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JSTPM
13,1 An internet of things-based smart
warehouse infrastructure: design
and application
90 Ifadhila Affia
Sampoerna University, Jakarta, Indonesia, and
Received 10 August 2020
Revised 2 November 2020 Ammar Aamer
Accepted 8 February 2021
Northeastern University, College of Professional Studies, Toronto, Canada

Abstract
Purpose – Real-time visibility and traceability in warehousing could be accomplished by implementing
the internet-of-things (IoT) technology. The purpose of this paper is to develop a roadmap for designing
an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure and, respectively, design and apply the IoT-based smart
warehouse infrastructure using a developed roadmap. More specifically, this study first identifies
critical components to design an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure. Second, the study at hand
identifies essential factors that contribute to the successful implementation of IoT-based smart
warehouse infrastructure.
Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative-descriptive method, through a comprehensive review
of the relevant studies, was used in this study to develop a roadmap. A prototype system was then designed
to simulate a case company’s actual warehouse operations in one of the manufacturing companies in
Indonesia.
Findings – A framework was proposed which is viable for designing an IoT-based smart warehouse
infrastructure. Based on the data collected from a case company, the proposed smart warehouse
infrastructure design successfully implemented real-time visibility and traceability and improved overall
warehouse efficiency.
Research limitations/implications – While the framework in this research was carried out in one of
the developing counties, the study could be used as the basis for future research in a smart warehouse, IoT
and related topics.
Originality/value – This research enhances the limited knowledge to establish the IoT infrastructure for a
smart warehouse to enable real-time visibility and traceability. This study is also the first to specifically
propose a framework for designing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure. The proposed framework
can motivate companies in developing countries to deploy efficient and effective smart warehouses using IoT
to drive the countries’ economic growth.
Keywords Supply chain management, Internet of things (IoT), Smart logistics, Smart warehouse,
Industry 4.0.
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Warehousing is an integral, important part of supply chain management (SCM).
Traditionally, it is a place to store and hold inventory before being shipped to customers or
distributed to retailers for sale. However, nowadays, they do not function as storage only but
Journal of Science and Technology
Policy Management
also as a critical place where supply and demand are matched through inventory
Vol. 13 No. 1, 2022
pp. 90-109
management to meet the customer requirements (Aamer, 2018a, 2018b; Aamer and Islam,
© Emerald Publishing Limited 2019). In the current view, the scope of warehouse operation becomes broader, which
2053-4620
DOI 10.1108/JSTPM-08-2020-0117 includes the consolidation of products from various suppliers, buffering of material flow and
value-adding of products such as labeling, packaging and pricing (Gu et al., 2007). The Internet of
emphasis of warehouse operation today is on inventory storage and the value-addition, things-based
which is crucial for the businesses’ profitability (De Koster et al., 2017).
With its growing importance, warehouse operation has become more sophisticated over
smart
the past decades. It encounters many unprecedented challenges arising from the evolution of warehouse
consumer behaviors in the digital age, impacting SCM as a whole. The increasing consumer
demands for a variety of products, level of service and access to information have also
demanded businesses to become more competitive, convenient, flexible and responsive, 91
especially in the warehouse operation as the center of inventory deployment in SCM
(Langley et al., 2020). Warehouse operations have now become very complicated as it is
expected to store multiple inventories, pick and assemble a wide range of customer orders,
respond to volatile demands and perform value-adding activities while continually striving
to cut its expenses and improve its efficiency (Kembro et al., 2017).
Visibility and traceability of warehouse operations are needed to reduce the complexity
and streamline warehouse operations. Visibility and traceability allow undesired
occurrences in the warehouse and their impacts to be cut and future problems to be
prevented (Aamer and Sawhney, 2004; Affia et al., 2019; De Caldas Filho et al., 2017). When
these two aspects present and play a significant role, the overall efficiency and performance
of warehouse operations will also be improved. New information technologies have found
their way to equip warehouse operations with increased visibility and traceability. In the
current Industry 4.0, one of the most promising technologies that get increasingly
recognized and used for improving warehouse operations is the Internet-of-Things (IoT).
According to Deloitte’s report, the industrial sector accounts for 50–60% of the total world
spending on the IoT market by the turn of the decade, showing how IoT is massively used in
today’s Business.
IoT is perceived as the integrated connection between physical elements (sensors,
devices and others) and the internet network. The implementation of IoT in the warehouse
would make real-time visibility and reliable traceability possible. IoT can monitor
operations, track products and their location, create an intelligent transportation system,
forecast demand, make it useful in improving warehouse operations’ performance and shape
it into a smart one (Mostafa et al., 2019; Sahara et al., 2019). The concept of “smart
warehouse” then arises from the implementation of IoT to perform some or all those
mentioned functions, making warehouses smarter. A standard IoT technology widely used
in organizations or industries nowadays is the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
technology. Mishra and Mishra (2010) described RFID technology as an automatic wireless
identification that can detect and track objects or people simultaneously through
electromagnetic waves. The possible reasons that RFID is preferred might be because of its
low cost and ease of use, among other IoT technologies. This is supported by the study from
Gilbert-Rolfe (2017) that found decreasing RFID tags price over the years and demonstrated
RFID’s convenient application.
Nonetheless, despite the advantages offered by IoT technology in improving warehouse
operations, there are still some challenges for IoT-based smart warehouses to be
implemented. According to Tan and Wang (2010), designing a smart warehouse that is
executable and works out for the Business is a crucial challenge to be addressed by
companies. A viable roadmap to develop the IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure is of
importance for companies to successfully build and implement it, as supported by Riahi
et al. (2018) that a roadmap is critical to address the complexity, variability, interactions and
constraints of IoT components. IoT infrastructure refers to the set of elements that make up
an IoT environment (Alansari et al., 2019), which in this case, are the components to make up
JSTPM the smart warehouse. Besides, even though IoT technology is remarkable in advanced
13,1 economies or developed countries, it is not the same for developing ones. When the
developed countries already see IoT technology’s application in most warehouse operations
of industry, developing countries are still struggling to apply it. Companies in developing
countries need to overcome more challenges compared to developed ones in establishing
their smart warehouse. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to develop a roadmap for
92 designing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure and, respectively, design and apply
the IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure using the developed roadmap.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 introduces the study’s topic and purpose
and Section 2 reviews relevant literature on the recent research development of IoT for
smart warehouses. Section 3 outlines the framework. The case study is presented in Section
4 to validate our proposed design. Finally, conclusions and implications of the study are
drawn in Section 5.

