In logistics, robots can pay for themselves within three to nine months, and with lower purchase prices, easier-to-configure robots and greater capabilities of robots that can find their way around a building, even small- and mid-size companies can now more easily deploy robots and gain a fast return.
As pointed out in Material Handling & Logistics, there are many types of robots available to help with distribution center/fulfillment center operation tasks today. They can assist with loading, unloading, sorting, picking, transportation, storage, delivery and audits. They also use different forms of navigation tools such as rail, wire-guided, labels, magnet tape, laser, vision, geo-guidance and others.
Two areas deserve special attention:
Picking. The trend away from case or bulk movement handling toward single SKUs has been accelerated due to e-commerce. These types of goods-to-person systems have taken the form of forward pick, racked systems that use robotic vehicles to bring cases and totes of goods to stations and then return the item container back into storage. There is also an increasing use of robotic machines to perform the pick process to detect, reach out, grasp and place into a receptacle items to fulfill an order.
Sortation. There have not been that many applications of robots doing item sortation in the U.S. Up until now, AGVs (automated guided vehicles) have been used for case, pallet, bulk, or specialized container movement for many years across a wide range of industries and applications. However, there are now examples of AGVs that automatically read barcodes and then deliver items in a single pass to a designated order consolidation point.
These two areas are a focal point by companies to increase productivity and decrease labor expenses. An example is the retail giant Walmart that recently introduced robotic cleaners. The robots do a programmed set of routines and clean a store thus allowing for Walmart to save on labor by eliminating part of their cleaning crew expense!
Will there be more robots in retail or industry? You can bet on it as companies try to cut expenses and increase delivery times so as to keep that potential customer from going elsewhere!
More to come!
Joe Rossini
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