Arvato & Microsoft: Developing the Warehouse of the Future

Arvato is in the business of developing innovative supply chain management and e-commerce solutions for its clients, an objective it achieves by combining deep industry expertise with the right technologies.

This leading international service provider is focused on the consumer products, technology, healthcare, automotive and publisher industries and has continued to adapt its organisational structure in a bid to meet the needs of its global clients and their fields. 

Its latest research project, Moonshot – launched alongside Microsoft – is aimed at implementing self-improving processes within warehouses by leveraging generative AI, robotics and cloud computing. 

“We launched the Moonshot project with Microsoft aiming for the ambitious goal of creating an autonomous warehouse,” explains Paul Brolly, Vice President of Global Business Development at Arvato. “Our approach involves examining various warehouse processes to automate and enhance them through robotics, digitalisation and AI. 

“The focus isn't solely on individual processes. In the future, AI could handle the initial overall warehouse layout for new orders based on customer requirements, which we would then refine with our expertise. This approach saves time and effort.”

Harnessing the power of AI

Arvato, which has 17,000 employees working in more than 100 locations around the world, is already able to demonstrate the practical applications of the Moonshot project.

One use case optimises picking routes using AI to reorganise task orders through rapid data analysis, enhancing navigation for pickers. 

Another involves AI-controlled interpretation of carrier responses in transport complaints. The AI Smart Layer interprets these responses and independently triggers appropriate actions in the claim management tool, freeing up resources by reducing manual complaint processing to 3-4%. 

As Arvato’s technology partner, Microsoft is playing an essential role in this exciting initiative, as Paul highlights.

"Microsoft's expertise in data platforms, compute capacities, Gen AI forecasting, computer vision, augmented reality and cognitive services like speech recognition and text analysis is vital in realising our vision of a self-managed warehouse,” he adds. 

Moonshot to be unveiled at Gartner symposium

Arvato and Microsoft are set to showcase the visionary outlook and initial use cases of the Moonshot research project on day three of the upcoming Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo in Barcelona. 

The event, a staple in the supply chain calendar, will take place from 10-2 June at the Barcelona Convention Center and is expected to attract more than 1,600 industry peers. 

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