2. Literature review
2.1 Internet-of-things for smart warehouse
Mohanraj et al. (2019) described IoT as “the set of connections of physical devices such as
home appliances, vehicles and other items implanted with software, electronics, actuators,
sensors and connectivity to enable communication for the transfer of data.” IoT allows
objects to be operated and controlled remotely through connectivity. The idea of connecting
the physical world with the computer operating system easily in a real-time manner can
reduce operating costs (Aamer, 2018a; Trab et al., 2015) and human intervention (Mohanraj
et al., 2019), which both results in the efficiency of the system. Accordingly, IoT also opens
the opportunity to improve warehouse operations’ efficiency by resolving the complex
modern issues that they are currently facing (Kembro et al., 2017). The concept of a “smart
warehouse” based on IoT implementation then arises from its capability to enable real-time
visibility and traceability and, hence, promote efficiency and speed throughout the supply
chain.

2.2 Related work of internet-of-things-based smart warehouse

IoT-based smart warehouse continually gets more attention, especially in the research field
shown by increasing numbers of published relevant studies in the past 10 years (Buntak
et al., 2019). For example, Ding (2013) proposed a design where barcode and RFID tags were
used. The overall system infrastructure included hardware, which consisted of handheld
electronic barcode readers, electronic shelf tags and fixed readers. The host management
system was also used in the design. The overall workflow was as follows: The barcode
labels were attached to each cargo box. Then, each storage shelf had an electronic tag and a
fixed reader next to it for each department. The human operator used a handheld electronic
barcode label reader for scanning the barcode of goods to record the in/out of storage and
then write the storage information to the RFID tags to complete the inventory of products.
The fixed reader placed in each storage shelf played a role in connecting the management
host system to read real-time inventory information, which automatically could be updated
to the database. It can be justified that both barcode and RFID tags and handheld and fixed
readers, were used in his study because the focus was on establishing a whole warehouse
management system based on IoT. This design is different in many aspects from Lee et al.
(2018), which also focused on establishing a whole warehouse management system but used
a different approach. In their study, Lee et al. (2018) deployed an intelligent inventory
management engine, which consisted of data mining, data clustering, machine learning and
fuzzy inference system installed in the data collection processor and module. Almost like the
former, their design used RFID tags and reader antennas as the hardware components. Internet of
Mobile applications and host applications were used in the design. This study focused on things-based
proposing a design for a low-volume high-mix type of manufacturing company requiring a
high flexibility change, making it reasonable to have significantly different, more advanced
smart
features for the smart warehouse design. warehouse
On the other hand, Yerpude and Singhal (2018) focused on the inventory management
system. The authors recommended having RFID tags and sensors as the hardware
components and multi-level Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as software components. 93
The authors also proposed a design in such a way that it supported different data models to
manage the inventory efficiently. The applicability was designed to transform the
traditional warehouse into a smart one embedded with an intelligent inventory management
system. In the context of inventory management, Mohanraj et al. (2019) developed an IoT-
based smart warehouse monitoring system. The design prototype used Raspberry Pi3,
temperature sensor, humidity sensor, piezo sensitive sensor, fire sensor, light-dependent
resistor and infrared sensors as the hardware components and self-built software using
Phyton language as the software component. They made a design so that an alert would be
immediately sent to the stakeholders through mobile messages whenever an environmental
change occurs. In this way, their smart warehouse design could minimize storehouse
operations errors or failures.
The smart warehouse’s various designs reviewed above ascertain Bowersox’s (2013)
view of the warehouse operations as a broad topic to study, as many different warehouse
models serve other functions and activities. Warehouses in each industry or organization
have their unique purpose, layout, size, utilization, management system, process flow,
adding-value activities that correspond to the business type that they serve. This is one
reason why an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure should be designed customary
according to the critical characteristics and aspects of the respective warehouse operations
and business process.
Moreover, several of the surveyed literature discussed the IoT framework and its
infrastructure/architecture. Some of the notable works about the infrastructure included Lee
et al. (2018), who proposed the framework of a whole smart warehouse management system
(WMS). Uviase and Kotonya (2018) proposed an IoT architectural integration framework.
Jabbar et al. (2018) proposed a framework for smart warehousing that enables an efficient
communication model between the warehouse objects and the web. Mostafa et al. (2019)
proposed a framework for implementing IoT in a warehouse to order fulfillment and
impacts the overall supply chain. However, several of the reviewed studies mainly focused
on the technical framework for IoT such as data and integration framework. Still, no
roadmap or framework for designing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure seems to
exist yet.

