CJ Logistics

According to a major online shopping mall, online orders for daily necessities and fresh foods have increased by 10-20% as the stronger social distancing measures are implemented in Korea. The rapid growth of the online market leads to diversified logistics services, such as small batch production and fresh logistics, attaching even more importance to smart logistics centers.

CJ Logistics in particular has drawn attention by recently obtaining a Grade A in the Smart Logistics Center Certification. Let’s check out the smart logistics centers of CJ Logistics as they open up an era of ‘K-smart logistics’ based on the first, best, and differentiated state-of-the-art logistics competencies.
 

01
Smart Logistics Innovation with an Automated Solution

The importance of smart logistics is increasing as a high value-added innovative industry combined with IT in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Moreover, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the logistics industry in Korea is seeking automation of logistics in line with the rapid growth of contact-free industries being led by e-commerce, accelerating the smartization of logistics centers for quick and flexible logistics handling.

Advanced logistics facilities combined with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, such as AI, robots, and big data, increase the competitiveness of companies in the global logistics market and improve consumer satisfaction in logistics handling methods with increased single-person households and diversified goods for delivery, such as fresh foods. Also, ‘smart logistics center’ has become a major keyword as it leads the era of ‘K-smart logistics’ with efficiency, safety, and eco-friendliness by creating a safe work environment for on-site logistics workers and by implementing green logistics policies.

 

02
Asia's Largest Smart Logistics Center, Megahub Gonjiam

In August, CJ Logistics Megahub Gonjiam obtained the highest grade in the Smart Logistics Center Certification implemented for the first time this year by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. The certification was based on ratings for the advancement and automation of facilities ranging from Grades 1 to 5. Megahub Gonjiam became the only Grade 1 logistics center, winning recognition as the industrial standard for advanced logistics in Korea as Korea’s first Grade 1 smart logistics center and best logistics facility.



Opened in 2018, Megahub Gonjiam is the largest logistics hub in Asia, occupying 300,000㎡, which is roughly the size of 40 soccer fields. The total length of the conveyor belts there is 43km, which is longer than a full-course marathon. Smart logistics can be made possible with various state-of-the-art automation facilities and AI technology, such as the advanced picking system Multi-Purpose System (MPS), parcel invoice scanning system Intelligent Scanner (ITS), and parcel size sorting system that separately sorts big, medium, and small packages based on box weight and volume.

03
CJ Logistics Smart Contract Logistics Centers
with Differentiated and Customized Services

CJ Logistics Gunpo, Yongin, and Deokpyeong centers are customized smart logistics centers that represent the Korean logistics industry with specialized smart logistics infrastructures, such as AI demand forecasting, logistics robots, and green packaging. The Gunpo Center is in charge of the entire process of logistics for ambient product sellers, such as storage, inventory management, packaging, and release.

Products are stored on the 1st through 5th floors depending on their attributes and release frequency, and they are released on the 1st floor after sorting and packaging using advanced technologies, such as customized MPS (a system that automatically informs the workers of the type and quantity of products necessary in warehousing and release), eFLEXs (an integrated logistics management system for e-commerce clients only), and W-navigator (a mobile picking system that provides visuals of product location and work data). The center will also adopt automated transport robots for a more differentiated smart logistics service.



The Starbucks Deokpyeong Logistics Center operated by CJ Logistics is the main state-of-the-art automated center where warehousing, sorting, and delivery rates can be captured at a glance. It has facility competitiveness where the freshness of resources stored in the center can be identified through 3D vision. Also, advanced logistics systems, such as the automatic cargo sorting devices and high-speed image transmission X-rays, have been implemented in the CJ Logistics Incheon Express Transport Center, which manages various types of air cargo, such as international express, forwarding, and parcels, thereby laying the groundwork to handle express cargo volume and securing its place as a K-smart logistics center.

 

04
Robots Work like Humans
Orthogonal Depalletizers that Lead the Future of the Parcel Service


CJ Logistics has been striving for R&D and field application of advanced technologies to keep pace with this era in which technologies give companies a competitive advantage in logistics. In April, CJ Logistics created a sensation by being the first in the industry to commercialize ‘orthogonal depalletizers’ that scan the area, height, and location of boxes loaded up on pallets and automatically lift them up and move them to the conveyor belts.

The company created a system that can continuously handle boxes that are not the same shape by applying 3D image sensing and AI deep learning technology. The robotic arms that lift up the boxes like human hands are currently being applied to the Dongtan Fulfillment Center in Gyeonggi-do, improving the productivity of logistics automation for e-commerce product orders. By handling various types of products more efficiently with AI robot depalletizers, sellers and consumers will be more satisfied with the logistics services.

People, robots, and systems coexist safely at the smart logistics centers of CJ Logistics. The company will continue developing advanced technologies that can be applied to the shop floor to improve the work environment for workers, while also taking the lead in ‘K-smart logistics’ for higher productivity.