As time goes on, companies have found more ways to leverage technology for the benefit of their supply chain operations. One of the more trending tech-heavy strategies is that of G2P, also known as Goods-to-Person.

Goods-to-person technology (hereafter referred to simply as G2P), is an accurate, ergonomically-minded, and largely automated solution aimed at helping you resolve many of your order fulfillment woes. 

In this article, we will take a look at the G2P model and demonstrate how the use of Goods-to-Person can improve your company’s operations significantly. 

Why Bother with G2P?

When it comes to any major overhaul of your operations, a positive return on investment (ROI) is the overall goal. After all, the process you use to bring costs down shouldn't cost you so much to keep running that it outweighs its own benefits. Luckily, there are a number of benefits inherent in the implementation of a well-built G2P strategy.

Below, we will take a look at a handful of the primary reasons you should consider implementing a G2P-driven strategy for your business.

Better Efficiency

The automated processes characteristic of G2P are primarily used to transport goods to the exact workstations at which they need to arrive. Because of this, there is no time spent by workers to seek out the goods manually. Rather, their time is spent primarily on packing.

In this way, the parts of the process that don’t require uniquely human skills are automated. At the same time, the other parts of the order fulfillment process are completed by the skilled workers within your organization as they have spatial or experiential knowledge that is not readily achievable via machine learning. 

At the end of the day, this reduction of human interaction and decision-making tasks leads to less wasted time, decreased strain on workers’ bodies, and improved efficiency overall.

Increased Precision

Even the most detail-oriented human will miss some things that automated systems will pick up on. This is not a knock on human workers; their contributions to the order fulfillment process are invaluable. Rather, acknowledging that artificial intelligence can improve precision is accepting the reality of the situation. Part of that acceptance also means leaning into tools versus working against them.

Better yet, G2P allows you to incorporate a “double-check” of sorts, in which both humans and automated systems check all of the goods for accuracy before they are moved forward in the order fulfillment process.

Increased Worker Satisfaction

If you ask most workers, few of them want to spend their time on the strenuous tasks related to their job. By eliminating some of the tasks that can require spinal bending and heavy lifting, you can save your worker's physical exhaustion. This often results in improved job satisfaction for these individuals.

This all means that you’ll be more likely to better eliminate workplace injuries. Keeping your workers healthy while simultaneously increasing your bottom line is exactly the way you should aim to expand your operations.

Further Considerations for Your G2P Strategy

On the surface, the options laid out in this article might sound perfect for your company. However, you should not move forward before you’ve fully considered exactly what your business needs. Consider what an ideal order fulfillment process looks like and go from there. 

For instance, each of the following issues bears consideration when deciding on a G2P solution:

• The volume of goods you currently process.
• Your future goals in terms of scale.
• The space available within your facility.
• The skill and availability of your workers.

Of course, there are other very important things which you must think about as well, such as cost. That being said, if you find that your company will benefit from implementing G2P, you should think about implementing these systems quickly in order to realize maximum benefit.

Robotics

One popular option for G2P is the use of AMRs, short for Autonomous Mobile Robots. These bots are able to complete many different functions based on your individual needs. For instance, an AMR could be programmed to gather particular goods and deposit them in a designated location where it is then distributed to workers as needed. Alternatively, an AMR could even go as far as to take goods from one location directly to a worker’s station.

Beyond these options, there are other sophisticated functions that can be programmed into AMRs. The possibilities when it comes to robotic solutions such as AMRs are truly endless. So much so that Amazon unveiled its own AMR earlier this year.

Building Your G2P Strategy

The initial decision to make use of G2P technology in your supply chain is a great stepping stone. However, it is really only the beginning as the process of automating one area of your supply chain will have rippling effects throughout other areas of your operation. This is what digital scalability is all about. It all begins with core processes such as those found within the framework of a G2P model.

G2P has been shown to decrease work-related injuries, increase productivity, and improve many other areas of a company’s operations. That being said, there are a number of considerations one should make before proceeding with a G2P strategy. 

However, these systems are likely to increase in popularity as time goes by. Therefore, it’s a good idea to implement a framework for this part of your business as soon as possible.