Those who run companies that offer all sorts of products gathered in Philadelphia last week to examine the lessons of the turmoil surrounding global supply chains. At the heart of many proposed solutions are robots and other forms of automation.
On the showroom floor, robot manufacturers demonstrated their latest models, offering robots to help warehouse workers become more efficient. It touted an era in which unmanned trucks and drones would dominate exhibition space and machines would take center stage in bringing products to homes.
Both companies described their technology as a way to reduce employee costs and optimize schedules, breaking resistance to a future centered around evolving forms of automation.
said Kary Zate, senior director of marketing communications at Locus Robotics, a leading manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots. “People don’t want to do those jobs.”
More than two years after the pandemic, the ongoing economic shock has intensified traditional conflicts between employers and employees around the world. SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY As a result of his chain entanglement, rising prices for energy, food and other commodities have led workers to demand higher wages, along with the right to continue working from home. . Employers are holding wages on the back of rising costs of parts, raw materials and shipping, and a wave of strikes continues in countries such as the UK.
The risks are particularly high for companies involved in the transportation of goods. Their executives argue that massive supply chain disruptions are largely the result of labor shortages. It is claimed that because they have run out, ports are overwhelmed and retail shelves are running out of goods.
While some labor experts dispute such claims, they reaffirm that labor shortages are employers’ unwillingness to pay enough to attract the necessary number of people. I’m here.
“This story of shortages is industry lobbying rhetoric,” says Steve Viselli, an economic sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream.” says. “There is no shortage of truck drivers. These are really bad jobs.”
We spent a day wandering the Home Delivery World Trade Show inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center to discover how supply chain companies are pursuing automation and flexible staffing as a response to rising wages. They are eager to employ robots as an alternative to human workers. Robots don’t get sick, even in a pandemic. They are never home to care for their children.
A big truck painted purple and white occupied a prime location on the showroom floor. It was a driverless delivery vehicle built by Gatik, a Silicon Valley company that operates 30 between fulfillment centers in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas and Walmart stores.
Here’s how trucking companies solve the challenge of attracting and retaining drivers, says Richard Steiner, Gatik’s head of policy and communications.
“It’s not as attractive a profession as it used to be,” he said. “We can provide a solution to that problem.”
Nearby, Israeli startup SafeMode touted a way to limit the notorious turnover rate that plagues the trucking industry. The company has developed an app that monitors driver behavior (speed, hard braking, fuel efficiency) and rewards drivers who perform better than others.
The company’s founder and CEO, Ido Levy, displayed data obtained from drivers in Houston the day before. The driver had a tighter grip on the wheel, so he earned an extra $8. This is a cash bonus on top of his $250 he normally makes a day.
“Every day we communicate that we are truly successful,” said Levy, 31. “It really encourages retention. We try to make them feel part of something.”
Levy came up with the company with professors at the MIT Media Lab who drew on research on behavioral psychology and gamification (using game elements to encourage participation).
So far, the Safe Mode system has saved 4 percent on fuel and increased retention by a quarter, Levy said.
Another Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, V-Track, employs technology similar to Safe Mode to discourage truckers from changing jobs. The company has installed cameras in the cab of its trucks to monitor drivers and warn them if they are looking at their cell phones, driving too fast or not wearing their seatbelts.
Jim Becker, the company’s product manager, says many drivers have come to appreciate cameras as a way to protect themselves from unjustified cheating accusations.
But if drivers get annoyed about being monitored, what effect does that have on retention?
Max Farrell, co-founder and CEO of WorkHound, which collects real-time feedback, said “dissatisfaction with increased surveillance, especially around in-cab cameras,” is a major cause of driver grief. I’m here.
Several businesses on the show floor catered to trucking companies struggling to hire staff for their dispatch centers. Their solution was to move such functions to lower wage countries.
Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lean Solutions has opened call centers in Columbia and Guatemala. This is in response to “labor issues in the United States,” said the company’s distributor, Hunter Bell.
Kentucky startup NS Talent Solutions establishes dispatch operations in Mexico at savings of up to 40% compared to the US.
“The pandemic has helped,” said sales director Michael Bartlett. “The world is now comfortable with remote staffing.”
Many companies facilitated services to recruit and screen part-time and temporary workers, providing a way for companies to ramp up as needed without committing to full-time employees.
Atlanta startup Pruuvn sells a service that allows companies to exclude employees from hiring and background checks.
“This allows us to eliminate or replace multiple individuals,” said Brian Hobbs, the company’s CEO, in a presentation.
Another staffing firm, Dallas-based Veryable, provided a platform for pairing workers, such as retirees and students seeking part-time temporary work, with supply chain companies.
Jonathan Katz, regional partnership manager for the company’s Southeastern region, said staffing is a way for smaller warehouses and distribution operations that lack the funds to install robots to increase their ability to adapt to fluctuating demand. It is explained that there is
Drone company Zipline has released a video of its equipment taking off behind a Walmart in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, dropping items such as mayonnaise and birthday cakes into customers’ backyards. Another company, DroneUp, plans to launch a similar service at his 30 Walmart stores in Arkansas, Texas and Florida by the end of the year.
However, large companies are most focused on deploying robots.
Manufacturer Locus already equips 200 warehouses around the world with robots, and has recently expanded to Europe and Australia.
Locus says its machines complement workers rather than replace them, a way to get more productivity out of the same warehouse by eliminating the need for humans to push carts.
But the company also presents robots as a solution to the labor shortage. Unlike employees, robots can be easily scaled up and down, so once they no longer need to hire and train temporary workers, Locus Retail his global his account Melissa his director Mr. Valentine The panel said in his discussion.
Locus also rents robots, allowing customers to add or remove robots as needed. Locus will take care of the maintenance.
Robots can “solve labor problems,” said Nathan Ray, director of distribution center operations at grocery chain Albertsons. “You can find a solution that fits your budget. There are so many options out there.”
As Ray acknowledged, a major factor holding back the rapid deployment of automation is workers’ fear that robots will threaten their jobs. “It’s really fun,” said Ray, when he realizes that robots aren’t replacing them, they’re just relieving them of physically demanding tasks like pushing carts. “They find it kind of cool.”
Workers even give the robots cute nicknames, he added.
But another panelist, Bruce Jinsky, transportation director at Party City, a chain of party supply stores, offered robots as an alternative to higher wages.
“We couldn’t find labor, so we tried to attract people by raising wages,” he said. “And everyone else raised their wages.”
Robots never ask for a raise.