With the continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain businesses are scurrying to expedite the overwhelming supply and demand needs.
Consumers are buying (all sorts of) products at significantly higher rates than normal. There is a growing demand in many supplies, and e-commerce is beyond its peak with order fulfillment. As this eye-opening scenario in the material handling industry unfolds, facilities look to the many automation solutions as the critical component (s) necessary to sustain their current business model now and moving forward.
This pandemic, in some arenas, has exposed some of our supply chain vulnerabilities, but it also brought to light what can be done to prepare for these occurrences in the future. There is little time to give pause to the initial investment and costs incurred, to be absorbed over time, but rather to focus on the multitude of benefits that automation solutions provide to a daily operation.
Top 3 Benefits to Automation
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Facilities become more productive and efficient with higher accuracy rates in picking and throughput
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Labor becomes more automated, allowing for physical demands to be relieved, ultimately decreasing labor costs, stressors, accidents and human error
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Customer (and consumer) behaviors can be studied and analyzed to meet or shuffle peak highs and lows in product fulfillment through data driven WMS, WCS, and WES
The supply chain businesses are at a defining moment in their daily operation. Here and now, more than ever, many will be called to task…many will be challenged. How will this challenge present itself for your warehouse facility and will you answer its call?
Automation must be in the forefront of every business. It is imperative to remain laser focused on the needs of the day-to-day operation and the impact automated material handling solutions can and will have on those operations.
Author: Heather Connors, Director of Marketing, Conveyor Handling Company
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