As readers of my earlier piece on robotic activity efficiency in warehouses and distribution facilities know, I don’t suppose that robots can but equal people, who’re augmented with the most recent voice and scanning applied sciences, as measured by KPIs (key efficiency indicators).
Probably the most vital KPI that warehouse and distribution managers use is activity completion velocity on the highest diploma of accuracy potential.
There’s an important distinction to be made between robots which might be cell vs. these which might be static, which means “fastened in place” to the place they logically must be in a course of movement. That is particularly vital when contemplating the present “cutting-edge” for robotic mobility. Typically, “fastened in place” robots that do a single operate inside a course of, equivalent to shifting a carton from one conveyor to a different, or choosing an merchandise from baskets positioned across the robotic, usually an “arm” like this:
These robotic arms execute the duty a lot sooner than a cell robotic (humanoid ones particularly) tasked with shifting a carton between two extensively separated factors in a warehouse or distribution heart.
So, it got here as a small shock after I watched this humanoid robotic doing a operate (bundle sorting) that has been historically managed by fastened in place robots or technology-augmented people.
Discover the velocity at which the robotic kinds the packages. Not unhealthy.
Why do that with a cell humanoid robotic? One exceptionally good purpose stands out: One robotic can work 24/7 and with mobility, shift sorting lanes after which transfer to do different duties like Receiving (unloading a truck), whereas three people could be obligatory over three shifts in a 24-hour interval.
And, as this video factors out, humanoid robots don’t require paychecks, take breaks or name in sick:
Whereas robots have made progress in rushing up activity completion, there’s nonetheless a option to go to fulfill or beat human speeds.
The dedication to exchange people in warehouses and distribution facilities relies upon drastically on an evaluation of the ROI (return on funding) of the proposed, non-human expertise. ROIs are a significant element in a “go / no go” deployment determination, particularly contemplating the numerous prices of those non-human automation applied sciences.
It ought to come as no shock that, in an ROI evaluation, calculating the associated fee / profit contribution of the proposed expertise’s human-labor offset is a vital part of the evaluation. The larger the offset, the sooner the funding’s payback timeframe.
What must be thought of in an efficient ROI evaluation? My subsequent sequence of articles will deal with the vital parts of a expertise acquisition ROI.
If you’re tasked with assessing a brand new expertise’s deployment profit in your warehouse or distribution heart, then this “deep dive” could also be useful.
Concerning the Writer
Tim Lindner develops multimodal expertise options (voice / augmented actuality / RF scanning) that concentrate on assembly or exceeding logistics and provide chain prospects’ productiveness enchancment targets. He may be reached at linkedin.com/in/timlindner.