2.3 Internet-of-things implementation in developing countries

Given its advantages, it is not surprising that IoT-based smart warehouse gets growing
attention from both researchers and practitioners (Buntak et al., 2019). A study by Manyika
et al. (2015) estimated that IoT would approximately contribute 4–11% of total world GDP
in 2025. These complementary projections indicate the emergence of practical IoT
implementation in modern businesses. Nonetheless, while IoT technology is relatively
remarkable in advanced economies or developed countries, it is not the same for developing
countries. When the developed countries already see the application of such disruptive
technology in warehouse operation as a common thing, developing countries are still
struggling to apply it (Pawar et al., 2019). This is in line with the data included in Edquist
JSTPM et al. (2019) that showed the world’s IoT usage is dominated by China, the European Union,
13,1 the USA and Japan, all of which are developed countries. Developing countries must
overcome the challenges they have to catch up with the rapid development of Industry 4.0
(Miazi et al., 2016). One of the many hurdles for developing countries is the weak
infrastructure in IoT implementation (Hopalı and Vayvay, 2018). The developing countries,
however, do not lack the potential to establish the usability of IoT, but may just differ in the
94 infrastructure that it is more likely to be made in an independent supporting infrastructure
(Biggs et al., 2015). In addition to the IoT infrastructure itself, Hopalı and Vayvay (2018)
addressed that some structural hurdles also impact the IoT infrastructure establishment and
overall usability in developing countries. Those hurdles include limited labor force skill and
quality, lack of standardization and poor internet connectivity. Aside from that, security and
privacy issues are also a significant challenge to overcome by developing countries that
generally have more vulnerable systems than developed ones (Gubbi et al., 2013; Li et al.,
2016; Xu et al., 2014). When these inherent issues are addressed, companies in developing
countries can unleash their potential through IoT implementation, including IoT-based
smart warehouses.
Despite the challenges, developing countries still have a good outlook on implementing
IoT. Miazi et al. (2016) investigated that developing countries commonly have a high
prospect of IoT ranging from agriculture to smart business applications, supported by
Biggs et al. (2015) that claimed developing countries are attractive in grabbing the
significant market demand of digitization and drawing investments from technology
developers. Findings from Edquist et al. (2019) suggested that an increase of 10% of IoT
usage growth in a country is associated with a definite 0.23$point increase in total factor
productivity (TFP) growth. Thus, increased TFP growth also results in a positive
contribution to the country’s GDP. Accordingly, companies that implement an IoT-based
smart warehouse could be a catalyst for national economic development. This can also lead
developing countries to move toward Industry 4.0 implementation and be more advanced.

3. A Framework of IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure

As some critical components and factors need to be considered, clear guidelines for
designing the IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure are highly desirable (Riahi Sfar
et al., 2018). By deploying the qualitative-descriptive method through a comprehensive
review of the pertinent studies, this section presents a proposed framework for designing an
IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure, as depicted in Figure 1.

3.1 Formulate objective and have internet-of-things provider or support

The objective of developing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure must follow the
problem statement from the stakeholders. The problem domain and vision for IoT
implementation must also be established in this stage (Slama et al., 2015). Furthermore, with
IoT providers/support, organizations can formulate the objective of implementing IoT-

Figure 1.
The proposed
framework for
designing an IoT- Formulate
Generate
based smart Generate Best Soluon
Objecve and Analyze
Pracce and Adjustment Test and Apply
warehouse Have IoT Warehouse
Consider and Praccal the Design
Provider or Pracce
infrastructure Support
Constraints Infrastructure
Design
based smart warehouses in a doable scope (Biggs et al., 2015; Yerpude and Singhal, 2018). A Internet of
simple guide to formulating the objective is to answer the two questions of what things-based
improvement or performance is desired and what to measure from installing an IoT-based smart
smart warehouse?
A capable or competent IoT provider/support is another first vital element that needs to warehouse
be available before designing an IoT-based smart warehouse. This is supported by Rahim
(2017), Biggs et al. (2015) and Wireko et al. (2018) that addressed IoT provider/support as a 95
strong determinant of IoT deployment. This may be a vendor, a business partner or alliance
or individuals who are experts in IoT technologies. An IoT provider/support can help
companies to design their smart warehouse infrastructure well and anticipate future
technical problems in the deployment of IoT, especially in developing countries. It is
preferred for organizations to have local-based IoT providers/support so that they could get
immediate help and maintenance whenever technical issues arise. This is in line with
Rahim’s (2017) research that addressed the need for local talent and expertise that better
understand the local problem and requirements for innovation projects to sustain in the
respective ecosystem. Miazi et al. (2016) also addressed the importance of building local
capacity to ensure IoT deployment’s proper maintenance. Aside from the technical side,
capable IoT providers/support can also give feedback and influence what the client
organization needs.

