Executive Summary

The analysis of the report is to find out if Augmented reality (Smart glasses) helps with
improving the e - supply chain coordination. The report is to find out how and why the use of
technology can help. The report has listed 3 benefits when implementing AR technology and
a case study of real business using the technology which achieve great results as compared to
other company that still uses traditional method.
Table of Contents

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................4
How Augmented Reality (Smart Glasses) is required to be applied by the business in their
ESC...................................................................................................................................................5
Reasons why Augmented Reality (smart glasses) will benefit E – Supply Chain coordination. 7
Real Examples of Business Using AR Smart Glasses Technology...............................................9
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................10
References:.....................................................................................................................................11
<< Analysis on how Augmented Reality helps with E-Supply Chain Coordination >>

Introduction
As the supply chain and logistic fields becomes competitive and the increase in workload, the
world is seeing a higher workers turnover rate per year as the worker are leaving their job due
to the intensity and the wages of the jobs.

For the company to stay competitive against other warehouses, their workers tend to work at
maximum effort everyday to allow the company being on top of other warehouses hence it
would easily cause burn out to workers which will lead to a worker leaving the job or to find
other 3PL companies that willing to offer a better wage.

What companies can do is that by investing in technology which would help to ease the
workload of each worker hence providing a better work environment thus retaining workers
to stay in the company. The technology that we will use is Augmented Reality (e.g smart
glasses) to help us ease through the heavy workload in supply chain warehouses.
Discussion

How Augmented Reality (Smart Glasses) is required to be applied by the business in

their ESC
Improved Productivity
Augmented Reality (AR) helps to improve productivity in E – Supply Chain (ESC). As
picker will wear glasses with AR vision on it, it allows information to be communicated with
the picker instantly. Based on the past supply chain coordination, packing usually uses picker
to part strategies to complete the order and then to make deliveries which makes it inefficient
in delivering the products (Lanz and Tuokko 2017). But with the help of AR glasses, pickers
can have better routing navigation and they will not need to carry order tickets with them.
The AR glasses will prompt them on the orders they have on hand, prompt the optimize route
to clear the orders. This will help the workers to fulfill their order faster which will increase
their productivity which will contribute to the ESC of the warehouse.

Improved Safety

The AR glasses technology also improves safety of the workers that are working to prevent
any workplace mishap. As there are built in technology in the glasses to track whether the
user is exhausted from picking. (Ruppertetal, 2018). The glasses will prompt the office that
the user is tired or experiencing discomfort which will then stop them from work. This is
important for workplace safety as there is high demand for warehousing supply chain,
workers are the assets in E-SC hence it is important to take care of them. Therefore, business
would be required to implement AR glasses as it is a value add in terms of workplace safety.

Improved Communications
Communications between the picker and the office staff will have improve as the worker are
able to give updated information on what’s happening on the ground. As important
information can be transmitted quickly to the glass through the built-in microphone and the
visual appearance. Comparing to traditional warehouses, the workers communicate through
walkie talkie, but user will understand that sometimes walkie talkie are sometimes not clear,
and workers have hard time understanding the information to be executed. With smart
glasses, the user not only can hear can but also can have visible information on their glasses
which will make communication easier. Hence, with the glasses on the user not only
communication can be improved, their location in the warehouse will also be trackable for
the manager.
Reasons why Augmented Reality (smart glasses) will benefit E – Supply Chain
coordination

Improved Productivity

With the improved productivity in order fulfillment, this will certainly benefit the warehouses
that as increase in productivity in clearing orders will help to the warehouse to be more
reputable in the industry. With the high demand in E – commerce, what we can expect is that
the boom for warehouses will certainly increase as there are more and more people buying
online, more orders will be required for warehouses to deliver. Hence with the
implementation of AR, productivity increase thus this will lead to better order fulfillment rate
which will then incurred into more sales; thus, AR implementation will give the warehouses a
competitive advantage. (Goksoy, Vayvay & Ergeneli, 2022)

