Businesses will need to be more creative to survive in 2009, by using auto ID technology in smarter, more innovative ways in order to cut unnecessary overheads and optimise supply chain processes, according to Zetes.
The company made this and other predictions for market trends next year, based on the experiences of its UK management team, headed by managing director James Hannay.
Zetes expects the emphasis will be on improving the information flow between all supply chain partners, from manufacture through to shelf edge, and that overall, the objective will be to build better bridges between existing DCs and retail outlets.
According to the company, we are likely to see seven key trends occurring throughout 2009, as logisticians look to further drive down costs and errors, and increase productivity levels.
The trends are as follows:
• Greater project scrutiny and accelerated ROI expectations
• Greater creativity and resourcefulness
• Greater emphasis on tactical “quick wins” instead of strategic projects
• Retailers seek full warehouse shelf to retail shelf edge traceability
• RFID will be adopted in place of barcodes for track and trace
• Voice will become widely used in the pharmaceutical and food sectors
• Greater drive towards eliminating errors
