What’s Inside?

Most warehouses are comparing the best ways to incorporate automation into their operation to reduce costs and overcome the labor shortage.

Truck unloading is considered the “holy grail” of warehouse automation because it’s hard, repetitive work – turnover rates are high, and it doesn’t require a lot of training, just a lot of backbreaking labor. It is frequently a bottleneck in the warehouse.

However, our customers tell us that in most use cases, robots aren’t alleviating this bottleneck and are not ready for prime time because of these limitations:

1) Speed: Robots are too slow in most unload scenarios, both in terms of pick/place, and also the speed of moving between trailers.

2) Inflexibility: Variations in package size, weight, material reliability, and load variations can cause problems.

3) Expensive: The price point is too high for the average warehouse.

4) Space: In many warehouses, robots take up too much room, especially if fencing or light curtains are needed to keep workers safe.

5) Training and Maintenance: As more automation is added to your warehouse, you need more skilled technicians on staff to keep everything running.