19AUGUST 2025Sumit Paul, Country Head, Unipart Services IndiaArtificial intelligence (AI) and demand insight are used more than ever to redesign the layout of a warehouse, which will ultimately increase efficiency and reduce cost. The emergence of AI-powered demand forecasting is critical for industries such as e-Commerce and automotivedurability of client relationships over time. A history of successful global fulfillment of contracts indicates efficient execution, which appeals to new clients and markets that know the real benefits that are missing from mainstream standards in the industry.Carl: At a major site in China, the deployment of 180 AGVs is transforming operations that were once entirely human-driven into a blend of manual and automated processes. This shift has been made possible largely due to the significant reduction in automation costs over recent years. Previously, the recent decline in costs for automation, such investments were simply prohibitively expensive and provided returns that were far out of acceptability. Under declining automation costs, logistics businesses have the capacity to attain cost-effectiveness and provide solutions to clients with shorter payback periods. This is a critical moment that enables many operations to economically quantify and introduce large-scale automation notes.Real-time tracking is crucial for logistics. How are companies integrating AI and IoT to improve visibility and reduce operational bottlenecks?Carl: Now, there is much more in the way of real-time tracking, and it is more pervasive through the supply chain than ever before. Whereas warehouse management systems (WMSs) have advanced to provide strong tracking within warehouses for some time, the challenge has been moving that insight into upstream and downstream processes. More collaboration between WMS and TMS technology enables tracking arriving shipments in real-time across large areas, such as across China, where clients can be kept informed using handheld updates. Revealing when shipments will arrive adds value from Artificial Intelligence (AI). Moreover, the use of RFID labels containing anti-counterfeiting measures facilitates organizations' ability to monitor the location and legitimacy of valuable goods within the supply chain to increase security and quality assurance.Sumit: The largest benefit for clients is the enhanced visibility and transparency gained when dealing with their daily operations. By utilizing leading technology and making information easily available, our efficiency standards surpass a number of service organizations in India as well as globally. Eventually, the distinguishing feature of these services is transparency and openness to the clients, which translates into significant benefits for their organizations. Such transparency promotes trust and collaboration, and this helps to separate such services on the back of strong client-consultant relationships. Originally stemming from great global supply chain experience, this approach is a unique feature, which, by focusing on trust, outstanding performance and continued value uplifting, promotes long-term relationships with clients.Last-mile delivery remains expensive and inefficient. What innovative strategies like micro-fulfillment centers and AI-driven route optimization are logistics providers adopting to optimize costs and improve speed?Carl: This problem remains a challenge for efficiency and cost with the last-mile delivery, though organizations act to correct this by applying increased inventory practices and local positioning of stock under stock fixation. Inventory management solutions help enable 3PL providers to better deploy inventory in proximity to end consumers, thereby eliminating the last-mile challenges and providing for optimized transportation from main distribution centers. The roll-out of these smaller, more local versions of inventory sites ­ micro-fulfillment centers ­ is critical to this strategy. In addition, the use of artificial intelligence in the freight tendering process enhances competition and leads to improved transportation finances overall. Firms are also becoming more comfortable in breaking contracts with multiple transportation companies, and this gives more value than contracting with one.Sumit: Diverse geography and cultural intricacies in the country impose unique problems for the last-mile delivery
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