DC Velocity - April 2019

www.dcvelocity.com APRIL 2019 DC VELOCITY 31
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 tech-
nologically 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 soft-
ware, 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

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.”

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