3.2 Analyze warehouse practice

Sprock et al. (2017) suggested that multiple experts and analyzes are needed to design
complex systems such as warehouses. Thus, the client organization and IoT provider/
support can analyze the critical warehouse practices, including physical characteristics of
the warehouse, the warehouse’s processes and activities and the current technology and
system used by the organization itself. These three aspects are essential to determine what
type of IoT technology to use and how it should be built and work for the Business. Even an
active and well-designed IoT infrastructure implemented in a warehouse may not work for
other warehouses of different physical characteristics, functional processes and activities
and current system and technology used in the organization.
Understanding the physical features of the warehouse (location, size, space utilization
and layout) is essential to determine the position to put IoT modules and devices and their
extent throughout the designing process. All processes and activities taking place in the
warehouse are also equally important (Bowersox, 2013). Mapping the warehouse layout and
the flow of operations and activities is a convenient way to conduct it. This is supported by
Lee et al. (2018), who designed an IoT-based warehouse system for a low-volume high-mix
scenario. Kim and Sohn (2009) introduced an IoT-based control system for managing
industrial machines, products and resources. Alyahya et al. (2016) addressed the RFID-
enabled storage and retrieval system in the warehouse without manual intervention. These
studies showed how different types of warehouses need different corresponding IoT
deployment and facilitation. The organization’s current system and technology, especially in
the warehouse area, are also to be addressed. The underlying IoT system architecture
consists of the physical sensing layer, middleware layer and application layer that need
reliable and dependable interoperability (Uviase and Kotonya, 2018). The compatibility of
all IoT layers with the system and technology preferred by the company, which may be the
one that is already used in place by the organization, inevitably affects the infrastructure
choice at the end (Yan et al., 2018).
JSTPM 3.3 Generate best practice and consider constraints
13,1 The best practice of how the IoT environment works or in other words, the ideal
infrastructure design, can then be generated after considering the three critical aspects
above. The best practice can also be coming from the reference project of IoT provider/
support based on handling the previous case with successful smart warehouse
infrastructure and technical capability (Bröring et al., 2017; Truong and Dustdar, 2015).
96 However, there are constraints that mostly but not necessarily affect the decision to adopt
best practices. The obstacles can be the organization’s cost or budget available to build the
smart warehouse, the owned human skills to operate the components of a smart warehouse,
the compatibility between the system and IoT installation and the government regulations.
For organizations in developing countries, the main constraints commonly found are
technical challenges such as poor internet connectivity, low data center, reliable power
supply and social challenges such as lack of standardization and limited labor force skills
(Miazi et al., 2016). Though, it is worth mentioning that smart warehousing is an integral
part of the overall readiness for the supply chain’s digitalization (Langley et al., 2020; Sony
and Naik, 2019).

3.4 Generate solution adjustment and practical infrastructure design

Understanding that the best practice is subject to some constraints may result in
adjustments and alternative solutions. It is crucial for organizations always to have
alternative solutions in hand. All the answers, including best practice, shall be compared
and investigated in terms of the advantages and disadvantages to produce the best one that
is executable by organizations. Besides, solutions adjustment can be made, depending on the
organization’s warehouse’s needs and situation. With all precedent elements are complete, a
practical IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure could be designed. IoT provider/
support can play a significant role in reviewing and executing the infrastructure design
from this part on. IoT provider/support makes the components available for installation and
may also be the one to do the technical setup.

