We have entered the warehouse robotics era - and there's no going back.
Gilmore Says.... |
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The Interact survey had other interesting data points. For instance, it found that warehouse automation was the top strategic priority for 40% of respondents - that's a big number.
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Even in this softer economy, labor shortages in distribution continue to be an issue for many companies, while advances in robotics - both hardware and software - continue apace.
Interest is high.
There were tens of thousands of attendees at the recent MODEX trade show in Atlanta, and in my personal conversations with lots of them at the show it was clear a significant share came with at least a passing interest in robots, and in many cases, it was the primary reason they were at the event.
What are the barriers to adoption of warehouse robotics?
One assumes that the leading obstacle has to do with cost, right?
Well maybe not.
I have been increasingly impressed with the work being done by research firm Interact Analysis, which has warehouse automation as one of its focus areas.
In a recent blog post, Interact analyst Monica Sanchez has this to say: '"According to our recently published Voice of Market Tracker, complexities associated with deploying automation in logistics facilities are presenting the greatest barrier to adopting automation."
That's interesting - what is going on?
In its survey, Interact asked executives and managers from order fulfillment operations, including those in the retail, e-commerce, parcel, manufacturing and production, 3PL and distribution sectors, to rank the importance of different barriers to automation, ranging from financial obstacles, to their strategic aims and staff capabilities.
While budget and cost were certainly among the top challenges, the complexity of integration ranked number one, followed by budget limitations, high upfront cost, and concern around staff capabilities also ranking highly. See graphic from Interact below:
However, these rankings did vary by sector. For example, integration complexity is a much bigger issue in the parcel segment than it is for retail, where budget limitations far outpace every other barrier.
The Interact survey had other interesting data points. For instance, it found that warehouse automation was the top strategic priority for 40% of respondents - that's a big number.
It also found that decisionmakers are significantly more likely to rate automation as a top strategic priority, indicating that the perceived challenge of convincing management to approve automation projects may be unfounded, according to Sanchez.
So my takeaway from this Interact research is this: while it goes without saying that costs and ROI ae critical issues for investment in warehouse robotics, robotics hardware and software vendors need to work on reduce the time and effort related to integration - a storyline that never seems to change.
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