Improved Safety

Improving workplace safety for the workers is important and beneficial for the company as
work in supply chain warehouses is already tedious, the least that the company can do is to
take care of the workers to ensure that their safety would be the upmost important. As with
the high workload in supply chain, workers will tend to burn out as it traditional warehouse
are still manual work intensive, workers might end up injured during work as their body
could not tolerate the intensive work for weeks. With implementation of AR smart glasses,
the technology on the glass can track the eyelid level and is able to prompt the management
that this worker is very tired, and they are able to deem if he is suitable for work. Having
such safe environment for workers to work will not only improve the safety level of the
workplace but also able to retain the workers as the job satisfaction will be high. (Ponis et al.,
2022). Hence it is beneficial to implement AR glasses into the supply chain.
Improved Communications

The smart glasses implemented will help with the improvement of communications which
will be beneficial for the E – Supply Chain. As the supply chain world is a very fast-moving
industry. Things changes quickly and might not go as planned. With the microphone built in
place the glasses, the user and office can communicate with one another while still doing
their own work. With better communications, things will eventually run more smoothly as
information can be received in an instant. Compared to using walkie talkie or a handphone,
one might not pick up the call hence missing out on certain jobs or urgent orders.

Having good communication in supply chain is very crucial to their sustainability and
adaptability. As orders might change last minute or to delay items from delivering out. If the
information is not passed down quick enough, the order might have already left the
warehouse, which will not only receive complain from the customer but also from the end
user which will lead to a bad reputation for the company. With better communication in the
warehouse, workers will have strong morale and better sense of satisfaction during work as
effective communication help one to drive the best result of all individuals. (Perkins, P. S., &
Brown, L. 2018)
Real Examples of Business Using AR Smart Glasses Technology

DHL Logistic is a global leader in the logistic field as they specialized in international
shipping, courier services and transportation. They are always changing the way they run
their warehouses to ensure that they can fulfill all the orders. DHL have tested using
Augmented Reality Smart Glasses in their warehouse picking which proves a success as with
just implementing the technology there is a 25% increase in order picking (DHL,2022).

Workers equipped with the AR glasses was tested for three weeks and the statistic has
showed that 10 order pickers were able to pick more than 20,000 items fulfilling 9000 orders.
This instantly improves the productivity of the warehouse as the worker can work at a faster
and error free pace (DHL,2022). The implementation of the technology has proven successful
for the company as feedback from the staff are all very positive. The company is also slowly
expanding the use of the technology in a bigger scale supply chain management and changing
how their warehouses will work. Hence it is a need to implement technology in the supply
chain, as DHL are the pioneer in experimenting the AR glasses, they are now having
competitive advantage over their competitors with having better on time delivery rate and
better service satisfaction. (DHL,2022). Hence with current result , only more technology will
be implemented.
Conclusion

In conclusion, the report has found out the advantages that one would benefits from implementing
AR technology in the warehouse. Regardless of the scale, the smart glasses can help workers
improves productivity, safety, and communication in the warehouse. This will also help to have
better worker satisfaction rate which will lead to lesser people turning over in the job. DHL have
already implemented this technology and we don’t see why others are not catching up as it has
proven succession in all aspect of the scope in the industry.
References:

- Rejeb, A., Keogh, J. G., Leong, G. K., & Treiblmaier, H. (2021). Potentials and
challenges of augmented reality smart glasses in logistics and supply chain
management: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Production
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- Goksoy, A., Vayvay, O., & Ergeneli, N. (2022). Gaining Competitive Advantage
through Innovation Strategies: An Application in Warehouse Management Processes.
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http://www.worldscholars.org/index.php/ajbm/article/view/463

- Ponis, S., Plakas, G., Agalianos, K., Aretoulaki, E., Gayialis, S., & Andrianopoulos,
A. (2022). Augmented Reality and Gamification to Increase Productivity and Job
Satisfaction in the Warehouse of the Future. Retrieved 4 October 2022,

- Perkins, P. S., & Brown, L. (2018). The Art and Science of Communication: Tools for
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https://www.dhl.com/global-en/delivered/digitalization/dhl-successfully-tests-
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https://www.dhl.com/global-en/delivered/digitalization/dhl-successfully-tests-
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- (Lanz and Tuokko 2017) To study the different key performance indicators following
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