Smart Warehousing Is Imperative

Smart warehousing aims to use software technology, Internet technology, and radio frequency identification, as well as advanced equipment to provide the overall intelligence of warehousing operations.

In recent years, China's logistics industry has developed vigorously, and China has become the world's largest logistics market. The logistics industry mainly includes the transportation department and the warehousing part. These two parts support the huge industrial system of the logistics industry, each of which accounts for half of the total cost. Relevant research results show that intelligent warehousing has more cost advantages in the life cycle. Due to the mechanical and repetitive operations of the logistics industry, as well as the rising labor costs, the combination of the warehousing industry and automation and intelligence will become the future trend.

The AGV Robot Market Is Growing Rapidly, And the Future Potential Is Still Great

The development of intelligent warehousing is inevitably inseparable from the support of AGV robots. AGV robots can realize the automation and intelligence of fixed-point handling processes, reduce costs, and effectively improve handling efficiency and reduce accidental losses. In recent years, China's AGV robot market has sprung up rapidly. Data show that in 2019, China's AGV robots added 33,400 units in all categories, an increase of about 12.8% compared with 2018. The industry is developing optimistically. However, the degree of warehousing automation is still insufficient compared to Europe, America, and Japan. The cumulative shipment of Medieval AGVs from 2015 to 2019 was 100.4 thousand units, which is far lower than Amazon’s cumulative shipments. Therefore, there is still large growth room for AGV robots.

The in-depth development of automated logistics further stratifies the pattern of China's warehousing AGV robot industry. Chinese warehousing AGV robot companies can be roughly divided into two categories. The first category is companies with mature technology and rich production experience, mainly represented by Geek+, Quick Warehouse, and Hikvision.

Demand for Downstream Applications Continues to Grow, Driving the Steady Expansion of the Storage Industry

The development of China's warehousing industry is driven by downstream demand. Data show that the total amount of China's social logistics is steadily increasing, and the demand for the warehousing industry is also increasing. In recent years, China's storage index has been maintained at a relatively high level, and the market is booming.

Affected by the domestic macroeconomy, domestic demand continued to expand, the growth of infrastructure investment accelerated, and the storage demand for bulk goods such as steel and building materials rebounded significantly. At the same time, the increase in public demand has stimulated the demand for warehousing in retail, commerce and manufacturing. The warehousing industry's strong demand for downstream applications has driven the steady development of China's warehousing industry. The current high land-use costs and labor costs have set the tone for the development of centralized and intelligent storage applications.

In 2020, affected by global public health events, countries will be affected to varying degrees. Under the unified command, efficient operation, rapid response, and scientific tracking of the Party Central Committee, China took the lead in controlling the epidemic, providing important prerequisites for the economy to get back on track, and logistics business gradually returned to normal. In June last year, the total volume of domestic social logistics returned to the level of the same period in 2019. From January to November 2020, China's social logistics totaled 266.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.0%. Logistics demand has recovered, market vitality has further strengthened, and business revenue growth has accelerated. In general, the domestic logistics industry is generally stable and improving.

Driven by the expansion of domestic demand, China's e-commerce industry is booming, driving the rapid development of the express delivery industry. With the release of express delivery demand in remote areas such as rural areas, cross-border purchases and fresh food, regardless of market expansion or regional expansion, the express delivery industry is expected to continue to grow in the future.

As an important demand market for the warehousing industry, e-commerce has passed its peak period for market growth. Although the scale of the industry continues to expand, the growth rate is gradually decreasing, which has a certain impact on e-commerce companies. Therefore, e-commerce companies are very cautious in choosing to enter the field of smart storage, which puts a certain pressure on the development of the smart storage industry. But at the same time, when the market becomes saturated, companies that take the lead in innovation can get more opportunities and the industry can break through the bottleneck. This just provides a good development opportunity for the smart storage industry.

Driven by the growth of e-commerce business volume and express delivery volume, many companies with keen insight and courage responded quickly to continuously improve warehousing operation procedures, and intend to dump smart warehousing in an attempt to seize the smart logistics field through smart warehousing. High ground. For example, JD.com continues to invest in intelligent warehousing research and development, and the net value of automated warehousing logistics equipment continues to grow; in 2020, Suning will add 10 million square meters of storage area and 40 new medium and large warehouses. Leading e-commerce companies took the lead in passing the early test phase of warehouse automation and gradually entered the stage of mature application. The competition of new-type warehouse automation manufacturers in the e-commerce industry has become more intense.

At present, domestic and foreign smart warehousing service providers compete on the same platform in the Chinese smart warehousing market, and the industry is in a stage of complete competition. Overseas smart warehousing companies have shown advantages in terms of production technology and development time. They have mastered the main resources of the high-end market and have an advantage in warehousing projects with higher technical content. However, local manufacturers have a strong competitive advantage in the low-end market by virtue of their price advantages and have accumulated customer resources. It will take some time to occupy the high-end market. Local smart warehousing suppliers also need to continuously polish their technical capabilities and improve warehousing solutions, so that they have the capital to compete with international manufacturers and gradually seize the market.