Many organizations and businesses use logistical systems to automate, organize, and improve processes. Generally, logistics refers to the detailed organization of complex operations related to the flow of processes. Inventory-based organizations typically use logistics systems to manage or automate a supply chain. These techniques require optical systems to identify, inspect, or sort objects or supplies; move them from one physical location or step to another; and prepare them for the final stage in the supply chain process, which is typically the shipping and delivery of the commodity.

Why Logistics & Supply Chain Management?

The convenience of the internet has enabled the fast, widespread growth and adoption of e-commerce and online shopping services. This growth has further driven the need for increased warehousing efficiency and throughput. Delivering a wide selection of products to customers globally requires companies to have highly robust and efficient supply chain logistics and automated warehouse technologies which utilize optical systems for barcode scanning, product sorting, and much more

Moreover, advancements in optical and imaging technologies further improve the capabilities of logistics and supply chain technologies. Pixel count and data transfer rates in machine vision camera sensors have increased by several orders of magnitude, allowing the capture of extremely high-resolution images. Illumination systems have also become substantially brighter because of advancements in LEDs. As labor costs have increased and these technological advancements continue to drive down automation prices, the desire to automate processes, manufacturing or otherwise, has intensified.

Optics for Logistics & Supply Chain Management

Logistical environments such as automated warehouses often use robotic systems to identify, sort, and move products from one location to another. These systems are equipped with imaging optics and additional components that read barcodes, QR codes, or other markers using optical character recognition. To identify these tags accurately and reliably, inspection systems make use of high-resolution lenses with mid-to long-range working distances and high-intensity illumination sources like ring lights. Illuminating and imaging product identification tags from a distance gives automated warehouse robotics the ability to identify products to be selected for the next stage of the supply chain process.