Warehousing industry in India needs innovative approach to achieve improved efficiency. Asim Behera explains more on the current scenario and the importance of advanced innovative warehousing solutions to meet the emerging demands. 

Transforming from godowns to warehouses over time, warehouses have grown to become the backbone of the manufacturing and the service industry. In the old times, warehouses meant humongous spaces managed by a huge manpower. There have been businesses that have been solely dependent on managing warehouses. Today, the very nature of handling such spaces is changing.
  
With supply chain getting advanced and evolved over time, warehousing is on a continuous improvement process. Today, the amount of material handling demands use of automation instead of a large workforce to save on labour costs and on-time distribution.

Specially in the manufacturing industry, with lean manufacturing and lean inventory becoming the aim, having sophisticated material handling systems has become the need of the hour. Similarly, growing consumerism has led to ever-increasing amount of logistics handling in the service sector, for which proper warehousing stands crucial for effective growth.

Warehousing in India
The changing scenario: If we go through the past and the current scenario of Indian industry, we can specifically note some changes over the period of time. Demand for modern and sophisticated warehouses has witnessed a tremendous increase in India in the last few years because of influx of multinational companies as well as export-oriented companies who are ready to invest in the warehouse infrastructure.

Need for large scale warehousing or dedicated logistics parks is fast catching up in India as it is mostly fragmented and unorganised industry, dominated by many small players. Also, the role of warehouses has increased due to wider product range, emphasis on shorter lead times and constant changes in customer demand with changing dynamics of the country.

In a recent World Bank study, India has jumped 19 positions in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) which means India is on the growth path as far as the logistics handling capacity is considered. Also, in 2017, India made the highest-ever jump to come within the top 100 countries in the 'Ease of Doing Business' index of the World Bank. This indicates that, India is preferred by the world leaders to set up their businesses keeping in view the ability India withholds.

Although India is on the path of technological advancement, it needs more efforts to be taken to be at par with the developed countries higher up the order. Out of the many fields, warehousing and logistics management is one such important field that needs attention. The greater investment opportunity in the warehousing sector will offer a better investment return and lead to the growth of business in India. The warehouse industry in India is growing at a rate of 10 per cent every year.

Considering the current scenario, the growth in Indian warehouse industry is led by various factors, prominent amongst them are:

• Growth of manufacturing, engineering and service industry;
• Growth of e-commerce, e-retail, digitisation, government thrust on cashless economy;
• Growing load of domestic consumption;
• Fast growing exports and international trade;
• Growth in private and foreign investments with government's Make in India campaign;
• Introduction of GST integrating India into a unified market;
• Increase in trade through foreign investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
• Growth in openness of the Indian economy and market integration.

According to studies, Indian logistics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.17 per cent by 2020, driven by the growth in the manufacturing, retail, FMCG and e-commerce sectors. About 80 per cent handling and warehousing facilities are not mechanised and traditional manual methods clearly indicate that there is an acute shortage of organised and good quality warehousing.

Why is innovation in warehousing crucial?
The major reasons that indicate innovation in warehousing and logistics management is crucial can be comprehended as follows:

Labour problem: Labour in India though available in large number as well as being cheap, it is largely illiterate and highly unskilled. Compared to other countries, labour in India are not capable of receiving advanced industrial training, understanding problems in industries and working towards its own interest and those of nation as a whole. Hence, there are issues of labour union, regulation issues and differences between labour unions and company management. Another issue is the inadequate facilities available at the training centres because of which the percentage of trained workers in Indian industry is very low.

Bulky material: Industries like textile, iron and steel handle huge quantity of bulky materials everyday. A large workforce is required to handle such a huge quantity and managing such a large workforce requires efficient managers. This increases labour costs, material handling costs, inventory costs and demands huge space for storage.
Environment issues: With mass productivity being the prime moto today, industries face problems of space availability, land issues etc. Sometimes, challenging environment to work like in cold storage and high work temperature areas also hinder the productivity of workers. In such cases, replacing man with machines can be a boon.

Solution to problems in warehousing
Automation and optimisation are key to innovations in warehousing. Harnessing the power of technology and maximising a facility's potential can help overcome the drawbacks. This demands companies to improve their warehousing facilities and advancing their logistics handling with efficient supply chain management environment. One such expert in material handling solutions and logistics management is Daifuku.

Daifuku provides its expertise in utilising the warehouse space optimally with its custom-made solutions. Daifuku's AS/RS helps pace up the movement and use the right amount of space with the least human dependency.

Looking forward
Innovations in warehousing will most certainly help achieve improved operating efficiency, cut cycle time, prevent material handling loss and provide controlled access. Daifuku's products such as AS/RS, Unit Load AS/RS, Mini Load AS/RS, and Racking Systems help deliver speed and efficiency for today's supply chain management (SCM) environment. Daifuku caters to all types of customer needs and designs and builds ensuring high quality and long-term reliability.


Asim Behera is the COO
at Factory Automation and Distribution Automation; Daifuku India, a fast growing ASRS company in India. Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asimbehera/