Warehouse technology projects that combine voice- and vision-based picking systems with goods-to-person robotics are gaining steam, thanks to growing interest in warehouse robots nationwide.
Victoria Kickham started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area before moving into B2B journalism. She has covered manufacturing, distribution and supply chain issues for a variety of publications in the industrial and electronics sectors, and now writes about everything from forklift batteries to omnichannel business trends for DC Velocity.
Warehouse automation projects that blend voice- and vision-based picking with robotics are on the rise as systems integrators and technology developers seek ways to help customers maximize their labor resources and speed productivity on the warehouse floor. Tying these technologies together can deliver the ultimate in efficiency, experts say: Robots handle heavy-lifting tasks such as conveyance through the building, and pickers become faster and more accurate thanks to voice- and vision-based wearables with data-capture capabilities. In this strategy, human workers use tools like smart glasses, ring scanners, wrist-mounted computers, wireless headsets, and the like to direct their movements.
Eric Harty, senior director of strategic initiatives at supply chain tech firm Zebra Technologies, says more warehouse operators are looking for ways to connect these technologies in order to optimize workflows throughout their facilities.
“This [form of] integration has been fairly steady,” he explains. “What you see now is more people adopting robotics in general—and that generally triggers some level of modification to improve current workflows.”
More than 80% of warehouse managers agree they will rely more on automation in the future—especially in the form of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for picking and materials movement, according to Zebra’s most recentWarehousing Vision Study. Integrating other technologies that can streamline increasingly complex workflows goes hand-in-hand with those efforts, Harty adds.
BUT FIRST, SOFTWARE
Zebra has been accelerating its focus on integration since acquiring AMR developer Fetch Robotics in 2021. Harty points to the company’s cloud-based FetchCore software system as a case in point. The fleet and workflow management solution allows warehouse operators to integrate AMRs with scanners, tablets, and other mobile technologies. The software connects the data-capture devices and the AMRs, allowing operators to program workflows that blend the two technologies.
“The scanners and mobile computers are used to trigger workflows,” Harty explains. “For example, a worker picks a pallet, scans the bar code or clicks on a screen, and that signals the mobile robot to pick up the [pallet].”
He uses a recent customer application to illustrate the point: A distribution customer now uses Fetch AMRs to automate the delivery of pallet orders to its shipping department, a process that was previously done manually with forklifts. A worker builds the order on the pallet and scans it into the company’s warehouse management software (WMS) system after dropping the completed pallet order at the pallet transfer station. That action signals an AMR to take over material transport; the AMR travels to the pallet transfer station, picks up the pallet, and delivers it to the designated shipping lane.
“They used to have people doing [the conveyance] and dropping it off,” Harty explains. “[The integration] frees up those people to do more picking.”
The project is improving productivity, although Harty says he can’t yet share results because it’s still in the testing phase. He adds that Zebra is seeing increased interest in similar solutions—especially those that blend voice-directed picking with robotics.
“We’re seeing more interest, and we’re working with partners to build that out,” he explains.
GIVING VOICE TO THE SYSTEM
Leaders at systems integrator Numina Group are seeing growing demand for mixing voice-activated picking and robotic solutions as well, and company president Dan Hanrahan says they’ve been making steady progress on those innovations over the past few years. The goal is to improve operations by freeing workers to focus on the value-added tasks associated with order picking while automating the conveyance function with robots.
“We’ve looked at the AMRs, in a broad sense, as an automation component, much like a typical systems integrator would do with a conveyor system,” Hanrahan explains. “We ask, what advantages can AMRs [offer] in moving materials more efficiently?”
And then they connect the dots. Numina Group uses its proprietary warehouse execution system (WES) to tie the AMRs to the customer’s WMS or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for case or pallet picking, integrating wearable technology for piece picking. In a typical solution, the WES connects to the customer’s WMS or ERP, gleans the day’s order information, and then dispatches work orders to AMRs, which pick up a designated pallet or case and bring it to a predetermined pick zone. Pickers—outfitted with wrist-mounted mobile computers and wireless headsets—meet the AMRs at the designated zone after receiving a voice command telling them where to go.
