Robotics: Disruptive Technology

Predicting the future of supply chain management can be a fool's game. Media outlets and trade associations alike hail big data, robotic solutions, the cloud and predictive analytics as the disruptive technologies and trends set to meet supply chain challenges of the future. But what about the here and now? Of the technologies pegged to cause disruption or drive competitive advantage in the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report, two have already made a bigger impact than previously expected: robotics and automation, and driverless vehicles and drones. 

Since their inception in manufacturing environments in 1954, robotics have delivered real-world results, helping companies optimize processes, improve efficiency and create a more flexible experience for workers. As today's operations battle SKU proliferation, managing a wide range of product and packaging types, the flexibility and adaptability of robotic solutions offer the right attributes to meet more dynamic downstream demand. 

Case in point: Kelly-Moore Paints™ installed an Alvey robotics palletizing system that resulted in trading high employee turnover and injury risk of manual palletizing for the speed and reliability of automation. Prior to installing an end-of-line robotic palletizer, Kelly-Moore employees were hand-palletizing products weighing up to 70 pounds, leading to production flow inefficiencies. Intelligrated's robotic palletizing system now enables the line to run at an even pace throughout the day by eliminating the breaks required by heavy-lifting in the manual process. Additional efficiencies of the robotic palletizers came through faster line changeovers, which now take only nine minutes compared to 45 minutes with the old system. 

But this technology can go much further than robotic palletizers in the warehouse or manufacturing facility. There are flexible, reliable robotic solutions to increase line speed, workplace safety and order accuracy in the following applications:

• Robotic case packing and unpacking
• Robotic picking
• Robotic depalletizing
• Robotic tote handling 

In the long-term, robotic integration and other industrial automation increases productivity and creates safer work environments. And with the increasing demands of e-commerce fulfillment, new robotic solutions continue to emerge. 

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