Abhinav Agrawal
Dallas
Economist article "New robots—smarter and faster—are taking over warehouses" mentions that Amazon has deployed more than 350,000 bots in its "fulfillment centers." The deployment has saved Amazon time and money in the new era of wage inflation and worker shortages. Amazon accomplished this feat by acquiring Kiva Systems for $775M in 2012, adding $1B+ in R&D, and then automating its massive fulfillment centers (with an average size of 800,000 SQFT). The cost savings from automation allows it to offer a $3,000 signing bonus in select locations to its vast warehouse workforce while remaining cost-competitive.
How can a company with limited automation, a small investment budget, and a shorter timeline achieve these benefits? Here is a quick guide to the major steps required :
If you already have experience with warehouse automation technologies, I’d love to hear from you about the challenges you faced as well as your success stories (please leave a comment or send me a message).