State of Robotics Technology in Logistics part of
Supply
BackgroundChain
Challenges for Logistics
Robots
Since decades, Robots are being used in
manufacturing side of Supply Chain to
enhance productivity, maintain quality,
and control cost. Robots are also used
extensively in warehouse management
and distribution centres. In this report
we will focus on use of robotics beyond
manufacturing and into Logistics side of
Supply Chain.
Need of Robotics in
Logistics sector
Forrester Research predicts 10% YoY
growth for online retail in Europe and
US. Online Retail will be much higher in
Asia especially in China and India than
western world.
Two issues that will make situation more
compelling in the logistics world:
Ecommerce boom will require huge
number of additional workforce that
needed for parcel shipments.
Decline in the size of available
workforce due to shrinking population
levels in the western World
Source: A DPDHL perspective on implication and
Technological Drivers
Until recently, robots have been stationary, blind and relatively
unintelligent. They can perform same function over again and
again.
Logistics Robots require much more functionality :
Need more agility to handle wide array of different parts of
various shapes in various type of combination.
Intelligent robots that could see, move, and react to its Low cost Touch Sensor Collaborative Robot that
environment can work alongside
workers
Need robots that can work in collaboration with humans and
safer to use
Currentto
Cost effective state of Logistic Robots
be used in large scale operations for
logistics sector.
Research shows that 80% of current warehouse are manually
operated with no supporting automation. 15% of current
warehouses are mechanized with material handling automation
such as conveyors, goods to picker solution, Automated sorting 5 Finger Gripping Hand
and retrieval system, Automated Guided vehicles, etc. Exo skeleton
Some of the new technology advancements which are currently Future
available or under development includes:
Container Unloading Robots : DHL has developed a Prospects
Mobile and self contained robots
prototype Parcel Robot. The robot is positioned in front of a which will be coordinated through
container to unload and uses its laser to scan all the boxes.
advanced WMS and planning software
An integrated computer analyses the various sizes of parcel to track inventory
and determines the optimal unloading sequence.
Employees can train Robots through
Stationary and Mobile Piece Picking Robots: Stationary
simple interface
piece picking robots can pick up a shelf of goods and bring Automated unloading and sorting of
entire shelf to picker who stays in one spot. Mobile robots can parcels according to final destinations.
move around warehouse shelves and pick items like a human Self driving trucks and drones for last
would. It provides just-in-time object delivery to the mile delivery
workbench
use cases for the logistics industry, by DHL Trend Research, 2016