Dubai, UAE: The logistics industry plays an important role in the economic development of the UAE. With the development of the warehousing and logistics industry, the demand for digital solutions is increasing.

Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices has worked with global enterprises in various sectors to power industry digitization with advanced technologies.

The first 5G Smart Warehouse in the UAE has officially started operating, by the joint efforts between Huawei and a local carrier. This innovative project aims to deliver 5G-driven robot warehouse solutions for the UAE’s logistics industry.

Located in Dubai South Freezone, the 5G Smart Warehousing project leverages cutting-edge 5G solutions to intelligently upgrade warehousing logistics, significantly driving the efficiency of warehouse logistics management, reducing costs, and optimizing supply chain operations. The project demonstrates how harnessing the power of advanced technologies, such as 5G, can significantly unlock new possibilities and set new standards for management in the logistics sector, a key pillar of the UAE’s economy.

As part of the agreement, Huawei has successfully contributed to delivering a 5G Campus Network Solution and provided 5G automation capabilities to help digitize the logistics industry in the UAE. Compared to traditional logistics and warehousing, the 5G network environment used in the smart warehousing center has strong reliability ensuring seamless communication between various systems and devices within the facility.

Jiawei Liu, Chairman of Huawei UAE, said, “We are proud to help build the UAE’s first 5G smart warehouse. This demonstrates our vision to drive digital transformation and unlock new possibilities through advanced technologies for the development of various industries.” He added: “We believe that the 5G smart warehouse will facilitate to pave the way for a new era of smart logistics in the UAE, benefiting both businesses and consumers.”

Professor Wathiq Mansoor, a technology expert at the University of Dubai, said, “The 5G smart warehouse is a pioneering use case that exemplifies the immense potential of advanced technologies as key drivers of industrial transformation. We hope this 5G smart warehouse case will be a game changer for the logistics industry by offering increased efficiency and agility to help achieve the ‘We the UAE 2031’ and increase the UAE’s global competitiveness.”

5G smart warehousing enables exceptionally high transmission rates, outstanding stability, and low latency. The intelligent warehousing equipment and system save time and labour, and the efficiency of the order circulation processing cycle has been improved by 50 percent.

In the meantime, the solution’s real-time monitoring and feedback mechanism helps achieve more accurate, timely, and personalized logistics services and comprehensively improves customer experience.

At Tianjin Port in China, Huawei implemented the ‘Intelligent Horizontal Transportation Systems’, which uses global route planning with cloud technology and real-time data to achieve high-precision positioning.

The result is a carbon-free intelligent port terminal that achieves more efficiency compared to a traditional port. Specifically, the port requires just 200 workers compared to 800 to 1,000 in the previous terminal while operating up to 36 containers in an hour, compared to 28 to 30 in the traditional port.

In November 2022, the UAE released ‘We The UAE 2031’, the national plan for the next decade. Among its priorities is accelerating industrial digitization to boost the economy’s development. Building on these successful cases of industry digitization, the intelligence of automated warehouses will be further improved by combining edge computing, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence technologies in the future.