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 1. Home
 2. Warehousing
 3. Automation


WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION’S FAILURE TO LAUNCH MIGHT BE DUE TO SOFTWARE AND WORKFLOW
PROBLEMS

To take warehouse automation to the next level, we need to infuse flexibility
into everything, especially software and human-to-machine interfaces. That
involves planning, understanding an organization’s human workflows and having
robotics solutions.

April 22, 2023
Anthony Moschella
Vecna Robotics
Yingyaipumi/stock.adobe.com


Warehouse automation is at a crossroads. Despite the immense promise of robotics
and other automated systems, the technology is only deployed at a fraction of
facilities around the United States.



Gartner’s 2022 Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Execution Technologies places
warehouse solutions in the Trough of Disillusionment category, where interest in
the technology wanes due to implementation and experimental failures. Yet,
market watchers such as Logistics IQ project rapid growth, with warehouse
automation anticipated to reach $30 billion by 2026, growing at an annual rate
of 14%.

So, which is it—poised for rampant growth or bound to fade into the background
of technology innovations, at least for now? Neither extreme is necessarily
true. Still, supply-chain issues, labor shortages in recent years and proven
benefits of solutions like Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) have spotlighted
automation’s potential.



But for warehouse automation to achieve mass adoption, organizations must change
their approach to it, and how they think about it. The industry won’t achieve
projections like those made by Logistics IQ until warehouse automation’s
software and workflow problems are fixed.


AUTOMATION ISN’T A SIMPLE SOLUTION

What do software and workflow challenges look like in practice? For many
warehouses, these roadblocks occur when teams attempt to implement new robotics
and software into legacy workflows. These teams believe automation will answer
every bottleneck, address every use case, and serve as a 1:1 replacement for
human workers. But robotics shouldn’t be confused with magic. These technologies
involve complex systems, and most machines and devices don’t have the brains to
adapt to every use case in a warehouse.

To layer on challenges, warehouses also are evolving, multi-faceted ecosystems,
and no two sites are the same. Each one has thousands of combinations of load
sizes, aisle widths, human-to-machine interfaces, layouts, legacy technology and
other unique characteristics that make any one-size-fits-all approach to
automation impractical.




SOFTWARE CAN ADAPT SYSTEMS TO WORKFLOWS

The key to addressing all the variables in warehouse settings—from the mix of
legacy technologies and differing transport needs to the various use cases and
obstacles—is flexible software and workflows. Moving forward, warehouse teams
must implement automation with a software-first approach that prioritizes human
workflows.

This approach requires a mindset shift in how the industry thinks about
robotics. Successful organizations will work with warehousing and supply chain
logistics companies to deploy software that makes it easier for:

 * Humans to work alongside, deploy and manage robots. Automation can save on
   labor costs for an organization, but it's important to note that robotics
   will complement, rather than replace, humans in most situations. The
   increased efficiencies resulting from automation can allow a company and its
   employees to grow, creating more jobs and new opportunities – but working
   together needs to be easier, intuitive and simple. Consumer-like touch
   screens and interfaces can help eradicate challenges here.
 *  Robots to adapt to varying/non-standard pallet, aisle, load sizes and other
   variables. Software enhancements can, for example, enable an Autonomous
   Mobile Robot (AMR), such as a pallet jack, to learn how to adjust to
   different pallet sizes, designs, heights, and weights over time.
 * Humans to be in-the-loop at many stages of automation. An essential part of
   automation is planning, which involves input and feedback from the entire
   organization, especially human workers on the shop floor. Orchestration
   software can help organizations streamline operations, determine the best
   assignment for humans and machines and adjust to variables during day-to-day
   operations to increase throughput and productivity.
 * Teams to focus on workflows over robots. Companies need to stop thinking
   about robots as equipment and start thinking about automation as systems that
   can be adopted to most common workflows (not just corner cases) and scale
   with the changing needs of modern operations. Just because a team has always
   done cross-docking or picking and putaway one way with manual drivers doesn’t
   mean it should look the same with automation.


FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY

The potential advantages of automation in warehouses are undeniable—it can
increase the efficiency and accuracy of filling orders, for example, eliminating
common errors in picking and packing. It can increase employee productivity and
enjoyment by making them more efficient and enabling them to focus on
higher-value tasks. And automation can improve safety by taking over risky or
exhausting jobs from employees.



To take warehouse automation to the next level, we need to infuse flexibility
into everything, especially software and human-to-machine interfaces. That
involves planning, understanding an organization’s human workflows and having
robotics solutions equipped with advanced software to enable their systems to
thrive in dynamic environments. 




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