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ABSTRACT
Printing companies are commonly SMEs with high flow of materials, which management could be significantly improved through the digitalization. In this study we propose a smart Warehouse 4.0 solution by using QR code, open-source software tools for machine vision and conventional surveillance equipment. Although there have been concerns regarding the usage of QR in logistics, it has shown to be suitable for the particular use-case as pallets are static in the inter-warehouse. The reliability of reading of QR codes was achieved by using multiple IP cameras, so that sub-optimal view angle or light reflection is compensated with alternative views. Since surveillance technology and machine vision are constantly evolving and becoming more affordable, we report that more attention needs to be invested into their adaptation to fit the needs and budgets of SMEs, which are the industrial cornerstone in the most developed countries. The demo of proposed solution is available on the public repository https://aithub.com/ArsoVukicevic/PalletManaaement.
Keywords:
Smart manufacturing; SME; Industry 4.0; Logistics 4.0; Warehousing 4.0; Pallet management; Machine vision; Internet of Things (IoT); QR code
1.Introduction
All manufacturing-oriented companies, both SMEs and large corporations, are on a daily basis faced with the problem of managing a large number of different articles: which may vary from various raw materials to components and parts. Thus, the success of each business depends on the continuous and fluent flow of the parts in the supply chain [1]. However, the real-world situation is usually opposite, since there are huge problems in establishing of the reliable supply chain, leading to increase on inventory levels to fight against fluctuations and other disturbances. Modern management strategies, including Lean and World class manufacturing (WCM), define an unwanted level of inventory (raw material, work in progress, or finished products) as waste since they occupy working capital [2]. So, if there is no successful warehouse management in every company in the supply chain, all these issues cannot be properly addressed.
The new industrial platform - Industry 4.0 [3-6], aims to ease and automate the tracking and management of material flow, thus improving it on the global level (supply chain management) and on the local level (warehouse management). New Warehousing 4.0 solutions are based on the Smart Products. Therefore, they need to be identifiable at any...