Following the dramatic increase in ecommerce shopping that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, the warehouse and logistics industry has found itself in an ongoing peak period. As such, the need for warehouses and logistics facilities to balance shipping with limiting expenses is more pressing than ever.
That’s why many warehouse managers are turning to automation. While the thought of upfront costs for robotics and software automation can seem daunting, these have a much lower investment entry point than most would expect. In fact, the incredible utility and fast ROI of modern warehouse automation have the potential to significantly reduce costs while maximizing productivity.
RaaS Knocks Down Automation Cost Barriers
Traditionally, warehouse automation involved purchasing robots and software outright. This was amajor financial decision, and the immediate costs meant automation was treated as capital expenditure (CapEx).
But the rise in robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) has changed the landscape of automation. RaaS is a flexible business model that allows a company to have the benefits of robotic process automation through a time or volume-based agreement.
RaaS lowers the cost of entry for businesses that want to adopt warehouse automation solutions. In addition, it allows organizations to scale up or down quickly and easily as market conditions and client demands change.
A workforce multiplier
The high volume of manual labor involved in warehouse picking causes great fatigue, lowering the accuracy and speed of your workers as their shifts go on. When it comes to warehouse automation, a single human worker can remotely direct and support the workflows of dozens of robots simultaneously. And since robots can manage over a thousand picks per hour depending on the application, warehouse automation acts as a powerful workforce multiplier.
In this way, warehouse automation increases your efficiency and shipping rate without the strains of labor shortages. Moreover, Upskilling your existing workers to handle more stimulating high-value roles also improves job satisfaction, which correlates positively with higher productivity.
If you want to expand your operation, automation allows you to process more volume in your existing space as robots can expand into multiple shifts without taking more space than humans.
Prevent worker injury and absence
In 2021, there were 5.5 recordable cases of injury and illness in warehouses and storage facilities for every 100 full-time workers. The high risk of injury from intense manual labor in the logistics industry also makes compensation payments and worker absence more likely.
While a human will tire in just a few hours, robots can work tirelessly for days, stopping occasionally for maintenance. They can also handle dangerous or corrosive products in place of human workers to create better workplace safety.
By automating your warehouse operations, you protect your workers from harm and protect yourself against needless expenses. And considering that compensation payments for serious workplace injuries can reach millions of dollars, warehouse automation is certainly a far more economical option.
Automate your warehouse with Plus One Robotics
Warehouse automation allows you to drastically reduce costs in your facility while also raising your productivity and efficiency. To achieve the most cost-effective warehouse automation possible, it’s important to use the industry’s best software.
Plus One Robotics creates vision software that provides robots with the hand-eye coordination needed to pick and place disparate objects in warehouses and distribution centers. Utilizing AI-powered perception, the software enables the robots to get smarter over time. The Plus One Robotics platform combines human-robot collaboration and human-in-the-loop remote robot supervision, allowing one human worker to manage up to 50 robots from anywhere at any time. This improves the robot’s ability to handle exceptions keeping downtime to a minimum, enabling 24/7 fulfillment, and further enhancing the AI’s learning.
Explore our induction and depalletizing solutions to learn more, or get in touch with our expert team.