3.5 Test and apply the design

Testing the design is a crucial factor contributing to the successful implementation of IoT
(Zdravkovic et al., 2018). Before executing the actual, full-scale design implementation in the
warehouse, prototype testing must be conducted to validate the practical design. The
prototype test is useful to present validation and performance and functionality evaluation
of the deployed IoT (De Caldas Filho et al., 2017). A successful test means that the built
infrastructure is verified and validated. The infrastructure design then must be applicable
for a full-scale implementation. If the prototype is successful, the actual infrastructure
design could be carried out to establish an IoT-smart warehouse. In building the IoT
infrastructure design, there are two essential steps to follow as suggested by Li and Kara
(2017). These two steps are useful for preparing the IoT components to be used in the design:
3.5.1 Step 1: Design a system architecture. The first step is to provide a conceptual
architecture incorporating IoT technology to construct a smart warehouse infrastructure to
enable real-time visibility and traceability. The architecture must be generic so that it can be
quickly adapted from case to case. There are considerable numbers of architectures that can be
applied for an IoT-based smart warehouse in literature. For instance, Wu et al. (2010) proposed a
five-layer division of IoT system, Hankel and Rexroth (2015) expanded RAMI 4.0, Lin et al.
(2012) amplified IIRA, Weyrich and Ebert (2016) developed IoT-A. Despite the proposed
architectures, there is no universally accepted architecture for the use of IoT, especially in the
industrial sector (Antão et al., 2018). Accordingly, Wu et al. (2010) proposed the IoT architecture,
which consists of five layers, namely, perception, network, middleware, application and Internet of
business, which is adopted in this work. This architecture is chosen in this study because it is things-based
more generic compared to other reviewed architectures. Moreover, the architecture has also been
smart
adopted by other relevant and credible studies such as Tan and Wang (2010), Khan et al. (2012)
and Antão et al. (2018). The five-layer IoT architecture is shown in Figure 2. warehouse
According to Antão et al. (2018), the perception layer consists of physical objects. The
physical objects are controlled or monitored by sensor and actuator devices to collect data
97
from the physical world. In this work, the perception layer would be the warehouse’s objects
to be incorporated by IoT technology. The data gathered from sensors and actuators then
are transmitted through the Network layer, mainly using the internet, to the Middleware
layer. The information can be stored, processed and analyzed in this layer. The analyzed
information then can be presented to the end-user through the Application layer. The
Application layer may also be where the control of the overall system is located. The
Business layer then enables the system administrator to interoperate the functionality IoT
platform with the whole system in the business organizations.
3.5.2 Step 2: Determine selection criteria for internet-of-things components. Step 2
provides qualitative criteria to select a product for each layer based on the architecture
shown in Figure 1. The selection criteria act as a guideline to choose specific hardware and
software products that can work out for the IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure. The
selection criteria also can be used as an evaluation tool to compare with other built
infrastructures or systems. The selection criteria must also be generic so that they can be
quickly adapted from case to case. In this work, the selection criteria for components from Li

Figure 2.
A five-layer IoT
architecture adapted
from Wu et al. (2010)
and Antão et al.
(2018)
JSTPM and Kara (2017) is selected because of the similar context of establishing IoT infrastructure
13,1 that works out. Nonetheless, there are some modifications to the layer division following the
chosen architecture in this study. The summary of selection criteria is shown in Table 1.

4. Case study
In this section, a manufacturing company based in Indonesia, one of the developing
98 countries, is considered, where warehouse operations are mostly still conducted traditionally
not “smart” yet. The case company’s warehouse operations are intended for direct shipment
to customers abroad as the business operation is of a bonded zone. The business model of
this company is B2B, so its customers are resellers of the manufactured goods. Finished
goods are packaged in master carton boxes, which consist of around 30–50 units each. Four
main areas serve four sequential activities in the case company. The first area is warehouse
one to store common manufactured goods in the form of carton boxes. The second area is for
labeling products using stickers and stamps on the master carton boxes using conveyors,
based on their specific designated customers’ requirements. The third area consists of
warehouse two, which is used for storing final goods that are ready to be shipped. Finally,
the loading area is used for final loading products into the booked freight forwarder to
customers. As the company manufactures imperishable and seasonal goods, customers
must place their orders ahead of time up to months and, in some cases, a year–before the
products are prepared. This leads to orders being in the warehouse for a long time before
they are shipped to the final destination. The warehouse simple layout is presented in
Figure 3.

4.1 Design
In this section, the step-by-step process of designing infrastructure for the case company is
discussed following the framework in Section 3.
4.1.1 Formulate objective and have internet-of-things provider or support. The sole
objective of designing the IoT-based smart warehouse in the given case company was
formulated to enable visibility and traceability of the complex warehouse operation in terms
of customer order processing. The stakeholders wanted to know precisely at what stage this

Layer Selection Criteria

1 – 2: Perception – network
Analog to digital capability

(Data gathering and data transmission)

Ability to hand multiple topologies

Programmable encryption

3: Middleware
Easy to program

(process information)

Ability to interface

Internet connectivity

4 – 5: Application – business
Ease of use

Table 1. (smart application and system management)

Ability to interface
Summary of selection
criteria by layer,
Real-time notifications support
adopted from Li and
Kara (2017)
 Internet of
things-based
smart
warehouse

