Optimizing the role allocation process in warehouses : Digitalization of the daily rostering process by integrating AI and IoT technologies

Sammanfattning: The logistics industry is one of the most important industries, being an important component of a company's activities. In recent years, the industry has gone through a large number of changes. These had the purpose of making the processes more efficient in order to reduce costs or to increase the degree of competitiveness. A very important process in the logistics industry is the allocation of roles in warehouses. Not using the available resources to their maximum capacity leads to an increase in the processing time of the units as well as to a decrease in the profitability of the companies. Allocation is done manually in the warehouse, being a complex task in which many constraints and variations must be taken into account. AI technologies and IoT systems have the potential to simplify the process of assigning workers. For this research, a warehouse in Germany operated by the Amazon company was studied. In addition to the benefits that this transition can have from a social point of view, helping to equalize the roles of high complexity and the appropriate rotation of jobs to ensure equal opportunities for development, there is an opportunity to reduce the costs associated with this process by up to 90%. This last aspect is dependent on the degree of modernization of the warehouse and on the way in which the role allocation process is carried out at the time. Most of the IoT systems necessary for the digitization and automation of this process are already implemented in warehouses. However, a common architecture is needed to be able to guarantee the integration and compatibility of the systems. The main blocker in this transition remains public opinion and financial factors, companies with a large volume of units potentially benefiting from economies of scale.