Delivery giant DHL is set to ramp up its augmented reality (AR) programme, using smart glasses to help warehouse staff locate and pick the items.
DHL will become one of the first companies to use Google’s latest smart glasses, the Glass Enterprise Edition, to enhance its “vision picking” process across its vast warehouse network.
Its vision picking programme, which it launched back in 2015, uses AR to give workers a heads up display allowing them to locate, scan and sort items without the need for a handheld scanner or hardcopy forms.
“With the second generation of Glass Enterprise Edition, we can now provide our customers and employees with even more powerful, technically optimized smart glasses,” DHL supply chain’s chief operation officer Markus Voss said.
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“The possibility of object recognition is also particularly promising for us in industrial applications. With the corresponding software, it is no longer just possible to read out barcodes, locate products and display the corresponding storage compartment; in future, also complex objects can be identified with the smart glasses.
“We expect this to lead to further productivity increases from which our employees and our customers will benefit equally.”
This forms part of a wider digitisation strategy across DHL’s network, which also includes the integration of robots, drones, autonomous vehicles and wearables.
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