Discover our partners
Our EGO WMS also has connections to external tools, services and equipment that complement our solutions and increase logistics performance.
Why connecting the EGO WMS solution to external materials and equipment?
The range of hardware and equipment (barcode or RFID readers, ruggedized tablets, PDAs, labeling machines and printers) has evolved considerably in recent years and has become more democratic:
- video cameras,
- 3D scanners (for optimizing the filling of trailers),
- intelligent mobile desks and cobots,
- RFID antennas (for Pick To Light or permanent inventories),
- BLE beacons (Bluetooth beacons for indoor tracking),
- Virtual reality glasses (head-up display),
- Augmented reality glasses (assisted maintenance),
- UWB (Ultra Wide Band) systems for indoor location (via tag).
This technological offer is obviously applicable to the intralogistics business. However, even if this new equipment allows significant productivity and reliability gains, it is only relevant in certain specific conditions and for certain uses.
Moreover, some equipment integrators such as Timcod, a French company, or more recently consulting firms, have developed an expertise to assist in the choice of the best technologies according to well defined business cases.
What pitfalls arise when interconnecting a WMS to materials and equipment in the warehouse?
Even if the technological offer has become plethoric, hyper-competitive and with a significant drop in prices, it nevertheless encounters obstacles to materialize in the warehouse.
Here are 4 main obstacles:
- 1 – The human factor first: the reluctance may come from “old-timers” that it is difficult to change their habits, facing young people with a profile of zappers and more fond of technological novelties. Moreover, it will be necessary to make the equipment connected to the WMS very easy to use, for example, thanks to environments that are similar in ergonomics to that of a personal smartphone.
- 2 – Technical incompatibilities with existing information systems: the architecture of IT systems does not allow for simple interfacing with these new technologies. And connecting established WMS software publishers with integrators who have developed an innovative IoT sensor, an antenna that geolocates goods to the nearest centimeter, or an augmented reality application, is no easy task.
- 3 – Market access for startups: product or service innovations in the market of , are mostly carried by startups, often unable to integrate them quickly with a customer, especially in aging information systems. Unfortunately, the costs and time to access the market are very (too) long for these startups and are often incompatible with their available means (financial, skills, networks).
- 4 – Perceived additional costs and the difficulty of estimating an ROI (Return on Investment): as we have seen, logistics is often perceived as a cost center. In order to acquire a fleet of new “state-of-the-art” equipment, the logistics manager must also think in terms of return on investment. For example, what is the benefit of providing a real-time stock level to an Internet user, in terms of additional sales?
Over the last few years, SITACI has selected and set up connectors with partners who are distributors or suppliers of materials that meet the specific logistics challenges of each warehouse.
Below is a list of partners, by type of equipment or “infra” equipment, that can be connected to the EGO WMS for better control and efficiency of intralogistics processes.
NB: To learn more about this subject, we recommend you read the TIMCOD White Paper published in 2020:
“Overcome the Challenges of Mobility”.
Storage and conveying solutions
