In recent years, Wearable technology has started seeing significant adoption across various domains, including health tech, sports tech, medical tech, and the Industrial segment. As per the IMARC report, the global industrial wearable devices market was valued at US $ 11.9 Billion in 2023. The global industrial wearable devices market will exhibit a CAGR of 12% during 2024-2032.

The adoption of Wearable Technology in Warehouses has increased, especially post-COVID, with smart glasses, ring scanners, and rugged watches. Many brands in the AIDC space such as Honeywell, Newland, and Zebra have launched wearable scanners and rugged devices with all the requisite accessories. Similarly, companies such as Teamviewer have launched Smart Glasses with AR technology for workers in the warehouse.

Warehouses that have been either on paper (fully manual) or using rugged handheld terminals are now considered wearable for the following benefits:

Safety and Health

Worker safety is now increasingly in focus whether it is in the warehouse or the manufacturing plant. Wearable scanners are firmly fitted on the hand or arm thus reducing any chance of gadgets dropping on the floor accidentally. This will greatly reduce the accidents due to slips and trips on the warehouse floor.

Also, the rugged wearable handhelds are built with sensors for health monitoring such as heart rate, and body temperature among others. These would ensure that labour health is always monitored.

Increased productivity

The core benefit of wearable scanners and smart glasses is that they release both hands for the warehouse worker to do other activities such as driving the forklift or moving boxes. This is unlike the usual rugged handheld terminals that are carried in one hand and must be kept elsewhere when both hands are required for any activity.

Ease of digitization

The same mobile application built for the rugged handheld terminals can be easily run on wearable computers. In some cases, there would be very minimal customization required and this gets easier with the SDK support provided by the manufacturers of the wearable technologies.

Increased ROI

The capex of wearable technology such as Smart AR Glasses and ring scanners is either on par or slightly higher than rugged handheld devices and their equivalents. The increase in Capex is greatly offset by the productivity returns using wearable technologies.

Lower opex (reduced maintenance cost)

As the wearable technology is firmly strapped on the arm or head with appropriate accessories, there is a very low chance of damage due to falls in the warehouse. These wearable computers ensure lower maintenance costs, unlike the rugged handheld computers that have a larger display and are held in hands increasing the likelihood of damage.

Supply Chain IT and Business managers worldwide are advocating for the adoption of Wearable Technology in Warehouses due to the cost savings and productivity gains they offer. For mass adoption to happen, there needs to be more awareness about this, more innovation must be brought into this by the manufacturers, and more importantly, the products should be easy to use for semi-literate workers.

Quinta, as a supply chain digitization expert, has been helping several companies build the TCO/ROI, conduct PoCs, work with users to address concerns, and ultimately show business value with mass deployments.

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