Mind the Gap on your journey to Industry 4.0

Mind the Gap on your journey to Industry 4.0

Did you hear that clothing retailer Gap is pulling out of the UK High Street? 81 stores closing by the end of the year as it moves online to become a 'digital-first' business.

As more brands inevitably follow suit to reap the benefits of online-only sales, a big opportunity exists for those who can master the challenge of ecommerce customer returns.

According to industry research, as many as 1 in 3 online orders gets returned. This presents a huge challenge for so-called reverse logistics - how do you streamline your processes when you're trying to handle high levels of returns, with ambiguity in terms of labelling and products?

The opportunity lies in smart returns: integrating new vision technologies and automation into logistics and fulfilment centres to reduce cost per inspection for highly subjective classifications. Deep learning is the only solution.

In this month’s Vision Update we explore how even more of these 'human' inspections are now within reach of automation. We question why misconceptions of vision are holding back vital investment opportunities and we reveal how a new application for vision is transforming the busiest part of the logistics centre.

Thanks for reading,
Martin