Industrial Automation Magazine India

Automation and robotics are becoming ubiquitous, reducing human factors

Published on : Friday 04-08-2023

Dave Evans, CEO, Fictiv.

The logistics and warehousing sector are greatly influenced by digital transformation. What are the factors driving this change?
There are a couple of key factors driving the change, such as an increase in ecommerce activity and the customer’s need for faster responses. Customers are expecting same-day shipping and sometimes even same-day delivery. These expectations are becoming the norm. Warehouses must also carry more SKUs to support these expectations, so there’s a need to be more efficient in larger warehouse environments. Keeping up with these trends — and ensuring customer expectations can be fulfilled — requires more connectivity and creativity.

What are the technology trends that are revolutionising modern distribution and fulfillment centres?
Automation and robotics are becoming ubiquitous, reducing human factors and minimising errors by allowing teams to offer more support with fewer resources. Autonomous vehicles reduce the need for forklifts, increase picking productivity, and support late-day order fulfillment by enabling longer shifts. Operators don’t have to lug around bulky laptops (or worse, e.g., paper for logging transactions at a later date) thanks to wearables that ease real-time transactions. Real-time data is critical for keeping inventory levels visible, fulfilling real-time orders, and supporting the same-day expectations of customers. These technologies, as well as more advanced AI, help warehouses with slotting, reduce overall movements, and ensure fast-moving material gets located.

How is robotics in general, AMRs/AGVs in particular, supporting these endeavors?
Automated warehousing and robotics increase efficiency by offering more support with fewer resources, eliminating the ‘human factor’, reducing error rates, and increasing successful transaction rates. While autonomous vehicles can’t replace humans, they can increase picking productivity, reduce downtime due to accidents, handle mundane tasks, and empower humans to fill more value-added roles. Drones – with their ability to reach difficult locations quickly and safely – are making cycle counting, locating inventory, and stock-taking operations easier. Making these tasks more efficient enables warehouses to perform the tasks more frequently and keep inventory levels accurate.

Digital transformation of Intralogistics is incomplete without corresponding change in Warehousing as well as Shipping & Distribution. How are these segments performing together?
There needs to be connectivity to support intralogistics: the ability to read equipment sensors within the whole operation. This allows predictive data for when equipment needs to be repaired or replaced, which drives efficiency since equipment is running longer and has more uptime. There needs to be connectivity across systems as well so: (1) data can be collected to provide more predictive analytics, and (2) operations – not just equipment – can perform better. We need to see where inefficiencies occur to understand what process changes may be needed to streamline operations.

What are the software platforms available that facilitate this transformation?
A couple of platforms are warehouse control systems and location intelligence software.  

How is 5G impacting the logistics and warehousing scenario given the importance of connectivity in IIoT based automation?
5G will eliminate many of the issues that are typical to Wi-Fi setups. 5G allows ubiquitous coverage within large facilities, which will eliminate short-range router setups and enable faster data transfer with less interference and interruption. This greater coverage will also create more bandwidth, which will help robotics perform better and will enable greater adoption going forward.

(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)

Dave Evans envisions a world where ideas become products with speed and ease and manufacturing is available for all - without fear of failure or constraint. And as the CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystem leader, Fictiv, Dave is making his vision a reality.
 
Since its founding in 2013, Fictiv has manufactured more than 20 million parts for early-stage companies and large enterprises alike, driving innovation with agility from prototype to production and ensuring supply chain predictability and success for customers in industries from automotive and robotics to healthcare and aerospace.

Dave graduated from Stanford University in 2011 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. In 2017, Dave was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list. More recently, he was honored when Fictiv was named in the SDCE 100 Top Supply Chain Projects for 2020 by Supply & Demand Executive and when he was personally named to the 2021 Constellation Research Business Transformation 150 list as well as the 2021 Manufacturing Leadership Award for digital transformation by the National Association of Manufacturers. As a Global Innovator member of the World Economic Forum, Fictiv has received $192 million in funding since its inception to enable game-changing digital manufacturing for all.