We take fast, frictionless mobile connections for granted, but as 5G ushers in new and improved experiences, it promises much more than just personal convenience: It is fundamentally transforming how industries function and compete.
Research shows that in just the next few years, 5G will drive significant sales growth, add to the US GDP and create millions of jobs. And by 2025, more than 36.8 billion connected devices will tap into 5G’s data gold mine.
As communications service providers shift their focus to B2B, Singtel—the largest telecommunications company in Singapore— recognized 5G’s vast potential in the manufacturing space. The company joined forces with Accenture to create a “5G warehouse” proof of concept for Zuellig Pharma, a $13B healthcare services company.
Zuellig Pharma, which has enjoyed tremendous growth in recent years, needed to implement automated solutions in its warehouse to improve efficiency, inventory visibility, worker safety and, crucially, throughput (how many orders the company fulfills from a single warehouse at any point in time).
For instance, “picking”—the process of manually selecting items for shipping—was labor-intensive, especially as orders increased in volume and variety.
With a proven infrastructure network and deep experience, Singtel wanted to explore 5G’s potential to unlock the power of the connected devices required for cutting-edge automation, inventory management and analytics. If the experiment proved successful, Zuellig Pharma could completely reimagine its warehouse operations for the future.
Zuellig Pharma embraced the idea of tapping into automation and 5G to improve both picking and inventory counting and called on Accenture and Singtel to design the right solution.
