DC Velocity - December 2016

BY BEN AMES, SENIOR EDITOR

ROBOTICS/EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

technologyreview

THE RISE OF ROBOTICS IS ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING trends in logistics, with announcements of warehouses that have invested in robots or autonomous vehicles coming almost weekly. Distribution center managers are now using robotics and advanced automated equipment to solve challenges at every stage of the material handling game.

But how exactly will all these new bots fit into the typical DC? In their rush to forge a robotic link in the supply chain, planners are still trying to predict what sort of buildings and infrastructure they will need to support the complex machines.

A century ago, architects wrestled with a similar issue when the industrial revolution brought widescale changes to residential housing design. Now that most people commute by automobile instead of horseback, modern homes have attached two-car garages instead of hay barns and stables.

So will the warehouses of 2050 look different because they’re designed to accommodate squadrons of robots instead of shifts of human workers? (After all, robots don’t need restrooms, but they might need extra electrical outlets.) In fact, warehouse design is already evolving to accommodate robots’ needs, and experts say that a few simple changes can make all the difference.

THE BIG EMPTY BOX

The easiest way to go robotic is to start from scratch, incorporating any required features like charging stations, Wi-Fi networks, and smooth floors into the design of a brand-new building, says Doug Rabeneck, director in the operations excellence practice at business and technology consulting firm West Monroe Partners. That approach is clearly more expensive than adding robotics to an existing warehouse, but it avoids the challenges of overlaying a new robotic system onto the existing work force and systems.