According to a survey by Ware2Go, 67 percent of Americans now work from home. This means that they require easier Internet shopping access. As COVID 19 reinvigorates the way Americans shop, e-commerce is becoming more important than ever. Claudia Jarrett, Country Director for EU Automation, a supplier of industrial components, explains why industries must turn to warehouse automation to increase power and meet increasing demand levels.
The study findings aren’t surprising, but they confirm what we already know: customer behavior has changed. The COVID-19 disease is prompting warehouse operators in all industries to consider accelerating their automation and robotics deployment plans. These technologies will make workplaces safer by minimizing contacts with workers and increasing efficiencies to meet the growing demand for e-commerce.
Automation support
Warehouses have proven to be excellent at automation as they are familiar with a wide range of repetitive, specified, and quantifiable jobs. In inventory management, technologies such as computing and robots are already used to increase speed, power and durability.
However, the advent of e-commerce is putting further pressure on already strained supply chains, demanding that jobs be completed in larger quantities and at a faster pace. In fact, according to an IDC supply chain survey for 2020, 28% of respondents mentioned “increasing supply chain optimization and responsiveness” as a top theme to drive strategic chain change. of supply.
The enhanced needs of omnichannel supply chains are perfectly suited to today’s smart robots. Autonomous mobile robots, for example, are built with more agile steering capabilities, allowing them to go anywhere in a warehouse while on the go with built-in optical detectors and scanners, picking up products and delivering them to employees.
The AMR can maneuver around impediments in its path and even collaborate with humans, thanks to the continuous movement of people and objects. This is important because it means that AMR can adapt to new designs and patterns, allowing manufacturers to respond to changing conditions.
Amazon, for example, has hundreds of orange Kiva robots in its warehouses, making it one of the most visible disruptors in the retail automation market. Amazon has continued to use these robots in its distribution facilities to lift stacks of items and transport them to workstations since it acquired material handling technology company Kiva Systems for $ 678 million in 2012.
These devices not only minimize the need for staff to walk around the warehouse inspecting products, but they also help keep companies and people employed afloat at this difficult time.
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