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Machines are a capital expenditure. You basically can't scale them down below their initial investment cost to acquire. Order picking is, in the grand scheme o
by zdragnar 4y ago
Machines are a capital expenditure. You basically can't scale them down below their initial investment cost to acquire.
Order picking is, in the grand scheme of human employment, essentially unskilled labor. It takes a bit of practice to get efficient, and a certain level of perseverance and endurance to operate at top efficiency, but it doesn't take any form of higher study, credentialing or apprenticeship to become qualified at. Scaling seasonal workers in this role is relatively trivial in terms of expense compared to purchasing robots.
Final note: humans take years to become obsolete and replaced by newer generations. The same isn't true with robots. If you can get full use out of one year round, it is much easier to justify investing now rather than 5 years from now than if you only get two months a year use out of it.
- datavirtue 4y agoHow about WFH drone robot operators? You could automate and macro some things and wouldn't need people onsite.
- zdragnar 4y agoThat sounds a lot like the worst of both worlds. Massive capital outlay to manage peak capacity, and your employees need to be a bit more specialized- they need a solid internet connection at home, and sufficiently skilled with technology to remotely operate a robot. Not only that, but now your robots aren't autonomous and are controlled by someone outside of the building. Operations security becomes significantly more complex, as does managing what happens when a robot gets stuck and your remote operator is interfering with the people onsite trying to fix the problem.