99

Figure 3.
The warehouse
layout of the case
company

specific customer’s order is currently being processed by monitoring and controlling the
warehouse operations in a real-time manner. Another initial important element was to
ensure some competent IoT providers/supports exist in Indonesia around the same area
where the design would be applied. The condition was fulfilled where a local information
technology company was available as the IoT component vendor for this study. As this
study’s extent was set until the prototype test only, the vendor did not get much involved
nor did any full-scale execution in designing and establishing the IoT-based smart
warehouse infrastructure. The vendor mainly served to give advice, feedback and
consultation regarding the IoT devices to be used according to the design and the technical
problem faced with prototype testing.
4.1.2 Analyze warehouse practice. The warehouse situation, operation and the respective
business process at the case company were analyzed and comprehended. A large warehouse
building and four following areas for warehousing operations inside were the warehouse’s
primary physical characteristics. The sequential processes and activities of the warehouse
consisted of storing common manufactured goods in the form of master carton boxes,
labeling master carton boxes according to the designated customer’s requirements, storing
the labeled or final master carton boxes until the delivery date and loading the final goods
into the freight forwarder. As for the current technology and system, the company had a
warehouse management system, but it was an old one that most warehouse operations were
planned and executed through e-mails. Besides, the control of operations was handled
manually through paper-based reports that later were converted into a digital file such as
Excel and Word.
4.1.3 Generate best practices and consider constraints. The best practice design used for
the IoT hardware components was RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags. RFID tags
were used, as they are light, cheap and easy to be attached to the master carton boxes and
JSTPM portable or handheld RFID reader, as the warehousing building had big spaces and a lot of
13,1 human movements. The RFID tags, along with the fixed reader, could be attached to racks
and the forklifts used in the warehouse, which should ease picking orders whenever an order
arrived. The proposed IoT software components were a built web-based database and
application that corresponded to the intended IoT function, as the workers heavily relied on
computers and the Internet in performing administrative duties and a Warehouse
100 Management System (WMS) that supported IoT-based smart warehouse operation. The
final part of best practice was to automatically integrate the built web application to
Business Intelligence (BI) tool to visualize and display the desired real-time information in
the warehouse.
Nonetheless, there were some constraints in implementing the best practice mentioned
above. First, fixed RFID readers to be placed on the storage shelf and forklift, which have a
long reading range and simultaneous reading capability, were too costly to be used for
a prototype of a dynamic warehouse operation. Furthermore, the case company did not have
a fixed location for storing its customer order: the workers placed and kept boxes on any
empty shelf. Master carton boxes had different identifiable labels where randomly placing
and storing them would not cause any such problem so far, as long as the same boxes for the
customer were in the same place. Also, the warehouse operations’ visibility and traceability
could still be obtained without the information of specific storage.
4.1.4 Generate solution adjustment and practical infrastructure design. Figure 4 depicts
a designed infrastructure that works as follows: The system starts working when an
operator activates the handheld RFID reader to capture data from the RFID tags attached to
the master carton boxes. The RFID reader reads the universally unique identifier (UUID) of
each tag. The data then will be momentarily stored as a “.csv” file in the working memory of
the embedded RFID reader app installed on a smartphone. The smartphone is set to be
integrated with the cloud drive so that the RFID’s stored reading data will be automatically
uploaded to the cloud drive if the smartphone is connected to the Internet, making it a real-

Figure 4.
Proposed IoT-based
smart warehouse
infrastructure design
time data transfer. Once they are on the cloud, the data can be taken and transmitted to the Internet of
web database in a real-time manner through the built command in the database’s program things-based
code. The program code within the database was set up in a way that it had registered and
stored the data that a specific UUID belongs to a particular product as well (e.g. UUID
smart
123456789 belongs to Product A1). The database would then show the stored data in the warehouse
web application built and embedded in the user database, which can also be referred to as
the user interface. From this interface, the user would know the real-time status and track
the warehouse operations. The user interface was also set to integrate with business
101
intelligence (BI) tools. Thus, any data retrieved by the user interface would also be retrieved
by the BI tool at once. In this way, real-time visibility and traceability from the capture
phase to the report phase can be obtained. The explanation above presented the functions
and the components used in the proposed infrastructure design. To enable the visibility and
traceability of the order processing in the case study warehouse, the proposed infrastructure
above should follow the workflow presented in Figure 5.
As depicted in Figure 4, the master carton boxes are attached by RFID tags from the
manufacturing area. UUID’s data identifies which product type and product number must
also be registered to the web database before the boxes are sent to the warehouse building.
For example, before sending two boxes consisting of 50 goods each to the warehouse, the
information that UUID 1230 identifies product X1 and UUID 1231 determines product Y2
must be already available and stored on the web database. Thus, when the boxes enter
Warehouse 1 and are scanned by the RFID reader, the user interface can show the respective
product types and numbers that just entered Warehouse 1, their quantity and their time
entry as an output. From the reading, the status of “Stored in Warehouse 1” would
automatically be assigned to read UUID in the database and show on the user interface.
From this information, one could retrieve what and how many products are currently in
Warehouse 1 and the lead time they spent in Warehouse 1.
Once a customer makes an order, the products ordered are taken to the labeling area.
When entering the area, the RFID reader scanned the products to update the products
previously stored in Warehouse 1 and are now in the Labeling Area. The reading
output will also show product types and numbers, quantity and time entry. The
difference is that now the products’ status is updated as “Taken for Labeling” and, the
human operator will need to assign these products to the customer’s name, customer’s
order number, customer’s total demand, destination and delivery due date. The
customer’s name and customer’s order number prevent products from getting
incorrectly labeled or delivered; the customer’s total demand informs the management
whether the current inventory fulfills the customer orders and whether there are
missing products and the delivery date. Once the labeling is done, the final master
carton boxes are brought to Warehouse 2 and stored on shelves. The boxes are to be
scanned by RFID readers only if they are already stored on the shelf. This ensures that

