The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport: South Africa (CILTSA) is gearing up to host an informative and insightful warehousing conference. Themed ‘Warehouse Automation: The benefits and risks’, this hybrid event takes place on 23 May at The Garden Venue in North Riding, Johannesburg and online. 

“The CILTSA warehousing automation conference aims to provide practical tips and insights on essential things the warehousing team needs to know when exploring the complex and ever-changing world of warehouse automation,” explains Elvin Harris CMILT, CILTSA’s President. “The event is for professionals in the warehousing space to share best practices, get practical tips on essential things that every team needs to know when navigating through complex situations regarding warehouse automation, learn about new industry developments and network with peers”. 

The programme includes talks on:

• ‘Warehouse automation: the benefits and risks’ by Martin Bailey FCILT, Chairman of Industrial Logistic Systems
• ‘How to optimise digital transformation in your warehouse’ by Munya Huvsu, CEO – ISB Optimus
• ‘The current challenges preventing warehousing automation and how to overcome them’ by Gerhard van Zyl – Group Operations Director: AsimoTech
• Safety and compliance in the modern warehouse, transport and logistics environment by Annah Ngxeketo – Founder and CEO: Mamoja Projects

Warehouse automation aims to automate repetitive and tedious manual tasks in warehousing operations, making manual work less labour-intensive, whilst reducing labour costs. It also increases productivity, accuracy and safety levels.

“Recent studies have indicated that, whilst the adoption rate of warehouse automation stood at 8% in 2019, this is set to rise to 45% by 2023,” continues Harris. “Automation aims to make manual work less labour-intensive to reduce labour costs, increase productivity and accuracy, and improve safety. Our conference will explore the types of both hard and soft warehouse automation solutions, which are designed to speed up various warehouse processes.

While the possibilities of warehouse automation are varied and exciting, investing means making difficult choices and taking high risks. “Implementing automation technologies in a logistics network is costly and time-consuming, with hundreds of possibilities, from the most basic to the most innovative. It is a long-term investment : experts are quick to cite the benefits of warehouse automation, but it is also vital to understand and assess the risks”.

CILTSA’s conference is being hosted in collaboration with the Transport Forum. The event sponsors are Acrow, Fumani Holdings, ISB Optimus, Mamoja Trading and Projects, Toyota Material Handling and Tendai Mhlanga Photography . Event supporters include CILTSA interest group Women in Logistics and Transport: South Africa (WiLATSA), the African Women in Supply Chain Association and Sincpoint.

To sign up for this free-to-attend event in person, register at https://www.transportsig.com/component/dtregister/23-may-2023-737/register?Itemid=99999 If you wish to attend online, click on https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlc--gqz4sEtdBC20H9ItPB_NGnjhIo92o