FEAT RE FEA ATURE


ROBO CS ROBOTIC S


How robotics can re


com A s a clo lo warehousing and logistics world


robotics can de lliver for th in


th the exponential growth of e-com erce, both businesses and consumers now expect a swift and reliable delivery servi at mni


cost. The pressure for cheaper, faster, better i


increasing. Are logistics robots the solution? T rcial officer of Tharsus, takes a closer look


recent survey found customer demands for faster response times


and improved customer service were two of the top issues that supply chain leaders found challenging. Optimisation of inventory and streamlining of goods handling has become imperative in a world where deliveries are expected in minutes and hours rather than days or weeks. Consequently, the time to pick, pack and ship an order is now also measured in mere minutes, leaving little margin for human error.


All of this is troubling, when, in the UK, Brexit is causing uncertainty over labour availability and in the US 600,000 warehouse positions nationally go unfilled1


due to a lack of qualified


workers This labour shortage – combined with an annual workforce turnover in the warehousing and distribution industry of 25% – means there is a substantial gap between required workers and available labour. Unsurprisingly, these factors make the sector fertile ground for sowing and reaping the benefits of automation. Because robots never get bored or tired, they are especially good at dealing with monotonous or exhausti ng tasks, makin g them the perfect companion for warehouses requiring repetitive or strenuous labour.


With robots tailor-made to handle tasks such as palletisation,


depalletisation, consolidation and load handling, repetitive strain injuries could become a thing of the past. They can also improve ergonomics and decrease workplace safety incidents, as well as drastically reducing picking times (and in many cases doubling warehous e


efficiency), improving storage capacity, lowering energy costs, improving


deploying robots is also the only practical solution to labour shortages.


Broadly speaking, there are three 22 22 APRI MA 201 APRIL/MAY 2018 | IRISH MAN RISH MANUFAC ACTURI RING . td


categories of robots that will become more common in the intralogistics space: follow-me robots, autonomous robots and coordinated fleets .


FOL OW ME ROBO FOLLOW-ME ROBOTS


Follow-me robots require the lowest amount of technology out of the three types. As their name suggests, their role is to work side-by-side with a human warehouse worker, picking orders by following the human around the warehouse. They have no intelligence beyond following a person and they simply enable the worker to pick larger items and multiple orders on one trip without needing to push a heavy trolley. They provide modest productivity gains, but, because they need fewer, less


warehouse syste are far easier to


complex components, they cost less and integrate into existing ms and processes.


AU ONOMOUS ROBO , AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS Autonomous bots sit towards an


intermediate level, more advanced and expensive slightly more difficult to integrate but with the reward of more keenly felt productivity gains. These


security, and producing perfect inventory machines are able to navigate accuracy. For many logistics teams,


autonomously around a warehouse and can be dispatched to a bin location to await an order pick (mostly by a human) before automatically taking the order to


Figure 1: Figure 1:


Tharsus designed and manufacture the robot or online supermarket, Ocado’s ‘Smart Platform’ system


harsus designed and manufacture the robot ffor online supermarket, Ocado’s ‘Smart Platform’ system


Ensor, chief


With the exponential growth of e-commerce, both businesses and consumers now expect a sw t and rel able del very service at minimal cost. The pressure for cheaper, faster, better is increasing. Are logistics robots the solution? Tim Ensor, chief commercial officer of Tharsus, ta


be packed and dispa human supervision.


, COORDINAT COORDINA ED ROBO FLEE ATED ROBOT FLEET


Lastly, arguably the most technologically advanced, most expensive and


challenging to install and integrate, but with the most dramatic potential productivity gains, is the coordinated robot fleet.


An example of this is the ‘Smart Platform’ system developed by the world’s largest online-only supermarket – Ocado – for whom Tharsus designed and manufacture the robot. These systems use a teamof robots


collaborating to provide the items for a single customer order. Because they bring the items to the picker, they use floor-space much more efficiently than traditional aisle and shelving layouts. Ocado have seen customer picking times for orders of around 50 items reduce d from hours to a few A maj


ajor benefit of Reference eference 1. 2015 MHI annual 1. 2015 M I annual industry report Deloitte industry report Deloitte


it is fully flexible with robots performing tasks in parallel. The system can be continuously optimised by analysing the mountain of critical operational data gathered by each interconnected device. This element of interconnectivity will ultimately allow us to create “smart factories”.


Figure 2:


Figure 2: im Enso


Tim Ensor, Chiefr, Chief


Commercial Officer of harsus


Commercial Officer of Tharsus


With various optio ns and application s on offer and more emerging every day, there is no need to settle for a “one size fits all” approach. What’s more, unlike human workers, robots provide


unparalleled traceability, predictability and control.


That’s not to say robots will or should replace existing warehouse staff. What it does mean, is that the logistics world must obtain significant gains in


productivity, and robots could work in collaboration with staff to achieve the m. As such, robots are now poised as the


the world of wareho ideal solution to che


Tharsus www.tharsus.co.uk www.tharsus.co.uk e: Tim.Ensor@tharsus.co.uk / HSIRI IRISHMANUF e: Tim.Ensor@tharsus.co.uk MANUFACTURING FACTURING


aper, faster, better in using.


iver fo r th e lo stics w rl d


They can be broken tched without


down into two subsidiaries: man-to- goods machines (such as those designed by start-ups such as Locus, Otto and Fetch) and goods-to-man machines – as demonstrated by companies such a s Swisslog.


this approach is that minutes.


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