Public Funding for Sonodot Ltd

Surging costs and acute labour shortages are threatening the sustainability of the warehousing and logistics industry where margins are typically very low and businesses operate on short contract terms. The industry is embracing innovative digital technologies and robotics to automate operations, improve efficiency and reduce costs. However, with increasing automation, human-robot collaboration and the measurement and tracking of goods, equipment and workforce activity across operations becomes increasingly challenging. Sonodot (trading as Logidot) is an emerging player in the warehousing and logistics sector with a state-of-the-art industrial IoT platform combining low-cost, plug&play location tracking sensors and a real-time intelligence platform to track equipment (barcode scanners/forklifts) and pickers in warehouse and factory environments. In collaboration with the University of Bath's Centre for Smart Warehousing and Logistics Systems, a smart warehousing solution has been designed with innovations in ultra-wide-band sensors, machine-learning, dynamic routing and mesh communication protocols to provide real-time data insights that enable warehouse managers to make informed decisions around task prioritisation, safety, human labour and fleet utilisation to optimise operational efficiency and productivity. This project responds to current industry challenges and trends towards greater automation, highlighted with leading providers of transport and logistics solutions, with a key focus on developing functionality for activity tracking in manual and unstructured (not always repeated and predictable) operations (forklifts and pickers), understanding where and why time is wasted on unproductive workflows, dynamically responding/routing drivers/pickers in real-time, and coordinating with automation (conveyor belts or robots). An advanced prototype will be developed and deployed within a state-of-the-art automated warehouse facility to demonstrate the potential of the solution to improve efficiencies within an operational environment. Outcomes will provide a compelling case for market adoption, targeting mid-large warehouses and distribution centres globally with interest already secured from operations/warehouse managers across the UK and Europe for rapid commercialisation post project.

Urban warehouses, dark stores (where physical stores fulfil orders for delivery and pickup from customers and other nearby stores) and micro-fulfilment centres are currently ill-equipped to handle the high volumes of online orders, customer pick-ups and deliveries, and supply chain fluctuations, with most relying on manual processes with added time, human resource and cost pressures to remain competitive. In collaboration with the University of Bath's Centre for Smart Warehousing and Logistics Systems, Sonodot will design a novel Smart Warehousing solution tailored for dark stores and urban fulfilment centres, addressing key challenges created by the short time frame and complexity of orders with customer trends towards next hour deliveries and now even as short as 10-minute pick-up times. The solution will be based on Sonodot's state-of-the-art indoor/outdoor tracking technology to continually monitor the movements of material handling vehicles (forklift trucks), equipment (barcode scanners) and order pickers wherever they are in a warehouse. Very low power wireless hardware will be developed for ease of installation and reduced maintenance cost, alongside innovative dynamic routing algorithms to add constraints (e.g., dispatch times, synchronisation with delivery services and customers pick-ups, zoning, routing and picking optimisation) based on warehouse layout and operational data inputs specific to urban dark stores and micro-fulfilment centres. New functionality and tools will be rapidly developed and integrated with Sonodot's high-performance location intelligence platform, warehouse management systems and last-mile delivery services to provide real-time data insights, allowing operations and warehouse managers to make better decisions around order prioritisation, safety, human labour and resource/fleet utilisation to improve efficiency and performance, and reduce operational costs.

Sonodot Ltd are developing an advanced Smart Warehousing solution to help address key challenges facing today's warehouses and logistics industry. Warehouses are currently ill-equipped to handle high volumes of orders and deliveries, supply chain fluctuations and uncertainties, with added time, human resource and cost pressures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The project builds on Sonodot's existing indoor tracking technology which was launched in 2019 to continually monitor the movements of material handling vehicles (e.g. forklift trucks) wherever they are in a warehouse. The high-performance location intelligence platform reports this data to warehouse managers, allowing them to make better decisions around safety, human labour and fleet utilisation. New functionality and tools will be rapidly developed and integrated with the existing Sonodot platform, ready for large-scale pilot installations at the end of the project. Full market launch of standalone solution is anticipated beginning 2021 making a significant contribution to the warehousing and logistics industry in terms of performance and efficiency, whilst ensuring employee health & safety and preparing for short-, mid- and long-term impacts of this global disruption. Additional funding will allow for the integration with client's bespoke Warehouse Management System and beta-testing in a large-scale warehouse. This work will result in a WMS agnostic interface layer that will facilitate future integration and reduce adoption friction as customers can benefit from Sonodot's real-time optimisation features from their existing tools. This work will also serve as foundation for future integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) which will open up new market opportunities.