Warehousing and Automation

This is the age of e-commerce and we see more and more ecommerce companies entering the fray, making use of technology and modern warehousing and transportation modes and supply management theories to serve customers around the world.

The Fortune 500 list (US companies click here) and global 500 (global companies click here) have Walmart, the physical retailer at the top and Amazon, the e-commerce giant at #2 and #3 respectively.

The physical retailer and electronic retailer, all need warehouses to stock their products. The physical retailer is hard pressed for warehouses at geographically distributed sites across the world, while the ecommerce giant can afford to have centralised warehouses at major cities and effective distribution systems.

I happened to go through a research published in HBR Feb 2022 of how Automation is causing many a heartburn in the warehousing industry. Click here ..

Though automation in warehousing can increase efficiency and productivity it can also result in lot of joblosses and resulting heartburn among employees.

How can this be overcome ?

Fear of job loss, inadequate training and unreliable technology are the main concerns from the employees while the positive points are greater safety, increased productivity, speed and higher quality work.

If the companies keep investing in safety, training for workers and ensure their growth prospects within the company, automation will cease to be a major concern in organisations. Employees who are displaced with the arrival of robots can be gainfully employes elsewhere in avenues where robots cannot play a serious role, like the front end or front office of organisation and solving customer issues.