Robotics and Its Use Cases: A Deep Dive into Warehouse Robotics Part 2
Warehouse Robotics today is an emerging tech market as robots have begun performing some of the most labour-intensive warehousing tasks. Ever since technology implementation cost started reducing, industries with logistics-intensive operations, especially if logistics are handled in-house, have begun adapting to the trend.
A June 2019 report by Oxford Economics analysed that in the last two decades, the use of robots has risen by 3x. The report also predicted that the demand rate will continue accelerating in the upcoming 20 years, totalling about 20 million robots worldwide by 2030. This report has been covered extensively by several well-regarded media houses.
Interestingly, robotics-led automation has proven to be more than just brute force for heavy lifting. Along with boosting productivity and slashing labour costs, warehouse robots also have demonstrated a higher level of accuracy in handling shipments with due care. Given the advancement in robotics, companies working in e-commerce, logistics (3PL), and transportation sectors need to understand the impact warehouse robotics can have on their bottom line.
Hence, in this blog, we will look at the use cases of the different robots we explored in Robotics and Its Use Cases: A Deep Dive into Warehouse Robotics Part 1.
Exploring Use Cases: What Tasks Do Warehouse Robotics Power?
Below are the primary use cases of Warehouse Robotics:
- Picking: Picking, especially heavy shipments, is one of the most laborious tasks in a warehouse. Fixed robotic arms and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) in warehouses with specialised robotic arms can replace manual labour surrounding picking.
- Packing: Specialised robotic arms enhanced by EoAT( end-of-arm tooling) are used to not only pack shipments accurately but also to ensure minimal and shipment-appropriate materials amongst a wide range of packaging materials available in the warehouse. Also, some robots can build customised cartons according to the shipment dimensions.
- Sorting: Sortation robots, made of smart conveyor belts, tilt-trays, cross-belt, and pop-up wheel systems, among other solutions, powered by driven by AI decision engines, are used to divert shipments into various directions, automatically sorting them with improved accuracy and alertness compared to workers. In some cases, robotic arms are also used for sorting, but such scenarios involve a relatively low throughput, as robotic arms can pick and sort only one or a few items at a given time. Also, robotic arms’ use cases in sortation are limited to regular-shaped objects within a fixed range of dimensions.
- Storing & Retrieving: This process can involve both fixed robotic arms and robotic-arm-integrated Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) in warehouses, both guided by AI and ML-driven ASRS systems. The reach and efficiency of ASRS robots outstrip the speed and load capacity of workers, thus slashing time from a key warehouse process: tracking, storing, and unloading shipments from racks.
- G2P: In several warehouses, human intervention remains a reality as light-off warehouses can still be too expensive to adopt for certain operations. AGVs, AGCs, and AMRs prove to be a game-changer in a hybrid environment where the robots take care of the heavy lifting while workers label, scan, or perform other repetitive but less laborious tasks. This workflow automation in warehousing, which enables goods to reach warehouse workers at designated workstations, is known as goods-to-person (G2P; also written as GTP).
- Palletisation & Depalletisation: Both palletising and depalletising are important tasks in a warehouse when loading or unloading identical shipments on a vehicle. At the same time, these actions are also used for workflows involving storing or retrieving shipments in bulk. These tasks are carried out by robotic arms, which are AI-driven to intelligently create a stable stack of shipments, thus ensuring the same workflow for warehouse employees and minimal damage to the shipment and the warehouse machinery.
- Supervision & Scanning: At a given time, a lot of tasks are performed in a warehouse, making it difficult to supervise the entire floor with CCTV cameras alone. This is because CCTV cameras often don’t offer an automatic close-up of storage conditions, and nor do they suffice in tracking items placed in higher racks. This is where a warehouse drone, or rather a fleet of such drones, is critical, offering a status on the storage condition of precious cargo, and scanning labels to track shipments inaccessible to workers. Apart from real-time shipment tracking, warehouse drones are used for swift inventory audits, leveraging the AIDC capabilities of the drones.
- Labelling: This repetitive task can be automated by a smart robotic arm guided by an AI-native Warehouse Management System (WMS). Given the accuracy of the WMS, the arms can increase the rate of accurate labelling significantly.
The Impact of Warehouse Robotics in Boosting Warehouse Workflow Efficiency
Here are some figures quoted in a Deloitte report titled Closing the Gap Between Traditional and Automated Warehousing, illustrating the impact of robotics-enabled automation in warehousing:
- ASRS systems can help maximise 85% of premium warehouse spaces which were otherwise unutilised
- ASRS systems also increase labour productivity by 85%.
- Robotic put-walls can increase sorting speed by up to 3x.
Further, BCG made an analysis which revealed that the structural changes required to implement advanced warehouse robotics can boost savings by up to 40%. A McKinsey & Company report noted that AI-powered supply chain management, which one can deduce also includes robots, offered early adopters a competitive advantage. The competitive advantage includes enhancement in logistics costs, inventory levels, and service levels by 15%, 35%, and 65%, respectively, as compared to their peers who had yet to adopt the solutions for improving their hold over the degree of automation in warehousing.
Warehouse robotics also comes with the added advantage of predictive maintenance, preemptively preventing equipment failure. Another McKinsey & Company report mentions that predictive maintenance is responsible for decreasing downtime by 30-40% and improving the life span of the machinery by 20-40%. This means indirectly warehouse robotics, empowered by predictive maintenance, can improve overall warehouse productivity by slashing downtime while also saving long-term infrastructural costs.
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