William was indeed shocked by Taobao's automated and information-based operations.
As a well-informed prince of a developed country, he had never seen such an advanced warehouse and logistics sorting system. William kept exclaiming and even praised it in front of Li Mu. "Mr. Lee, Taobao's warehouse and logistics has subverted my original impression of warehouse and logistics. I really didn't expect Taobao to have such great achievements in automation and information-based operations."
Li Mu smiled. "This isn't considered a great achievement. It's just a necessary process to upgrade the industry. With the development of technology in the future, automation and information-based operations will be valued in any industry. It will become the key to upgrading the industry."
William asked, "Mr. Lee, according to your thinking, all the industries in the future can be like Taobao's warehouse and logistics, with automation and information-based operations?"
Li Mu nodded. "Of course. This is the future trend of social and industrial development."
William couldn't help but ask, "What level do you think Taobao's warehouse and logistics automation can reach in the next stage?"
Li Mu smiled. "What we're pursuing is to hand over as much work as possible to advanced machines to replace manual labor. You see, in the future, our warehousing and warehousing will definitely be fully automated. After the goods are transported in, from sorting to warehousing, all of it will be automated. After receiving orders, from picking up goods to sorting and warehousing, all of it will be automated."
Speaking up to this point, Li Mu said with a serious face, "In the future, our warehouse will be even bigger than this. It might even be big enough to fit an entire Boeing 747 production line. With the continuous development of automation, our efficiency will continue to increase, and our manpower requirements will continue to decrease."
After that, Li Mu brought William to the transportation center that came with the warehouse and sorting center.
The scene in the transportation center shocked William even more.
There was a huge frame factory the size of a large passenger plane hangar. However, there was no equipment in the factory. The huge space was almost filled with containers and container trucks.
In the innermost part of the factory, there was an operation platform that was more than ten meters wide, more than a hundred meters long, and more than a meter high. This operation platform was directly connected to the sorting center. A large number of packed parcels were transported to this operation platform by forklift trucks.
Below the operation platform that was more than a meter high, there were container trucks of uniform standards parked one after another. The rear of the containers and the operation platform were connected perfectly. The height of the two was almost exactly the same, providing a huge convenience for loading and unloading goods.
This was the importance of a unified standard. The entire Makino Technology's trunk transportation system was imported, and the height of the container trailers were all the same. This ensured that their vehicles could seamlessly connect with the operation platform no matter which sorting center they went to.
Here, dozens of container trucks were parked side by side. Almost every minute, a truck was loaded and left. Almost immediately, another truck drove in from the outside to load and unload goods.
William was dumbfounded and exclaimed, "Mr. Lee, the throughput here is really huge. There are cars coming in and out almost constantly."
Li Mu nodded and said, "The sorting center in Yanjing not only handles the entire cargo in Yanjing, but it is also responsible for more than half of Northern China. It is the hub of more than half of Northern China, so the throughput of goods is larger."
William nodded and stared at the entire operation platform. There were hundreds of workers busy on the operation platform. Dozens of forklifts and trailers were shuttling back and forth, but everything seemed to be in order. There was not the slightest sense of chaos.
What surprised William even more was that from the time a truck came in, unloaded, loaded, and left, the fastest one took almost less than ten minutes. It was simply amazing speed.
He could not help but ask Li Mu, "Mr. Lee, how can the turnover of cars be so fast?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "This is thanks to our information-based management system. Our warehouse entry and exit system is specially designed for trucks. It is completely designed and operated according to the highly rigorous method of railway dispatching."
As he said that, Li Mu pointed at the lanes that were marked out every two meters below the operation platform and said, "Look, every truck parking space is like a railway track. These parking spaces have special numbers, just like train platforms."
"These trucks you see are all equipped with radio frequency equipment. The equipment records information about their vehicles, such as who the driver is, what the truck is transporting, where it is coming from, what goods it is receiving, and where it is going."
"This way, when they enter the base, their goods have already been arranged to the operation platform. The central dispatcher will arrange for them to wait outside and arrange the parking space in advance for them to enter."
"For example, this truck with the number ending with 366. When he is queuing outside, the dispatcher has already arranged the 10th parking space for him. Then, he will be notified to the worker in charge of the 10th parking space, informing him of how many packages this truck has to unload and which packages this truck has to load before leaving. The workers will prepare the packages he wants to take away in advance."