“Basically, we have the AMRs on a bus route—a variable bus route—based on pick stops in different zones in the warehouse,” Hanrahan explains. “And like when you are waiting for an Uber, we’re using voice commands telling the picker, ‘It’s time for you to meet the AMR at this location.’”
The worker then performs the necessary picking tasks at that location. When the AMR has finished its route, it picks up a batch of finished orders from its last stop and delivers them to the packing area.
“The goal is to get the people moving simultaneously with the AMRs so the AMRs are not waiting at stops,” Hanrahan adds. “We want them to work in a continuous-travel mode.”
Several customers are using the AMR/voice solution to optimize picking and scale for growth, including an online retailer based in Northern Illinois that Hanrahan says has reduced labor costs by more than 50%, and a paint supply company in Ohio that has cut forklift driving time by 30%, freeing drivers to do more picking tasks.
“Keep the [workers] within the picking area; have them perform the value tasks—that’s what we’re really being challenged with,” Hanrahan explains, emphasizing the wide variety of technologies that can make that happen. “There are a lot more choices available to [warehouse] operations today.”
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Another choice for blended warehouse automation: pick-by-vision. In this process, pickers wear smart glasses—such as those developed by supply chain tech firm Picavi—that direct them through the picking process via a visual interface. Equipped with a bar-code scanner for data capture, the glasses allow for hands-free operation, speeding the picking process and improving accuracy. When used with goods-to-person robotics, vision systems can help optimize piece picking while also alleviating stress and strain on workers, developers say. Picavi and Japanese robotics developer SoftBank Robotics have launched a pilot project to illustrate those benefits at SoftBank’s innovation lab, an 11,000-square-foot demonstration facility in Ichikawa City, Japan.
The companies have paired Picavi’s smart glasses with an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) from automation specialist AutoStore. Goods are stored in the AutoStore system, which combines product bins, robots, picking and putaway stations, a storage and retrieval “grid,” and a software-based controller to move inventory in and out of storage for automated fulfillment. Workers at the AutoStore’s picking stations use Picavi smart glasses for multi-order picking out of containers as well as for more complex multi-order put applications that would typically incorporate a more expensive and less flexible pick-to-light system. Both systems connect directly to the facility’s WMS.
“The AutoStore [system] automatically provides the containers with the right goods. The employees receive all the information necessary to pick the right goods in the right quantity via the user interface of the smart glasses, and to acknowledge changes in the inventory on the software side,” Picavi said in a statement describing the pilot project. “The container is then picked up again by the AutoStore system and placed in storage.”
The demo is yet another example of using goods-to-person robotics for the heavy lifting while fine-tuning the picking process with additional technology.
Companies of all shapes and sizes can develop similar projects—provided they focus on a particular task or workflow and be open to a range of solutions, according to Zebra’s Harty.
“I suggest starting with a specific use case or workflow you want to automate,” he explains. “Think through what that looks like, what your current operation is, and work with [partners] who can map out that workflow and figure out the solution for you. Be specific, but also be flexible. What I’ve found in my personal experience …. [is that those] that say they just want to work with robots don’t know [what they want to accomplish]. Those that say, ‘I want a robot to do XYZ’ will get a robot to do XYZ.”
A coalition of truckers is applauding the latest round of $30 million in federal funding to address what they call a “national truck parking crisis,” created when drivers face an imperative to pull over and stop when they cap out their hours of service, yet can seldom find a safe spot for their vehicle.
According to the White House, a total of 44 projects were selected in this round of funding, including projects that improve safety, mobility, and economic competitiveness, constructing major bridges, expanding port capacity, and redesigning interchanges. The money is the latest in a series of large infrastructure investments that have included nearly $12.8 billion in funding through the INFRA and Mega programs for 140 projects across 42 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The money funds: 35 bridge projects, 18 port projects, 20 rail projects, and 85 highway improvement projects.
