LOGISTICS TRANSPORTATION REVIEW9 JULY 2023systems that automate access and retrieval tasks at high volume and accuracy with total consistency using cranes to find the appropriate products at higher speeds. This area of automation is steadily evolving, using faster systems that are better coordinated and are managed by smarter warehouse control systems.Staying in its laneOf course, warehouse automation has limitations once we get beyond the access and retrieval systems where automation excels on its own, the complementary uses of automation increase.Picking, for example, is a more manual task, with colleagues moving around mezzanine levels collecting items to make up an order. But then picking is followed by sortation, which is another area where automation excels and is well-established. Automated sortation systems handle complex procedures consistently, accurately, and speedily.What's next for logistics automation?We expect to see three key developments in the use of automation over the next several years.First, we think machine learning is going to finetune automated processes. We are already seeing this in our Nestlé distribution centre, with one gantry system used to build pallets and another to take them apart. Using machine learning and machine vision, the layer pickers are learning how to improve operations and understand how to respond to anomalies and how to self-clear errors.Second, we expect warehouse automation to keep adapting to the rapid growth in ecommerce. This is where technology add-ons such as autonomous mobile robots or cobots can complement our team members, boosting safety, accuracy, and productivity in line with the throughput of automated processes in storage, retrieval, and sortation.And third, we think we'll be able to use automation to develop solutions for return logistics and to revolutionise picking. In the fashion industry, returned goods have to be sorted and assessed for resale. Currently, picking items such as clothing is labour-intensive, but a machine that could identify a product and assess its quality will make huge strides toward automating the returns process. Developments in gripper technology that will select the right amount of pressure to use when picking up a pillow versus a car battery will further our vision for automating picking.These developments will build on today's pilots, such as the Knapp Pick-it-Easy arm that combines a sophisticated camera with AI-based object recognition capability to pick up items and put them into pockets automatically. The same system is ready to be applied to returns, too.Integral, but not a panaceaAutomation is going to continue evolving, but it won't be the solution to every problem.For example, a sea container stuffed with cardboard boxes that need unpacking and sorting presents a real challenge, even for automation. And whereas a supermarket might order food items in a predictable way, online consumer purchasing varies widely and sometimes even wildly. On the other hand, end-to-end warehouse automation is the right solution for a manufacturer like Nestlé because the company works with huge and predictable product flows.Given the flexibility necessary to meet the widely varying needs of customers, we see the adoption of automation being led by modular technologies such as automated mobile robots (AMR). AMRs are small and mobile--warehouses can easily add AMRs when volumes increase during peak seasons and then redeploy some of them elsewhere as volumes return to normal--giving them significant advantages over heavier, fixed installations. And the increasing use of AMRs, among other technologies, is making automation increasingly integral to supply chains. AUTOMATED SYSTEMS HAVE ALSO BECOME CRUCIAL AS WE BUILD AND OPERATE WAREHOUSES WITH HIGH-DENSITY STORAGE ON MULTIPLE LEVELS
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