Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
When the discount online retailer Hollar announced in December that it was migrating its warehouse from California to Ohio in a bid to trim shipping and logistics costs, observers may have thought the move would hobble the firm's operations during the critical peak holiday shopping season.
However, on Jan. 7, Hollar announced that its fulfillment operations were already up and running at the new location, giving credit to its fleet of 80 mobile robots from inVia Robotics. Even while Hollar managers were still recruiting new warehouse staff, their new DC was operational and busy shipping orders of everything from toys and electronics to home, beauty, and apparel items, the company said.
The inVia Picker bots used in Hollar's fulfillment center streamline operations by enabling a goods-to-person workflow, operating alongside the facility's human workers to pick and move items, automating the fulfillment process, the company says. InVia's system uses autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that can navigate through DCs, pick boxes off shelves, and transport them to new locations. Together, the fleet's bots function as a kind of rolling automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), freeing up human workers to perform complex tasks like piece picking and quality control instead of walking long distances through cavernous DCs.
InVia Picker bots operate alongside human workers to pick and move items, freeing up people to perform complex tasks like piece picking.
By lightening the load on their human co-workers, "collaborative robots" or cobots can bring about enormous efficiency gains, manufacturers say. For instance, Hollar reports that its initial deployment of inVia robots at its California warehouse last year boosted productivity 300 percent.
So does this mean that warehouses have relegated human workers to replacing robots' spent batteries and squeaky wheels, or that they've even dispensed with humans altogether?
Not at all, the experts say. While the new technology, whether it's an AMR, a cobot, or an automated guided vehicle (AGV), may be providing warehouse workers with a valuable assist in certain tasks, fulfillment centers will continue to employ large staffs of human labor for the foreseeable future, doing roughly the same work they're doing now.
ROBOTS AMPLIFY HUMAN EFFORTS IN THE DC
When robots doing the traveling, workers don't get as tired, so they're more actively engaged, and more productive, too, says Tim Sprosty of DHL Supply Chain..
To understand just how robots can ease the physical burdens of warehouse work, you need look no farther than the operations run by DHL Supply Chain, the contract logistics arm of German logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL Group. The company, which is known for its pioneering work in applying emerging technologies, has conducted a number of pilots with robots in recent years. DHL does not provide details on the specific robot models involved, but in the past, it has said it used technology from the former Rethink Robotics—which provided stationary piece-picking arms capable of sorting each-picks—and from Locus Robotics, which makes autonomous mobile robots that carry bins of goods and tablet computers, accompanying and instructing human pickers and then delivering the selected goods to the next station.
To date, the greatest impact of robots on logistics work has been to supercharge human workers by taking on some of their more onerous assignments. For example, robots often do the heavy lifting on the warehouse floor, so human workers no longer spend their days pulling a pallet jack, climbing off a forklift, or physically handling items, says Tim Sprosty, senior vice president for human resources at DHL Supply Chain.
"Associates were walking six, seven, eight miles a day as they traveled up and down the aisles," Sprosty says. "Now, there isn't the fatigue, because a robot is doing the traveling for the associate, so people don't get as tired, they're more actively engaged, and they're more productive as well." In fact, their productivity may rise to the point that companies need to adjust their labor standards, he adds.
Reducing the physical demands of warehouse work has also made it easier for employers to find workers, according to DHL. "Many warehouses have [jobs] to be filled, but not enough applicants, so there's a war for talent at the warehouse level," Sprosty says. "That is why DHL has invested time and energy in making the work easier; it helps with recruiting, not just with training and onboarding."
A NEW TWIST ON OLD JOBS
The typical DC worker on the floor won't need additional technology skills or robotics expertise to work with cobots, says DHL Supply Chain North America CIO Sally Miller.
As robotics continue to change the nature of warehouse work, it might seem inevitable that job requirements for workers would change as well. But companies that have used the cobots say no technical wizardry is required. The typical hourly worker on the floor won't need any additional technology skills or robotics expertise, according to Sally Miller, chief information officer (CIO) for DHL Supply Chain North America. In fact, many floor workers are comfortable with basic cobot technology without specific training—thanks to their use of consumer electronics like tablets and smartphones, she says. "We're seeing that with our associates about 40 years old and younger, who have grown up around technology—they understand it very fast."
And if those associates do encounter problems, DHL has a plan in place. As workers become more proficient at working alongside robots, DHL certifies its most technologically adept employees as "warehouse super-users," a role that requires them to provide the first line of tech support and answer colleagues' questions about everything from cobots to warehouse management system (WMS) software, Miller says.
While the introduction of robots may not demand much in the way of new skills for DC laborers, it could have a slightly bigger impact on their bosses. "The managers will have to understand how the technology works; they will have to be more tech-adept than they were in the past," Miller says.
Even so, the impact on managers will likely be only moderate, according to DHL. A few technicians may be needed to perform preventive maintenance, but serious repairs or software upgrades are typically handled by the robot vendors themselves, the company says.
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Robots may reduce the number of people needed at DHL Supply Chain, but there will still be a need for uniquely human skills like dexterity and decision-making, says Miller.
Given the advances in robotics capabilities over the past few years, some may wonder whether the bots will soon be putting humans in the unemployment line. At DHL, at least, the answer is a firm no. While the company acknowledges that over time, its fleet of warehouse robots may reduce the number of humans needed, it emphasizes that there will still be a need for uniquely human skills like dexterity and decision-making. Although the cobots have proved quite effective at enhancing workers' productivity, they still rely on humans for tasks like physically reaching into a bin of products and pulling out individual units, Miller points out.
"We are deploying cobots, but it's a misconception that they're going to one hundred percent replace what human employees do," Miller says. "Bots are used to reduce the travel time of associates, which will reduce the number of associates in the building, but not a hundred percent. The feedback is that [workers] like working with the bots and will be able to be more efficient and to level-load their work activity."
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.