In a statement, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) said the federal funds would make a big difference in driver safety and transportation networks.
"Lack of safe truck parking has been a top concern of truckers for decades and as a truck driver, I can tell you firsthand that when truckers don’t have a safe place to park, we are put in a no-win situation. We must either continue to drive while fatigued or out of legal driving time, or park in an undesignated and unsafe location like the side of the road or abandoned lot,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a release. “It forces truck drivers to make a choice between safety and following federal Hours-of-Service rules. OOIDA and the 150,000 small business truckers we represent thank Secretary Buttigieg and the Department for their increased focus on resolving an issue that has plagued our industry for decades.”
Robotic technology has been sweeping through warehouses nationwide as companies seek to automate repetitive tasks in a bid to speed operations and free up human labor for other activities. Many of those implementations have been focused on picking tasks, a trend driven largely by the need to fill accelerating e-commerce orders. But as the robotic-picking market matures and e-commerce growth levels off, the robotic revolution is shifting behind the picking lines, with many companies investing in pallet-handling robots as a way to keep efficiency gains coming.
“Earlier in this decade and the previous decade, we [saw] a lot of [material handling] transformation around e-commerce and the handling of goods to order,” explains Josh Kivenko, chief marketing officer and senior vice president at Vecna Robotics, which provides autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for pallet handling and logistics operations. “Now we’re talking about pallets—moving material in bulk behind that line.”
Kivenko explains that whether items are being packaged and shipped directly to a customer’s home address or moved as finished goods to a shipping bay for store delivery, those items are first moved in bulk in some way, often by human hands and with human-operated equipment. He describes warehouses as chaotic environments in which humans move pallets and cartons in multiple ways—up and down, side to side, from receiving to storage, from storage to shipping, or via cross-docking. Automation can help bring order to that chaos.
“What we’re trying to do is relieve some of the pressure [on the] humans [doing] this work,” Kivenko says of companies that develop pallet-handling robotic technologies. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to automate some of those flows, relieve labor pressure, save costs, and keep the goods flowing.”
But automated pallet handling isn’t right for every situation, so it’s important to understand the warehouse conditions required and the protocols and best practices needed to make it a win. Here are some guidelines for applying pallet-handling robots and gaining the most from your investment.
FIRST, UNDERSTAND THE TECHNOLOGY
Pallet-handling robots fall into four general categories, explains Rich O’Connor, vice president of storage and automation for Raymond West Group, a business unit of lift truck manufacturer The Raymond Corp. They include:
Palletizing/depalletizing robots, which are used to load or unload items onto and off of pallets, usually with the use of a robotic arm for picking and placing. Today, these systems are being increasingly integrated with automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) to further streamline pallet handling in the warehouse, O’Connor explains.
Autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), which are used to transport pallets within the warehouse. Often outfitted with lift decks or conveyors, or designed to tug or tow items, these robots move pallets from point A to B within a facility. AGVs, which often follow a marked guide-path or wire in the floor, have been around for many years, but the advent of high-performance guidance and vision systems is allowing them more flexibility today, O’Connor says. AMRs are self-guided vehicles that use software and sensors to navigate their way through the warehouse.
Forklift AGVs and AMRs, which can move products both horizontally, from place to place, and vertically, into and out of storage racks. They come in various styles—including stackers, counterbalanced trucks, reach trucks, and even very narrow aisle (VNA) vehicles for use in densely packed warehouses. These vehicles are more complex than those used only for horizontal transport, O’Connor explains. They must be “highly integrated” into the facility’s warehouse management system (WMS) or warehouse execution system (WES) so that they know precisely where to retrieve and deliver pallets within the facility.
Robotic pallet shuttles, which move pallets into, out of, and within dense storage racking. The Raymond Corp. describes such a system as “a standalone, automated deep-lane pallet storage system that utilizes self-powered shuttle carriages to move pallets toward the back or front in a racking channel. Shuttles are motor driven and travel along rails within a storage lane.”
