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automated warehouse The retail and e-commerce industries are driving the adoption of robotics in warehousing applications. Longer onboarding and training, rising benefit and compensation rates, and shortages in labor are driving more and more warehousing, distribution and fulfillment facilities to invest in automated solutions for operations. As the technologies improve and the applications become wider and more flexible, robotics are being adopted by a greater number of warehouse operations throughout the U.S. Companies have found that the lower cost of capital, faster ROI and modularity of automation through robotics offer a renewed opportunity to make incremental investments that can be recouped in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, companies can buy what they need as volumes dictate and build capabilities, as opposed to a significant upfront capital investment. Modularity of the robotic systems is a key selling point for all automation manufacturers. Especially in retail and e-commerce, demand is highly cyclical, requiring solutions that are flexible enough to be set up and taken down easily. The industries currently the most intent on using robotics in warehouse operations are store fulfillment for retail applications and in e-commerce fulfillment. E-commerce operations use robotics for goods-to-person picking, collaborative picker aids and sortation systems. The flexibility of the systems lend themselves to be used across a wide product type, including apparel, beauty aids, health products, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Robotics such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and palletizers and depalletizers have been available for many years and are used in a wide range of industries, such as grocery, automotive and pharmaceuticals. Goods-to-person picking robotics are used in e-commerce fulfillment. Goods-to-person robots allow the warehouse associate to remain at a packing station, while the goods are brought to them for packing and shipping. One of the best-known goods-to-person robot companies is Amazon Robotics […]