THE FUTURE OF
WAREHOUSE ROBOTICSPart 1: The world of
warehousing has changed
Until today, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have been
deployed in isolated work?ows in warehouses with no real
integration across multiple processes in the same building.
This is changing.
The pandemic meant warehouses had to cope with social
distancing and staff absences. It also caused a massive
e-commerce boost and has led to a protracted labor shortage.
All this has forced warehouse managers to take a deeper look at
the possibilities offered by warehouse automation and to
accelerate any existing plans they had to automate. The goal is
not only to improve the ef?ciency of their businesses in a newly
competitive landscape, but also to boost staff retention by
improving working lives. At the same time, the pandemic has
highlighted that nothing is certain and that industries can be
turned upside down overnight. Flexibility for operations and not
being tied to major infrastructure for too long is of much
greater importance.
To put it bluntly:
if a team of well
managed mobile
robots can pick
and carry any item
to any location in
a warehouse, why
woul