O’Connor and others say that no matter which of these technologies you’re investing in, it’s important to remember that they are all part of a larger system designed to optimize operations throughout the warehouse.
“The expanding role of all these different styles working together is what’s amazing today,” O’Connor says.
SECOND, ENSURE THE TECHNOLOGY IS A FIT
Kivenko, of Vecna, also emphasizes the importance of pallet-handling robots working in concert, particularly AMRs and AGVs.
“The magic isn’t just that the robots are autonomous and driving by themselves. The magic is multiple robots—when you have a [whole integrated] system [in place],” he says. “[It’s] how the fleet operates autonomously and optimizes itself for continuous improvement. That’s where the exponential gains are. [It’s] not just about automating what a worker does; it’s about automating a system.”
But you can’t install these systems in just any warehouse and expect magic. Kivenko and others point to certain conditions that enable the best robotic pallet-handling outcomes, especially when it comes to transportation-based and forklift-type AMRs and AGVs.
“The robots that I sell are large-load machines with very expensive technology,” Kivenko explains. “They move material, generally, in larger facilities. And in order for them to produce a return [on investment]—because that’s the name of the game here—they have to be higher-velocity facilities.”
He says pallet-handling robots work best in large facilities running multiple shifts, usually more than five days a week. Wider aisles allow the equipment to move more freely through the facility and at higher speeds, to optimize efficiency and productivity. Strong Wi-Fi networks and clean, dry environments also help keep equipment running at top performance.
O’Connor agrees that pallet-handling robots are best suited to facilities with multishift operations, where they can ease labor constraints and boost productivity. And he says many customers are willing to extend the typical two- to three-year ROI period to five years in order to achieve those gains. But there is even more to it than that. O’Connor’s colleague John Rosenberger says customers must first step back and analyze their processes to ensure that, even if they have the right facility for pallet-handling AMRs or AGVs, they are moving material in the most efficient way to begin with.
“Many times, we find that the processes in place [are inefficient],” says Rosenberger, who is director of iWarehouse Gateway and global telematics for The Raymond Corp. He emphasizes the importance of analyzing existing data—from an equipment telematics system or similar—to determine the best path toward automation.
“Do you have congestion zones now?” he asks. “They’ll still exist if you automate [those processes exactly].”
THIRD, MAKE SIMPLICITY A PRIORITY
Another basic rule of thumb when implementing pallet-handling robotics: Keep it simple.
Andy Lockhart, director of strategic engagement for global warehouse and logistics process automation company Vanderlande, says that when designing a pallet-handling robotics system, “you want to minimize the processes you [automate]. When you can create [an automated system] that focuses on one task—for example, AMRs delivering pallets from a high-bay [storage rack] directly to the palletizing cell—you can do that efficiently and effectively. When you ask the AMR to do this and this and this … you are adding risk of failure.”
Lockhart’s colleague Jake Heldenberg advises customers to first test their target processes via pilot programs within the warehouse or DC. Heldenberg is Vanderlande’s head of solution design, warehousing, North America.
“If AGVs or AMRs for pallet handling are interesting [to a customer], the best thing to do is pilot one or two in an existing DC,” he says, explaining that the process can help companies troubleshoot, understand integration timelines, and gauge ROI. But pilot programs can add expense to a project, making it unaffordable for some.
“If that’s the case, then the best advice is work with a vendor who has experience integrating [the technology],” Heldenberg says. “Use their experience to benefit your business. You won’t have the same hiccups and challenges you would with a less-experienced vendor.”
“While there have been some signs of tightening in consumer spending, September’s numbers show consumers are willing to spend where they see value,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a release. “September sales come amid the recent trend of payroll gains and other positive economic signs. Clearly, consumers continue to carry the economy, and conditions for the retail sector remain favorable as we move into the holiday season.”
The Census Bureau said overall retail sales in September were up 0.4% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 1.7% unadjusted year over year. That compared with increases of 0.1% month over month and 2.2% year over year in August.
