October 2 marks Manufacturing Day. The industry sets this day aside to honor the engineers, technicians, and innovators who keep the global supply chain active. The sector faces a severe human capital deficit. The U.S. manufacturing sector will need 3.8 million new employees by 2033, and 1.9 million of those jobs are at risk of remaining unfilled.¹

The solution to this labor gap is not to increase recruitment efforts within a shrinking talent pool. Organizations must instead take true Operational Ownership through smart, collaborative warehouse automation.

The macroeconomic reality of warehouse automation

Labor shortages and rising costs drive aggressive innovation across the logistics landscape. Fifty-two percent of supply chain technology users plan to invest more in robotics specifically to offset rising labor costs.² 

Warehouse automation investments have shifted strongly from retail toward manufacturing, driven by supply chain recovery and near-shoring efforts. Companies face unpredictable demand cycles and pressure to optimize current assets without prohibitive upfront investments. Mobile material transport and autonomous picking systems consistently show high growth projections³ because they directly address these acute labor constraints.⁴

The people-first approach to warehouse execution

The industry carries a persistent stigma that automation exists to replace human labor. Collaborative automation systems do the exact opposite. They elevate the workforce. We must shift the narrative to emphasize that technology protects and assists humans on the shop floor.

Integrate palletizing and autonomous mobile robots

Manual pallet building remains one of the most physically demanding and injury-prone tasks in the warehouse. Operators experience severe ergonomic strain when repeatedly lifting heavy cases to construct unit loads.

Operations can automate these heavy-lifting processes with advanced Alvey palletizing and depalletizing systems at the end of the line. Facilities can then deploy autonomous mobile robots to handle repetitive material transport tasks. During seasonal volume spikes, many third-party logistics providers adopt robotic systems over seasonal hiring to mitigate labor crises.

When robots handle the heavy lifting and transport, human workers transition into safer, higher-value roles. They become system managers, equipment technicians, and problem solvers. This approach can potentially help reduce the frequency of workplace injuries, increase employee satisfaction, and allow facilities to maintain high daily throughput without additional staffing.

Take true Operational Ownership

Future-proof facilities require a holistic integration of software, human capital, and advanced hardware. Operational Ownership means tackling top manufacturing challenges like unplanned downtime, fragmented systems, and rising SKU complexity at the source.

Most automation business cases focus on throughput and storage capacity. Yet one factor influences all of those outcomes: the pallet. When pallet quality varies, the consequences appear downstream. A leaning load causes a conveyor transfer jam; an autonomous vehicle struggles to complete a pickup, and an automated storage system rejects a load because it falls outside strict tolerances.

Operational Ownership requires building the right unit load correctly and consistently to ensure reliable performance across the entire warehouse.⁵

Frictionless sortation and system orchestration

The right technology can remove operational friction to maintain high-speed throughput despite labor constraints. The IntelliSort® Irregulars Sorter provides a prime example. It handles difficult packaging types like polybags and non-conveyables without sacrificing line speed.

System orchestration connects these individual technologies. Modern warehouse execution systems provide scalability, allowing companies to adapt to changing business needs and orchestrate every move. This complete ecosystem allows operations to view pallet integrity, mobile robotics, and sortation as a single, connected business strategy.

Bridge digital innovation and physical execution

Manufacturing Day allows us to celebrate the workforce and the concepts behind human-centric automation. The actual proof of concept happens on the shop floor.

Pack Expo 2026 serves as the destination to see this collaborative technology run live. The event will be an opportunity to discuss the potential return on investment and map your complete operational journey with our team of experts.

The Pack Expo booth experience

At booth N-5909, attendees will explore the end-to-end capabilities of Intelligrated and Trew. We engineer systems for your complete pallet journey, so that every technology, software platform, and process can work together as a unified system.

You’ll be able to learn more about our long-standing Alvey conventional palletizers as well as about our SmartFlex robotic palletizing solutions. The showcase includes seamless pallet transport with advanced robotics from integration partners like Movu, Seegrid, Dambach, and Eurofork. These systems connect through Momentum software to optimize fulfillment and provide real-time control.

Intelligrated commits to supporting manufacturers through smart, scalable automation that protects workers and maximizes return on investment.

Watch our new Manufacturing Day video below and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the human side of collaborative automation. Visit our event landing page to map your pallet journey and secure a 15-minute consultation with our application engineers at Pack Expo Booth N-5909.