Huawei South Africa has showcased its newly opened 14 000 m2 artificial intelligence- (AI-) powered, green intelligent warehouse in Johannesburg.

This smart facility boasts advanced technologies and intelligent systems to enhance efficiency and security and reduce costs, which the company says marks a major step forward for the logistics and warehousing sectors.

The warehouse, driven by Huawei’s green power solutions, e-security systems and modern logistics (GEM) framework, showcases the positive role that smart logistics can play in Africa as the industry continues to grow, says Huawei South Africa CEO Will Meng.

The GEM framework is delivered through a digital warehouse management system, which makes it possible to automate 60% of daily processes.

“The warehouse and logistics market in South Africa was valued at $93-billion in 2024 and is poised to reach $157-billion by 2032,” Meng continues.

“This growth signifies more than just numbers; it represents a transformation towards more agile, responsive and technologically advanced supply chains, which are essential for maintaining a competitive edge in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.”

In line with the green power solutions component of the GEM framework, the facility uses a 150 kWp photovoltaic system supported by Huawei’s SUN2000-100KTL-M2 inverter on each building, which generates around 90% of the facility’s daytime energy needs, explains Huawei South Africa supply chain business logistics manager Stevin John du Plessis.

This provides a sustainable model to mitigate against the increasing pricing of electricity.

“Businesses of today are looking at creative ways to protect revenue,” adds Huawei Digital Power South Africa senior solutions manager Herman Fourie, noting that Huawei’s smart warehouse solution enables companies to meet their own energy needs and achieve further returns on investment by trading excess power back to the grid.

Under the e-security feature, an intelligent camera system provides 24/7 full-colour clear coverage, even when there is no light at night, and AI-enabled features to detect safety hazards and security incidents.

The cameras have front-end AI capability, reducing the pressure of back-end recognition.

“This system removes the need for large control rooms while enhancing overall safety and security within the warehouse and leaving more space for products to be stored.”

In the warehouse, cameras are connected through Huawei's optical solution, allowing real-time monitoring of all operations.

Meanwhile, the modern logistics component ensures that the picking operation in the warehouse is 100% paperless, using PDA scanners for real-time operations.

The role of warehouse pickers at the smart facility has also evolved owing to the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and automated guided forklifts (AGFs).

“Traditional warehouses rely on pickers to fetch goods and bring them to outbound stations. The smart warehouse transforms this role by using AGVs and AGFs to automate this work by bringing goods to a picker.”

This increases efficiency by enabling pickers to process around 110 lines an hour compared with traditional warehouses that process only up to 60 lines an hour.

It also speeds up loading times and helps workers avoid the potential hazards of operating heavy machinery.

“These intelligent AI-led solutions allow the facility to achieve an overall increase in efficiency of between 70% and 80% when compared with traditional warehouses,” says Du Plessis.

“Our warehouse management system unifies all logistic operations, integrating AGVs and AGFs to provide intelligent task allocation and scheduling,” adds Huawei South Africa enterprise marketing and solutions director York Ning, noting that the smart systems enable staff members to work side-by-side with autonomous technology and improve employee productivity by 37%.

Africa Global Logistics, which has 23 000 people across 50 countries, plans to integrate Huawei technology into its operations as it expands in Africa.

“We have been logistics partners with Huawei for 15 years now, and have extended our partnership further with the procurement of their technology which has helped Africa Global Logistics achieve operational excellence and streamline our processes,” explains its COO, Fergus Fitch.