Smart Warehousing Trends

In recent years, the warehouse has been redefined by three technology trends that are already (or about to) have a massive impact: Augmented Reality (AR), Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR), and Drones.

This Blog-Post launches a series of 3 episodes exploring these three pillars of the intelligent warehouse.

In this new ecosystem, the ERP is the central nervous system, since it orchestrates the execution of data.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Wearing glasses that receive real-time information during warehouse or shipping activities, improving drastically your productivity.

How?

Imagine that Infor LN has generated the warehouse picking list.

Via API/ION, the list is transmitted to the AR software, which projects it into the operator’s field of vision, guiding them to the specific aisle, location, and quantity.
The operator confirms the pick via a wearable scanner; this confirmation instantly updates the warehouse order in LN.

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR)

The fundamental shift from “people-to-goods” to “goods-to-person.”
Robots of this type have been around for some time, with notable and already measurable results in highly structured organizations.

How they can be integrated, then?

Here’s an example: when a production or sales order requires components, LN generates the demand, which is the warehousing order.
The Fleet Manager receives this request, breaks it into missions, and dispatches the AMR to the correct shelf.
Then, the robot brings the shelf to the picking station.
The operator picks, and LN receives the fulfillment confirmation, consuming the stock.

Drones

They don’t need an introduction.
Used in recent years for all kinds of consumer’s and defense applications, they also make perfect sense for 24/7, automated activities.

Why? Well, because the drone is a high-speed data collector.
It executes scanning missions (often at night), reading location and pallet barcodes.
This collected data (item, lot, quantity, …) is sent to LN to automatically populate the Cycle Counting sessions.
The ERP can then perform the reconciliation, comparing the drone’s data against system inventory.

In the dedicated articles that will follow, we will dive deep into the specific integration processes of Augmented Reality, Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR), and Drones, understanding what an integration with Infor LN ecosystem can look like.

When your ERP becomes the brain, logistics ceases to be a cost centre and becomes your sharpest competitive advantage.

Written by Andrea Guaccio 

November 7, 2025