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FOOD & BEVERAGE
T
he food and grocery market in the UK is one of the most competitive and fast-moving retail sectors, arguably, in the world. The pressures are immense, with disruptors to existing business
models ranging from the rise of the discounters and the explosion in home delivery to the impact on supply chains of everything from weather to war. In addition, there is the constant cycle of new products and trends, such as vegan/meat free, which may or may not become established. And all this is set against the challenges of
ever more costly and increasingly unavailable labour, uncertain but generally increasing transport costs, and a consumer base that despite, or because of, the ‘cost of living crisis’, demands convenience and availability at the lowest price and exhibits diminishing levels of loyalty to retailers and brands. To meet these challenges, one might think
that investment in automation in the fulfilment chain – warehouses and distribution centres –
THE FOOD SECTOR MUST FACE ITS FEARS OVER WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION
Past mistakes should inform, but not inhibit, the adoption of new technologies within the food supply chain. Dan Migliozzi, sales and marketing director, at independent systems integrator, Invar Group, explains why the sector needs to rediscover its appetite for risk.
would be a no-brainer. Higher throughputs, managed, picked and delivered more accurately, improving service levels with less inventory (and waste), better transport utilisation, all with lower levels of labour and a more flexible and agile response to changing market conditions, whether there be one-off events or longer-term trends.
PAST MISTAKES Yet, there is a clear reluctance amongst supermarkets and other food businesses to go all-in on automation. This is perhaps unsurprising – there are few of the well-known names that haven’t experienced some sort of technology-driven crisis over the past decade or
34 APRIL 2024 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
two. Not infrequently these have left the business section for the front page, leading not just to missed sales and unhappy consumers, but to panicked shareholders, questions in Parliament, and ‘thoughtful’ op-ed pieces in the media. More often than not, the ‘solution’ has been to side-line the tech and flood the warehouse with people. As a fully independent automation and
systems vendor and integrator, however, we observe that it is only rarely that there have been fundamental issues with the hardware and software. Rather, the issues lie around timescales, complexity and over-ambition, and a lack of forward vision. Major investment decisions appear to have been driven by a
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