Figure 5.
The workflow of the
proposed IoT-based
smart warehouse
design
JSTPM the quantity is accurate and products are not missing on the way to Warehouse 2. The
13,1 output information shown on the reading user interface is the same: products and
numbers, quantity, time entry, order number, customer name, customer demand,
destination and delivery due date. The status of the products is updated as “Stored in
Warehouse 2.”
Finally, when a scheduled freight forwarder arrives at the loading dock in the warehouse
102 building, the boxes stored in Warehouse 2 will be taken to the Loading Area. Once the boxes
are loaded into the cargo, the operator would scan them using an RFID reader. The scanner
would generate the information of a product and number, quantity, time entry, order
number, customer, customer’s total demand, destination, delivery due and status of
“Loaded” shown on the user interface. Any data update on the user interface throughout this
workflow also means data updates in the BI visualization and display. These two BI
features allow stakeholders, especially those not in the area, to retrieve real-time warehouse
operations. In this sense, every component here is integrated, where real-time visibility and
traceability are accomplished.
4.1.5 Test and apply the design. The infrastructure design proposed in Figure 4 was
outlined in terms of the system architecture model and the components. Figure 6 shows the
architecture model of the proposed infrastructure design. The RFID tags were attached to
the master carton boxes. The RFID-enabled boxes were scanned by the RFID handheld

Figure 6.
A five-layer IoT
architecture model of
the proposed smart
warehouse design
reader from one activity to another activity in the warehouse. This means that the boxes, Internet of
along with the attached RFID tags and the handheld reader, are parts of the Perception things-based
Layer. As ubiquitously real-time visibility and traceability were needed, Internet connection
enabled by the company’s Wi-Fi could be used. Bluetooth may also be a stand-by option to
smart
complements the Internet connection. Both Internet and Bluetooth are parts of the Network warehouse
Layer. Then, the cloud, web database and web application or user interface described in the
previous section cannot stand alone without web hosting availability. Those four
components are parts of the middleware layer in the design. The BI used in the design is a 103
part of the application layer. Finally, the BI software must align with the major software
used in the company to construct a business layer that leads to sound system management.
The components presented in this model are still generic and need to be more specified.
From the specific IoT architecture model presented in Figure 6, each layer’s components
must be chosen following the established criteria earlier. Choosing the right and appropriate
components helps to implement the IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure design
successfully. Table 2 shows the component products, both software and hardware, that were
being used in the prototyping. It can be seen that the products fulfill all the criteria, which
means that the infrastructure design must be applicable and performed efficiently. The
demo version of the embedded RFID reader application, OneDrive cloud and Hostinger has a
limited capacity in storing and processing data. However, if the prototype using these
components is successful, then a design implementation using more powerful components
would potentially be successful too.
The prototype of the designed IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure was tested at a
lab setting affiliated with the authors. The lab was modeled to mimic the real warehouse
situation of the case company. Some spaces represented the four functional, sequential
operation areas: Warehouse 1, Labeling Area, Warehouse 2 and Loading Area. The
hardware components used in this prototype test were a handheld Bluebird RFR900 RFID
reader, small boxes and UHF RFID tags attached to the boxes. OneDrive is the cloud service
used in this work. The software components used were the embedded Bluebird RFID reader
application, web database built using MySQL and user interface built using MySQL. The
web-based user interface’s summary page built for the proposed infrastructure design is
presented in Figure 7.
In the end, the prototype of the case company was successful. The smart warehouse
infrastructure design ran successfully, which means that the infrastructure design was
verified. Furthermore, through the testing, the infrastructure worked as desired. The
summary page helped the user see the warehouse operations’ overall progress in a real-time
manner. It could be seen in Figure 7 that some boxes are in Warehouse 1, some others are in
Labeling Area and some others are in Warehouse 2. Boxes in the area other than Warehouse
1 were assigned by the name of customers to be sent. This means that aside from the
verification, the design was also validated as it was performing as intended. The
infrastructure worked as required, which is to enable real-time visibility and traceability,
specifically in terms of customer order processing throughout the warehouse operations.
This study’s proposed infrastructure design differs in several aspects from the
infrastructure design of pertinent studies in the literature. The proposed model in this study
relies heavily on extensive coding to build an integrated web-based tool, which is
significantly distinct from the IoT-based smart warehouse designed by Ding (2013), Lee
et al. (2018) and Yerpude and Singhal (2018). The latter studies were specially built based on
software with specific program features such as SOA or machine learning. The model
design in this study does not use a microcontroller like Mohanraj et al. (2019) did. Table 3
presents the comparison of the proposed infrastructure design in the reviewed literature and
 13,1

