling problems. It will ensure the delivery, collection, and archiving of goods and products is more transparent, streamlined, and efficient. With 5G networking, significant benefits can, and will, be achieved
5G and the future
5G will allow organizations to advance their own capabilities, today and in the future. With endless possibilities and the capability to support all future technologies, everything is possible. The future could mean augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, and drones in the warehouse.
Whether you run small, low-volume warehouses or manage complex large super warehouses, 5G will help you transform.
5G opens to door to continuous improvements, allowing every organization to prepare for their future today.
Super warehouses can benefit from the wider and more robust network coverage and the interconnectivity that 5G will bring. The implementation of a centrally controlled network will allow data insights to move seamlessly across the business with accuracy and speed. Every stakeholder will be able to see what is happening within their four walls; vastly improved transparency will lead to increased efficiencies and reduced ongoing costs.
Increased automation and connectivity will improve robotic performance to help optimize processing, packaging, and tracking of goods, and real-time reporting will help avoid any disruption or downtime.
The implementation of 5G will see the super warehouses lower costs, streamline, and scale operations to transform how they work. This smart and efficient way of working will see the workforce relieved of the administrative burden that exists within traditional operations.
Smaller, low-volume, traditional warehouses may lack the infrastructure required to implement 5G today, but the adoption of 5G technology will help them to accelerate their path to transformation.
5G is a game changer for those who wish to keep pace with their competition. It provides the critical tools and capabilities needed to operate in an evolving world, delivering the opportunity for organizations to disrupt, innovate, and transform.
How KPMG can help
The KPMG supply chain practice has the experience to help remove the complexity from your 5G transformation. We believe it is time to reap the benefits and rewards that this fifth-generation technology can bring across your entire operations.
KPMG can help plan and implement your warehouse goals of orchestrating people, process, and technology using conveyance equipment, digitized processes through AI/wearables, and automated storage and inventory applications. KPMG can design and field a prototype 5G-enabled application(s) that can serve as reference implementations for client smart warehouse operations. These 5G applications will also support the 5G smart warehouse experimentation effort to increase the efficiency and fidelity of USMC logistic operations, including the identification, recording, organization, storage, retrieval, and transportation of materiel and supplies. This prototype will reach its objectives through the implementation of an iterative, phased, and agile approach that provides the client options for follow-on funding of successfully demonstrated components of the prototype 5G application.
