Kathy Gibson reports – Huawei has officially opened a green intelligent warehouse in Johannesburg – the first of its kind in Africa.
Will Meng, CEO of Huawei South Africa, explains that the smart warehouse, equipped with green power, is the central hub for Huawei in South Africa, providing a continuous supply of products to customers in the region.
“Notably, the South Africa central warehouse is the first on the African continent,” he says. “We hope it will inspire development in the local logistics industry.”
Warehousing and logistics is a big investment area: today it is worth R93-billion, with robust growth rates anticipated – particularly in warehousing, which is projected to grow at about 70% a year.
“This represents a transformation to more agile, responsive and technologically-advanced supply chains, which is vital to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace,” Meng says.
Huawei’s green intelligent warehouse is built around three pillars: green energy; e-security; and modern logistics.
Steven du Plessis, logistics manager: supply chain depot at Huawei South Africa, explains that the new warehouse covers a total of 30 000 m2, 14 000m2 of them indoor floor area, which includes 2 500m2 of inbound capacity and 1 500m3 of outbound capacity. The facility is run by 32 operations staff, with 22 security personnel.
“Before, a warehouse would be run using fossil fuels, secured be manual patrols, and picking by person-to-goods.”
Meng explains that green power helps organisations to address South Africa’s energy challenges, while also delivering savings and energy management to achieve sustainability goals.
Rooftop solar panels currently cover 5% of the Johannesburg warehouse’s flat roof. This is already on track to save R350 000 a year in energy costs.
“We plan to cover the whole roof, which could potentially be worth R5,7-million per year, covering our own power requirements and enabling trading as well,” Meng says.
Herman Fourie, digital power senior product specialist at Huawei South Africa, explains that the current configuration is the first phase of the green energy provision plan.
Coming in at a total cost of R703 000.00 for equipment and installation, the setup will reduce the warehouse’s electricity costs by about R302 400 per year, resulting in a 2,32-year return on investment (POI).
In the second phase – the arbitrage phase – an equipment and installation cost of R1 197 500 will result in a further saving of R254 800 per year, for an ROI over 4,69 years.
The final phase, where Huawei will be able to trade electricity, with cost R13 870 500 in equipment and installation, but will generate about 20MWh per day, covering the warehouse’s use and generating revenue of R5,7-million a year, for an ROI over 2,43 years.
Security is critical for warehouses, and intelligent security allows Huawei to use a combination of humans and technology to actively secure its warehouse.
Huawei has combined manual defense with AI-driven technology that provides 24/7 coverage without any blind spots, says Du Plessis.
Alvin Korkie, principal business and strategy consultant (enterprise): sub-Saharan Africa region at Huawei, adds that all of the 200 cameras in the facility are AI-enabled.
Since the intelligence is housed within the cameras, they don’t rely on backend system to process data.
This has four immediate benefits: no latency, low data consumption, the ability to scale quickly, and the fact that all data and images remain on the premises.
With built-in behavioural abilities, cameras can detect anomalies such as loiterers, people running or scaling a fence, and even crowds that might pose a risk.
Security at the warehouse includes intelligent access for vehicles, personnel and guests.
The 60 cameras inside the warehouse ensure there are no blind spots and, because they are intelligent, they can be managed by one controller.
All cameras have full-colour day and night vision.
The modern logistics allow for realtime monitoring of the entire process, allowing for constant optimisation and efficiency improvements, Meng adds.
“We have seen significant increase in logistics efficiency of 70% for inbound capacity and 80% for outbound capacity,” he explains. “There has also be an augmentation rater of about 60%, which we aim to raise to almost 100%.”
By replacing person-to-goods picking with automated goods-to-person picking, Huawei has improved efficiency in the warehouse by 60%. Where it could run 80 lines per hour before, it can now run 110 lines per hour.
The Huawei warehouse is managed by Africa Global Logistics, which is present in 50 countries.
Fergus Fitch, chief operating officer of Africa Global Logistics, explains that the company runs the day-to-day operations at the facility.
Having used the Huawei technology in this warehouse, the company will continue to integrate Huawei technology in a number of future builds.