50,000 warehouses to use 4 million robots by 2025, says report
50,000 warehouses to use 4
million robots by 2025, says report
More than 4 million commercial robots will be installed in over 50,000
warehouses by 2025, according to a report by ABI Research.
The 50,000 figure
represents a massive expansion of the market from the current situation in
which an estimated 4,000 warehouses were found to be using robots in 2018.
ABI says the rapid rate of
adoption will be driven by the need for flexible, efficient, and automated
e-commerce fulfillment as same-day delivery becomes the norm.
Global adoption of
warehouse robotics will also be spurred by the increasing affordability and
return on investment of a growing variety of infrastructure-light robots as
they are an attractive and versatile alternative to traditional fixed
mechanical automation or manual operations.
Nick Finill, senior analyst
at ABI Research, says: “Flexibility and efficiency have become primary
differentiators in the e-commerce fulfillment market as retailers and
third-party logistics companies struggle to cope with volatile product demand,
seasonal peaks, and rising consumer delivery expectations.
“Robots enable warehouses to scale operations up or down as required while
offering major efficiency gains and mitigating inherent challenges associated
with labor and staffing.”
Automated guided vehicles
and autonomous mobile robots goods-to-person systems can directly replace
heavier mechanized automation that typically requires massive upfront investment
and rigid physical infrastructure.
Robots enable the
optimization of space in expensive warehouse facilities and can reduce the need
for new and costly greenfield fulfillment centers. Mobile robotic systems also
offer major flexibility advantages.
Robot vendors, such as
Fetch, Geek Plus Robotics, and inVia, enable additional robots to be added to
or removed from a fleet as operational demands require.
They also allow easy and
relatively rapid reconfiguration of entire workflows and operations if product
lines or fundamental operational requirements change.
This is a major advantage
in the unpredictable and dynamic e-commerce market, says ABI.
The researcher adds that,
as a result of impressive innovation in computer vision, artificial
intelligence, deep learning, and robotic mechanics, robots are also becoming
increasingly adept at performing traditionally harder-to-automate tasks.
Economically viable mobile
manipulation robots from the likes of RightHand Robotics and Kindred Systems
are now enabling a wider variety of individual items to be automatically picked
and placed within a fulfillment operation.
By combining mobile robots,
picking robots, and even autonomous forklifts, fulfillment centers can achieve
greater levels of automation in an efficient and cost-effective way.
Many robot technology
vendors are providing additional value by offering flexible pricing options.
Robotics-as-a-service
models mean that large CapEx costs can be replaced with more accessible OpEx
costs that are directly proportional to the consumption of technologies or
services, improving the affordability of robotics systems among the mid-market,
further driving adoption.
Finill says: “By lowering
the barriers to adoption for robots in the warehouse, vendors are disrupting
the wider logistics value chain.
“If advanced automation
becomes possible for mid-size e-retailers, they will be able to fight back
against the dominant players and also bring fulfillment operations back
in-house, disrupting the relationship between retailers and 3PLs.”
These findings are from ABI
Research’s study, Robotics in E-commerce Fulfillment application
analysis report.
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