RS INTERVIEW


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 almost 90 years ago, be permeated with automated packaging and an AI fed warehouse system?


and community feel of this workplace was instantly impressed upon us. Where I was expecting vast lines of conveyers and automated turntables sorting parcels based on their barcodes, we were instead met with around 20 to 30 people transporting pallets of products and sorting them into the correct bins or pallet bays to be moved upstairs to the packing area.


 packing’ department, shelves among shelves of boxes, waiting to be sorted into smaller packaging and sent around the world to eagerly awaiting customers, were


being managed by the many local people who staff the facility.


Through into the machine packing, where workers running the machines for either four or eight hour shifts, and have targets  full of chatter and friendly nods between colleagues as we wander through the operating line.


Towards the end of our tour we hear many stories from our guide of long serving team members, charitable events held by staff alongside work that RS do through SolarAid, providing solar-powered lighting to low income families in Africa. We even hear


of how members of staff from all over the warehouse gave from their own pockets and called in favours to give one terminally ill worker a wedding day she otherwise couldn’t have afforded.


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It may be instinctual to think that because many of these processes are being done manually, with the only visible automation being barcode scanners and conveyers used for transporting boxes, that the process  Corby facility being active for over 40 years now and being one of the largest employers in the local area, it’s clear how important this human touch is.


MAY 2026 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS 15


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