Likewise, September’s core retail sales as defined by NRF — based on the Census data but excluding automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants — were up 0.7% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 2.4% unadjusted year over year. NRF is now forecasting that 2024 holiday sales will increase between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same time last year.
Despite those upward trends, consumer resilience isn’t a free pass for retailers to underinvest in their stores by overlooking labor, customer experience tech, or digital transformation, several analysts warned.
"The 2024 holiday season offers more ‘normalcy’ for retailers with inflation cooling. Still, there is no doubt that consumers continue to seek value. Promotions in general will play a larger role in the 2024 holiday season. Retailers are dealing with shrinking shopper loyalties, a larger number of competitors across more channels – and, of course, a more dynamic landscape where prices are shifting more frequently to win over consumers who are looking for great deals,” Matt Pavich, senior director of strategy & innovation at pricing optimization solutions provider Revionics, said in an email.
Nikki Baird, VP of strategy & product at retail technology company Aptos, likewise said that retailers need to keep their focus on improving their value proposition and customer experience. “Retailers aren’t just competing with other retailers when it comes to consumers’ discretionary spending. If consumers feel like the shopping experience isn’t worth their time and effort, they are going to spend their money elsewhere. A trip to Italy, a dinner out, catching the latest Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds films — there is no shortage of ways that consumers can spend their discretionary dollars,” she said.
Editor's note:This article was revised on October 18 to correct the attribution for a quote to Matt Pavich instead of Nikki Baird.
A real-time business is one that uses trusted, real-time data to enable people and systems to make real-time decisions, Peter Weill, the chairman of MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), said at the “IFS Unleashed” show in Orlando.
By adopting that strategy, they gain three major capabilities, he said in a session titled “Becoming a Real-Time Business: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Digital, Data, and AI.” They are:
business model agility without needing a change management program to implement it
seamless digital customer journeys via self-service, automated, or assisted multi-product, multichannel experiences
thoughtful employee experiences enabled by technology empowered teams
And according to Weill, MIT’s studies show that adopting that real-time data stance is not restricted just to digital or tech-native businesses. Rather, it can produce successful results for companies in any sector that are able to apply the approach better than their immediate competitors.
While many companies are launching artificial intelligence (AI) products for use as generic “co-pilots” or consumer-focused gadgets, the Swedish enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor IFS says its “Industrial AI” version supports industry-specific processes in “hardcore” sectors based on assets such as power grids, cell phone networks, aircraft maintenance, elevator operation, and construction management.
“Industrial AI is at the very core the solutions we are powering for customers. They are pushing us for ready-to-use AI that they can adopt quickly to solve real industrial challenges like labor shortages, supply chain disruption, [and] stagnated productivity," IFS's Chief Customer Officer, Cathie Hall, said in a release.
In presentations at its user conference in Orlando today, known as "IFS Unleashed," the company said that its latest IFS Cloud 24R2 release supports more than 60 in-depth Industrial AI scenarios. They span generative AI examples like: content generation for training and reports; recommendations for sourcing and suppliers; and contextual knowledge for assembly instruction. The tools also include predictive AI applications like event forecasting; optimization of resources and capacity; and anomaly detection for proactive quality control.
In remarks from the keynote stage, new IFS CEO Mark Moffat—who was appointed to the top office in January—said the company may be less well known than ERP vendors such as SAP, IBM, Oracle, and Infor, but it benefits from a tighter focus on its core users. Instead of selling software across dozens of industries, IFS serves just six industries: aerospace and defense, construction and engineering, energy and utilities, manufacturing, service, and telecommunications.
Thanks to that tight approach, he said the company has earned top Gartner rankings for its software products in field service management (FSM), enterprise asset management (EAM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and enterprise service management (ESM). And to compound that advantage, Moffat said IFS continues to grow swiftly through acquisition, having bought up a handful of companies in recent months: Assyst, Ultimo, Boka, empowermx, Bolo, Tobin, Merrick, and Copperleaf.
“You need an AI business plan” Moffat told the room. “If you have an AI business plan, that’s terrific, but you can improve it. This area is just moving so fast.”