Overview
The new multi-platform developed by YouCo supports Vodafone Business in expanding and strengthening its offering for the logistics sector
The challenge of Logistics 4.0
Digitalization is changing the world we live in, and the logistics sector is no exception.
According to research conducted by the Institute for Business Value on 1,500 Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) and Chief Operating Officers, nearly half (47%) of CSCOs have introduced new automation technologies.
For many companies, the competitive challenge is already being played out in 4.0: the adoption and integration of new intelligent, flexible, and sustainable technologies that allow for the automation and optimization of logistics processes in different phases of the supply chain.
Vodafone Business’s experience, YouCo’s expertise
Vodafone Business, the Vodafone division dedicated to small, medium, large companies, and Public Administration, has been supporting logistics companies for years with Mobile IoT technologies such as CAT-M, enabling infrastructures like Mobile Private Networks, and end-to-end solutions that allow intelligent and real-time management of the entire supply chain, such as Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics and Vodafone Smart Logistics.
Thanks to its technology and experience in digitalizing business processes developed in complex areas such as manufacturing, Vodafone Business positions itself as a strategic partner to enable the logistics chain to pursue simplification and digital transition.
Building on a consolidated decade-long collaboration, Vodafone Business has relied on YouCo, Your Company for Innovation, for the construction of a new platform capable of integrating into its offering and responding to the complex and diverse needs of its clients for managing logistics processes.
Features
Optimization of warehouse layout
The “YouLoad/Unload Optimization” functionality offers a solution for the optimal positioning of packages within the warehouse. This contributes to:
- Keeping packages of the same “family” grouped together, improving inventory management.
- Minimizing the handling operations necessary to arrange packages, thus reducing operational costs.
- Maximizing the accessibility of higher priority packages, ensuring that crucial products are easily accessible when you need them.
Simplified warehouse entry and storage
The goods entry process is simplified and made more accurate:
- Operators can easily access material positioning activities through a mobile application.
- Activities are predefined based on a warehouse load composition procedure, reducing potential human error.
- Reading barcodes or RFID tags ensures the correspondence between the asset and the planned activity.
In summary, the “YouLoad/Unload Optimization” functionality improves efficiency and accuracy within your warehouse, reducing operational costs, optimizing product arrangement, and simplifying entry and storage operations. This system allows you to manage your inventory more effectively and ensure maximum efficiency of your logistics operations.
Back office analysis of warehouse status
Back office operators have real-time access to the positions of all Load Units (LUs) within the warehouse. This offers:
- Complete visibility through tabular view or digital map view.
- The ability to quickly search for desired LUs and obtain informative and visual details.
Optimized warehouse load composition:
The back office operator can utilize an automatic procedure to create warehouse entry lists. These lists are optimized to place each LU in the best spot, thanks to an optimization algorithm. This:
- Reduces the time and effort required for organizing arrivals.
- Ensures that goods are inserted into the warehouse in the most efficient way possible.
Optimized loading lists
The functionality helps improve the warehouse entry and exit process:
- Group picking missions by asset or location, making operations smoother.
- Reduces order fulfillment times, improving overall efficiency.
- Minimizes errors in deliveries and shipments.
Reporting
With the integrated reporting module, on-site operators can obtain a clear view of the activities performed.
A fundamental tool for monitoring and analyzing activities carried out by field operators, ensuring more efficient and transparent management of operations thanks to data collected in real-time from the mobile application used by operators.
The generated reports are not limited to a simple collection of information, but offer an in-depth analysis of various operational parameters. These parameters can include details such as activity timelines, duration of tasks performed, breaks taken, distances traveled, and other crucial information for economic reporting. This level of detail allows the operational center not only to evaluate the efficiency of operations, but also to optimize resource management and provide a clear picture of staff productivity.
Certified documentation
One of the most important aspects of YouReporting is the ability to create certified documentation. In many cases, the reports produced can be used as tangible proof of compliance with current regulations, for example regarding working and rest times, an essential factor in the transport and logistics sector. This documentation can be shared both internally, for management and optimization purposes, and externally, for example with client companies, to ensure transparency and compliance with contractual agreements.
The multi-tenant operational model
This model ensures the flexibility and scalability necessary to respond in a standard, “ready-to-use” and all-in-one manner to the needs of all those manufacturing companies that need to embrace digital transformation in the following areas:
- Asset Tracking outdoor / indoor
- Digitalization of operational processes
- Warehouse management (Spaces, Processes, Localization, Movement)
- Digitalization of goods loading/unloading processes
Benefits
Greater efficiency
The use of automated warehouses ensures better coordination of information flows essential for goods management, an increase in production speed, and optimization of picking activities. New technologies allow all operations of searching, picking, and moving products to be faster and more precise, without ever slowing down production.
Staff reduction
The use of technologically advanced machinery allows for assisting personnel in carrying out the most delicate tasks and even, in some cases, replacing them entirely. This means that fewer staff are required in the warehouse and operators have more time available for their training and have the opportunity to retrain, follow new refresher courses, and perhaps acquire new skills that can be useful to the company.
Fewer errors
Thanks to the use of fully automated and digitized systems, it allows for minimizing the risk of human errors or damage to goods during their movement. Reducing picking errors also means speeding up order execution times and consequently increasing profitability.
Fewer production slowdowns
The adoption of digital and automated warehouses is fundamental to rely on a lean and constant production process that allows operators to manage orders in the shortest possible time and to avoid slowdowns or interruptions that could have repercussions on company efficiency.
Decrease in company costs
One of the reasons that drives SMEs to invest in automated warehouses is that, despite the large initial investment, it often corresponds to a net cut in operating costs: from those incurred for goods handling to those related to personnel management.
Better visibility of goods
The installation of automation and digital solutions in warehouses allows for obtaining good visibility of goods, a factor that is often underestimated by companies and which instead is essential to prevent product obsolescence. Only by having clear and precise data on the quantity of goods in stock is it possible to plan production in detail.
Full control over inventory
To be reliable in the customer’s eyes and always offer a high-quality service, ensuring efficiency and punctuality in delivery, it is essential to manage stock in the best possible way. The use of technological solutions such as automated warehouses allows for real-time knowledge of inventory status, tracking and monitoring of every single movement of goods, and planning an adequate strategy for inventory management.
Greater flexibility
Thanks especially to the use of new software, warehouses today are significantly more flexible compared to the past. They can easily adapt to sudden changes, such as an increase in sales, an increase in shipments, or an unexpected market downturn; support customers at every stage of the Supply Chain; and respond to the most diverse needs, including those of small businesses.
Vodafone by YouCo's smart algorithms
Optimization algorithm
The warehouse layout optimization algorithm facilitates the identification of optimal placement of packages in the input list to keep packages of the same type grouped together, minimize package handling operations, and maximize accessibility of packages with higher priority.
Loading algorithm
The optimized vehicle loading algorithm allows the generated data to be exported to the management system for use in reporting. The optimization algorithm is based on a service that requires input data describing the packages and the compartment in which they are to be loaded in order to maximize the number of packages or the total volume loaded, taking into account priorities.
YouCo, increasingly Your Company for Innovation!
With Vodafone Smart Logistics, the wide range of innovative solutions that YouCo makes available to companies is further enriched, supporting them in the integration of digital processes in the internal logistics sector.
YouCo positions itself as a precursor and leader in supporting digitalization processes in companies, reducing lead times for parts supply and enabling a “synchronous”, fast, and sustainable supply chain, thus mitigating potential shortage situations.
Organization and management
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