Why your warehouse needs AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robot) part I: Increasing employer’s safety, productivity and satisfaction
Our primary focus over the years of work is finding solutions on how to increase efficiency and speed and at the same time remove the risk of human error when it comes to processes in the warehouse. For years automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and now autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have promised the answer.
Evolutions in automation are fundamental to shifts in the economy. Be it social distancing creating pressures, the way that warehouses are staffed or the rise in e-commerce as the driving force of retail during a global pandemic, AGVs and AMRs are providing the backbone to such shifts.
Focusing heavily on AMRs – robots and cobots – can have a significant benefit to accuracy; safety of employees; people engagement and efficiency. These are four good reasons – you are making your service more accurate; the environment you work in safer; the people that work in your environment are more engaged so you can optimize and make more efficient service for your customers. There are benefits for employees too, for example, the cobot is training as it goes along. It can follow your employees, so they don't have to keep on pulling or pushing the cage. They can safely walk around, look up and be more focused on his task.
While efficiency and reliability might appeal from a financial point of view, particularly in the speed and volume world of e-commerce, improving employee wellbeing and safety is an additional benefit that is not often recognized.
Supplement, not replace
The use of AMRs gives employees more time to focus on the higher-level tasks that will enable them to become more skilled and develop professionally.
Replacing or supporting manual processes like picking is the low-hanging fruit for robotic-led automation, and many organizations are looking at the next-generation which shows the potential to improve and optimize more complex, integrated systems.
If you want to find out and learn more about AMRs, we would be delighted to help you - contact us!
Source: logisticsmanager.com