＂double 11＂ predicts that the express delivery will exceed 1 billion pieces, and the express delivery industry will start preparing for the war early.
After the Eleventh Golden Week, there will be only a few days before this year’s "double 11", and the express delivery industry has already entered a state of readiness. According to the forecast of China Express Association, during the "double 11" this year, the express handling capacity of the whole industry is expected to exceed 1 billion pieces. The plate is big and the task is heavy. How can the express delivery industry "ensure smooth flow, safety and stability" and bring good experience to consumers?
Big data prediction: put goods closest to consumers.
From 260,000 pieces in 2006 to 657 million pieces in 2016, Tmall "double 11" has created a miracle in the global express delivery industry. From the historical experience, the annual peak of the express delivery industry will become the normal state of the next year, and there is still a tough battle to be fought in double 11 this year.
Although the number of parcels has increased year by year, the timeliness of e-commerce delivery through express delivery has been increasing, and the time spent on sending parcels exceeding 100 million has dropped from 48 hours in 2013 to 12 hours in 2016. Among them, informationization and big data have played a vital role.
"This year, the electronic list of enterprises has been pushed better, which has accelerated the whole chain of express delivery services." Lai Shiqiang, vice president of Yunda Express, said that compared with traditional face sheets, electronic face sheets connect the data of merchants, consumers and express delivery companies in series, which can increase the delivery speed by more than 30%.
More and more abundant data also make the prediction of commodity flow more and more accurate. Shi Miao, vice president of Cainiao Network, said that an important aspect of this year’s "double 11" is the sinking of the "pre-warehouse".
The so-called pre-warehouse is to select high-frequency purchased goods through big data analysis and put them in the warehouse closest to consumers. For example, merchants and logistics companies know that consumers in a southern province like to buy a certain product of a certain brand most, so they can stock up in advance in the pre-warehouse, and the consumers can deliver the goods in time as soon as they place an order, thus greatly reducing the circulation distance and time cost of inter-provincial allocation.
According to Ali’s plan, 2000 pre-warehouses will be built nationwide in the future. It is expected that the front warehouse will play an increasingly important role in the fields of fast-moving consumer goods and fresh food.
Robots help: express logistics is becoming more and more intelligent
Intelligent algorithm, auto production line, AGV robot & HELIP; … Walking into a smart warehouse of Cainiao Network in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, an intuitive feeling is that the degree of "unmanned" is getting higher and higher.
In the intelligent warehouse, the goods are sent to the designated area by the assembly line from the receipt, and the intelligent equipment sends the goods to the designated shelf for storage. Even if the shelf is seven stories high, smart devices can flexibly put or take out goods and keep them stable.
In the delivery stage, after the package picking is completed, it will also be automatically labeled with a courier list. Even the final sealing is completed by the machine, and finally it will be sent to a high-speed sorting machine for sorting according to different destinations. The whole equipment can sort more than 20,000 packages in one hour.
"In receiving, sorting and transportation, smart logistics has greatly improved the express delivery industry, basically eliminating the phenomenon of warehouse explosion and backlog." Yu Yan, director of the Express Management Department of the Market Supervision Department of the State Post Bureau, said.
Shi Miao said that these intelligent warehouses are located in key cities all over the country, not only with fully automated assembly lines, but also with various caching robots, picking robots, robotic arms, AGV matrices, etc. They will complete the joint debugging before "double 11" and form a large-scale robot warehouse group to serve "double 11".
In addition to the rookie network, other logistics service providers are also increasing their investment in robot warehouses. For example, Shentong Express has launched "Minions" automatic sorting in many places, while JD.COM, Suning and gooday have fully mechanized warehousing, sorting and delivery of household appliances through unmanned warehouses.
Diversified distribution: resources tilt to the end outlets
Whether it’s big data or smart devices, the package finally reaches the hands of consumers, which is inseparable from the end delivery of the last 100 meters.
Compared with the past, today’s terminal distribution is becoming increasingly diversified. Statistics show that there are about 40,000 rookie stations, nearly 200,000 groups of intelligent express cabinets and hundreds of thousands of express agents in China. Together with express delivery, these places will provide consumers with convenient and safe delivery services.
Nevertheless, at present, about 90% of the terminal delivery is still completed by couriers. In recent years, the frequent news of the closure of express outlets and the transformation of couriers shows the fragility of the express delivery industry’s dependence on human services.
Sun Kang, secretary general of China Express Association, said, "‘ Double 11’ Logistics is difficult, and the most difficult place is at the end outlets. " According to incomplete statistics, in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, more than a quarter of express outlets in the core area feel great pressure to survive. How to stabilize the grassroots outlets is a big problem facing the express delivery industry.
Lai Shiqiang said that during the "double 11" period, Yunda will lease all kinds of warehouses to separate the delivery parts from the arrival parts, so as to improve the delivery efficiency of outlets. And "recruiting" is naturally essential.
Reporter He Xinrong has a passion.