INDUSTRY 4.0
FUTURE-PROOFING FOLLOWING COVID-19: THE KEY IS EMBRACING AUTOMATION
M
ost businesses suffered, some businesses failed, but for those who survived the ravages of the pandemic, what lessons have been learned and, perhaps more importantly, what plans are now in place to make businesses more resilient moving forward? History is littered with pandemics; following bird flu & swine flu, and COVID-19 has arguably been the worst since the Spanish flu. But what next? Another pandemic is inevitable at some point in the future. And on top of that, there is seasonal flu—absent last year, but could be making a strong comeback this year—preying on those of us who have been socially distanced and now less prepared to fight off illness.
It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when major business disruption will be upon us again, argues Dr Paul Rivers, CEO of Guidance Automation. The real question is what are businesses going to do today to be more resilient in the future?
The world of hybrid working The working world had to adapt over the pandemic, with many businesses transitioning to a remote working model. Since restrictions have been lifted, many companies have decided to keep their employees partly working from home, which is found to be favoured by a majority of workforces. In turn, this has meant that some employees could now consider remote opportunities further afield to eliminate the physical daily commute. And with the effects of Brexit causing a lack of foreign workers being available for the UK market—either permanently or as seasonal labour—combined with hybrid working, this has created a perfect storm of labour market shortages; especially in highly manual and repetitive roles within the logistics and manufacturing sectors.
Global research found that two-thirds of companies considered the automation of processes as the key to survival during the pandemic. As many businesses
look forwards, it is important to realise that the role of humans has changed and will continue to do, emphasising the need for automation and robotics within the future of the workplace. The pressure on businesses to automate processes will ultimately increase in order to replace existing roles and maintain productivity. This was echoed in a recent survey, which found that 53% of employers acknowledge that investing in automation boosts productivity across a hybrid workforce. Automation can be deployed permanently to remedy the shortfall of available workers by automating certain roles, reducing the pressure on businesses with restricted staff numbers. The vast majority of automation is focused around moving goods, for instance, pallets, heavy loads or small automatic guided vehicles moving boxes from aisles to a packing area. Making the automation investment enables the entire process to become smoother and more efficient, by having that fleet of automated,
34 MARCH 2022 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
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