104

criteria
Table 2.
JSTPM

with the needed

Summary of the
chosen components
Criteria Components

Layer 1–2: Perception-network Bluebird RFR900 RFID handheld reader

(data gathering and data transmission) (equipped with Bluetooth
and internet connection)
ADC capability Yes, embedded
Ability to hand multiple topologies Yes, but must be programmed
Programmable Yes
Encryption Yes
Layer 3: Middleware Embedded RFID reader demo OneDrive cloud Hostinger (equipped with
(process information) app (on a smartphone) MySQL database)
Easy to program No need No need Yes
Ability to interface Yes, with the reader Yes, with the phone installed Yes, with OneDrive cloud
with the
embedded reader app and
with Hostinger
Internet connectivity Yes Yes Yes
Layer 4–5: Application – business Microsoft Power BI Microsoft products
(smart application and system management) (as the primary software
used by the company)
Ease of use Easy Easy
Ability to interface Yes, with MySQL database and Yes, with other Microsoft
other Microsoft software products software products
Real-time notifications support Yes Yes
 Internet of
things-based
smart
warehouse

105

Figure 7.
A summary page of
the Web-based user
interface of the
proposed IoT-based
smart warehouse
infrastructure design

this study. One can conclude that different objective and warehouse environments result in
additional IoT infrastructure to build a smart warehouse. Accordingly, the framework
presented in this study could be useful for designing a successful IoT-based smart
warehouse infrastructure, as it permeates the critical components and factors needed.

5. Conclusions
This study aims to design an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure that enables real-
time visibility and traceability. A combination of a qualitative-descriptive method through a
comprehensive literature review approach was used. It was concluded that the critical
components to building a smart warehouse infrastructure are the five-layer IoT architecture,
which consisted of a Perception Layer, Network Layer, Middleware Layer, Application
Layer and Business Layer. Those critical components included physical objects, sensors and
actuators, network technology, decision unit, data analytics, graphic data representation
and business model. Several critical factors contribute to a successful implementation of an
IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure, including the availability of IoT provider or
support, warehouse practices, organizational capabilities and design testing. These factors
were elaborated and expanded into a roadmap and a framework for designing an IoT-based
smart warehouse infrastructure. Through the case study results in this research, it was
proven that the proposed infrastructure design could be executed and perform the expected
function of enabling real-time visibility and traceability that improve the overall efficiency
of the warehouse operations successfully. In other words, the IoT-based smart warehouse
infrastructure design proposed in this study is feasible for full-scale implementation.

5.1 Theoretical and practical implications

This study enhances the limited theoretical knowledge of IoT-based smart warehouse
infrastructure. The study’s design approach and findings at hand contribute to the
perspectives of enabling real-time visibility and traceability in warehouse operations.
Compared to the surveyed literature where research mostly developed technical frameworks
of an IoT-based smart warehouse, this paper developed a framework for designing the
infrastructure that takes critical components and factors into account, ensuring industrial
application implementation success. This study also offers a theoretical insight that could be
JSTPM Study from Main objective The main feature of IoT infrastructure
13,1
Ding (2013) Establishing IoT-based smart
Components including RFID tags, handheld
WMS for inventory reader, fixed reader, antennas, electronic
management shelf tags and host management system

Enablement of all-weather multi-faceted
106 regulation of the entire warehouse

Lee et al. (2018) Establishing IoT-based smart
Components including RFID tags, reader,
WMS for a low-volume high- antennas, mobile apps and host application
mix type manufacturing
Utilization of machine learning and fuzzy
logic

Yerpude and Singhal Establishing an IoT-based
Components including RFID tags and
(2018) smart warehouse for inventory sensors
management system
Utilization of multi-level service-oriented-
architecture (SOA)

Mohanraj et al. (2019) Establishing an IoT-based
Components including microcontrollers and

smart warehouse for sensors
monitoring system
Utilization of alert message and notification
sent to the smartphone whenever an
environmental change occurs

The study at hand Establishing an IoT-based
Components including RFID tags, handheld
Table 3. smart warehouse for visibility readers and smartphones embedded with
Comparison table of and traceability of customer RFID reader applications
the IoT-based smart order process and progress

throughout warehouse Utilization of web-based user interface and
warehouse BI for data visualization of real-time
operations
infrastructure warehouse operation progress
proposed in reviewed
studies

used by academia or researchers to direct future research and practical knowledge for
practitioners to make better decisions in their Business. Therefore, future work in adopting
IoT in warehouse operations should be expanded to include other essential areas such as
loading, unloading, picking, sorting and smart inventory management.
This study offers practical implications from the experimental context, as the design
approach and findings were based on a manufacturing company’s real case study. The
targeted users are manufacturers and companies that heavily use warehouses for their
business. Hence, the developed framework should help practitioners in developing countries
to establish their IoT-based smart warehouse. The roadmap in this study could entice
companies in developing countries and developed countries to move toward the
implementation of industry 4.0 in terms of digitalizing warehouse operation, which could
eventually contribute to nations’ economic growth.

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Corresponding author
Ammar Aamer can be contacted at: [email protected]

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