Industrial Distribution and Warehousing in Industry 4.0 era: A survey

Abstract

Industry 4.0, represented by accelerated innovative technologies such as automation, big data and data analysis has started to change the way industries conduct their operations and helped them grow their productivity.It is also causing several irreversible shifts in most of the job structure, exacerbating the rift between workforce capabilities and the expectations of the employers.In this industrial revolution, the ability to anticipate future changes in employment trends and the knowledge to adapt to those changes is a necessity in helping organizations to stay competitive and productive.In other words, companies need to focus on two aspects 1-technical aspects of change (technological advancements and computerization) and 2-the people-related aspects (educating and growing the workforce skills).Limited availability of research on both aspects, specifically educating aspects such as the skills/ capabilities of the workforce and the available job training curriculum, in the industrial distribution industry and especially warehousing has drawn our attention for doing this research.Regarding Small and Mid-size Enterprises (SME), Koshal et al., 2019 outlines some of the results obtained from a survey comprising sixteen Likert-type questions, gathered from 56 potential respondents from industries such as manufacturing, retail, distribution and third-party organizations.Results show a lack of confidence in executives with regards to employees' preparedness for future technological advancements and the available training.They offered collecting open response data to provide further information on the role educational institutions play in better preparing the future workforce.Furthermore, Xie et al.,2020 provides us with a systematic review of the available literature on how to train and prepare a specific population, warehouse workers, in the face of industry 4.0.In this work, we have investigated the impact of industry 4.0 on the industrial distribution industry and warehousing, as a heart of the company's operations.We have targeted different Business-tobusiness sectors located across the USA and conducted interviews with 22 individuals from CEO positions down to warehouse/operations managers.Common technologies identified in these industries included but not limited to, barcoding through Radio Frequency (RF) handlers, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), followed by the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence for process automations.According to the previous related works, we will explore our factual interview data on addressing challenges faced by warehouses' managers and employees with regard to using future automation and designing training and educational programs that will address both technical and professional skills of these workforce of the future.