"When the truck in front of the 10th parking space leaves, the dispatcher will inform 366 to enter the 10th parking space. After he enters, the worker will immediately unload the goods in his truck and load the goods that have been prepared in advance. After the verification is completed, the dispatcher will be notified. The dispatcher will then arrange for 366 to leave and inform the next truck to enter the station."
"This kind of highly efficient loading can be completed in the shortest ten minutes."
William exclaimed, "Oh my god, the arrangements are so seamless. No wonder Taobao Logistics' delivery efficiency is so high."
Li Mu smiled and said, "In the next stage, we are testing the factory's long-span gantry crane equipment. In the future, this factory might have seven or eight gantry cranes operating at the same time. Each gantry crane is responsible for a few lanes. After these container trucks enter the factory, they don't need to wait to load and unload the goods. After the trucks enter, the gantry crane will immediately pick up the goods together with the containers. Then, the goods that are packed in advance will be directly loaded onto the truck frame together with the containers. In this way, the efficiency will be further improved."
William sighed and said, "This system is really too smart, and the increase in efficiency is also very shocking."
Li Mu nodded and smiled. "At that time, we will use gantry cranes at the front to load and unload the trucks quickly, while the back will use automatic sorting and packing equipment to quickly pack the sorted packages and load them into the designated containers in advance. The front and back will use circular tracks to realize the circular movement of the containers. Loading, unloading, loading, unloading — a continuous cycle. The containers on this circular track will be like the blood in our bodies, constantly transporting oxygen into our bodies and carbon dioxide out of our bodies. Think about it, how much more efficient will we be at that time?"
William was secretly speechless and said, "This way, the logistics efficiency will almost reach the peak."
Li Mu shook his head with a smile and said, "We still have a long way to go before we reach the pinnacle. In the future, we must reform all the links that can be reformed first. Even the transportation and delivery links must be automated."
William said, "If that's the case, won't we still have to develop autonomous driving technology?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Autonomous driving technology will definitely be developed in the future, and it will continue to be innovated and perfected until it can replace humans on the road."
William couldn't help but ask, "Will Makino Technology or Taobao Network develop autonomous driving technology for the sake of automatic transportation and distribution in the future?"
Li Mu said, "Not necessarily, but one thing is for sure. The high-tech industry is a huge industry chain, and no company can form an independent ecosystem and closed loop in this industry chain. Therefore, Makino Technology doesn't want to control the entire industry chain."
As he said that, Li Mu explained, "The advanced internet products in the future should be the product that combines the products and technologies of many companies. Just like the current home computers, we buy processors from Intel, graphics cards from Nvidia, memory chips from Samsung, and operating systems from Microsoft. Because of this model, I feel that there will be many companies developing autonomous driving technology in the future. If Makino Technology is included, then we will do our best. If not, then we will buy the one with the best price-performance ratio from them and then match it with other technologies and products from other companies to achieve our autonomous driving needs."
William listened and nodded. "I really hope to see Makino Technology's autonomous trucks shuttling across the land of Hua Xia."
Li Mu smiled and said, "Don't worry, there will be such a day. I will definitely invite you to visit when the time comes."
…
The news that Li Mu took William to visit Taobao quickly spread to all sectors of society through the official media channels of Makino Technology.
When the relevant interview information about Taobao Logistics was posted on the Internet, it triggered a heated discussion among netizens.
Although most of the domestic netizens had come into contact with Taobao, they didn't know how Taobao operated behind the scenes. When they saw these videos and pictures, they understood that Taobao had developed to such an advanced level.
No wonder Taobao could achieve the most incredible ultra-high timeliness on the market. It turned out that all of this was supported by powerful software and hardware at the same time.
The Western media was also shocked by the news released by Makino Technology.
In their eyes, although Hua Xia's internet was a new force to be reckoned with, their overall industrial foundation was still very weak compared to the developed countries in the West. The level of social development was also far behind.
In their inherent impression, the sorting center of Hua Xia Logistics should be a large group of people around the simple equipment to quickly screen the packages, and the transportation and delivery process should be a postman riding a bicycle, climbing mountains and rivers, and delivering the packages to the recipient bit by bit.
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