Logistics 2017 Awaits You at RoboBusiness 2016

Robots rule logistics…finally

Strap yourself in for a wild ride of exploration into logistics 2017 at RoboBusiness 2016.

Leap ahead a full year and then turn around to see the new robot-driven world of logistics racing toward you. It won’t be hard to see, but it won’t look the same any longer.

Logistics is changing that fast!

Want to know why Honeywell bought Intelligrated; why KUKA bought Swisslog; why Kion bought Dematic; why Daifuku bought Wynright; why M&As and consolidations are happening seemingly everywhere all the time; why supply chain and material handling organizations worldwide are quickly doing a 360 from their traditional logistics/supply chain technology picks?

Amazon’s acquisition of Kiva and what is happening in Amazon’s warehouses hold the answers.

Just for starters, check this out (from a recent Deutsche Bank study):

Amazon’s “click to ship” cycle used to be around 60-75 minutes with employees manually getting orders out; robots now handle the same job in 15 minutes.

That’s more than awesome; it’s time for everyone to ditto Amazon’s every move…or keep on struggling for razor-thin margins doing it the old way. E-commerce isn’t getting any slower; e-customers aren’t lowering their expectations; and shareholders aren’t getting more lenient with your excuses.

It’s finally dawned on most everyone that robots rule logistics.

Need more convincing?

Each of Amazon’s Kiva-equipped warehouses can hold 50 percent more inventory per square foot than centers without robots. In turn, the company’s operating costs have been sliced by 20 percent-or almost $22 million-per warehouse.

If Kiva robots are dispatched to all of the 110 Amazon warehouses, the tech giant could save almost $2.5 billion, according to Deutsche Bank.

See what I mean? Robots now rule logistics, and will so until they are replaced with better robots. It’s a totally astounding flip-flop, and so much more of it will be in play for 2017.