On this episode, I was joined by the Co-Founder & CEO at CognitOps, Alex Ramirez. CognitOps is not a WMS, not a WCS, not a WES but a WOS! Alex and I discuss how their system is utilizing machine learning and AI to help create a warehouse operating system that allows operations professionals to make better and faster decisions.

Key Takeaways

• Another acronym that starts with W and ends with S! Yes, Alex knows that operations professionals might not be excited to try and remember another one but his company, CognitOps, is bringing the Warehouse Operation System (WOS) to life with their recent launch. I have focused on talking to individuals who are providing warehouse management systems, warehouse control systems, and warehouse execution systems on the show and even talking about the differences between them on a few episodes but CognitOps goal is to provide a brain for the warehouse that helps operations managers make better decisions. It does this by harnessing all of the data that is being generated by the various systems, equipment, and people within the facility and gives notifications to the decision-makers right on their phone or tablet so they can take quick action and spend more time focused on the floor.
• As an operations manager myself, I think this is a huge productivity gain from a management perspective which is not always as under the microscope as the productivity of floor level associates. When we are going throughout our day there is certainly a lot of time spent generating data to make decisions on where resources need to be allocated or what the current status of the day is so with the ability to get rid of a lot of that number-crunching and most likely time in front of the computer we can really see management’s time being used more effectively on the floor. CognitOps allows you to make those decisions without having to do all the data extraction and pivot tables to get the numbers you need to make a decision. It also comes in a different form as an alert through your phone or tablet instead of a series of charts that then also need to be deciphered. I also like that it can help you from being a bottleneck in your operation. I have certainly been in the scenario where something unexpected happens like a safety incident and you are not able to pull the data you need which can put you behind because a decision might be dependent on that data.
• When it comes down to it the biggest benefit of CognitOps is actually very simple. While there is a lot of fancy technology going into making CognitOps as robust as it is, it is the output of creating a more engaged manager that is really the true benefit to the operation. Alex and I discuss how important the engagement with employees on the floor is to really make an operation flow and improve in the best possible way. With CognitOps reducing the number of time managers need to be in front of the computer or at their desk it increases the time on the floor which really results in the improvement of employee interaction and efficiency.

Listen to the episode below and let us know your thoughts on AI adoption in the comments.