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Warehouse Robots Will See a Population Explosion
By 2025, the population of commercial robots in warehouses is expected to increase to four million worldwide, says ABI Research. They’ll be installed in 50,000 warehouses globally, up from just under 4,000 as of 2018. The rapid rate of adoption will be driven by the need for flexible, efficient, and automated e-commerce fulfillment, as same-day delivery becomes the norm, says ABI.
Global adoption of warehouse robotics will also be spurred by the increasing affordability and ROI of a growing variety of infrastructure-light robots. These are viewed as an attractive and versatile alternative to traditional fixed mechanical automation or manual operations.
“Flexibility and efficiency have become primary differentiators in the e-commerce fulfillment market, as retailers and 3PLs struggle to cope with volatile product demand, seasonal peaks, and rising consumer delivery expectations,” said ABI’s Nick Finill, based in London. “Robots enable warehouses to scale operations up or down as required, while offering major efficiency gains and mitigating inherent challenges associated with labor and staffing.”
Along with advances in the technology, which have given rise to automated guided vehicles (AGV) and autonomous mobile robots (AMR) goods-to-person systems, there have been advances in staffing. Vendors such as Fetch, Geek+ and Invia enable robots to be added to or removed from a warehouse’s fleet as operational demands require.
These vendors also facilitate relatively rapid reconfiguration of entire workflows and operations if product lines or fundamental operational requirements change. ABI notes that this presents a major advantage in the unpredictable and dynamic e-commerce market.
“By lowering the barriers to adoption for robots in the warehouse, vendors are disrupting the wider logistics value chain,” said Finill. “If advanced automation becomes possible for mid-size e-retailers, they will be able to fight back against the dominant players and also bring fulfillment operations back in-house, disrupting the relationship between retailers and 3PLs.”
Pictured: RightPick mobile robot sorter from RightHand Robotics
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny
