Deploying robots in the warehouse drives up productivity, plain and simple, says Stanislas Normand, managing director North America for Exotec. It does that by reducing the footprint of material handling and other systems, so companies can put more products in their warehouses. It also reduces the need for human labor and, perhaps most importantly, improves overall working conditions.

“In terms of robotics, the main advantages that we see versus traditional automation is the flexibility of the solution, the resilience of the solution with no single point of failure, and also the capacity of the systems to ramp up and accompany clients' operations’ growth over their lifetime,” Normand says. 

The lack of a single point of failure is important, and where robots differ from other forms of automation, such as conveyors, Normand explains. “If a robot fails, it doesn't take the whole system down and it doesn't create a single point of failure, because the rest of the fleet will keep on working and that robot can be taken out for maintenance.”

Robotic automation can help with labor shortages, Normand says. At present, most warehouses are 10% to 15% understaffed, and companies are competing with other industries such as hospitality and the service industry for reliable workers. 

Along with filling gaps in human labor, robotics can help attract and retain workers. “The advantage of a robotics solution is to reduce the difficulty of labor, by robots being able to take all the heavy lifting,” Normand says. Any initial resistance to implementing a robotics system tends to disappear once it is installed. This is partly because the shortage of labor means it’s self-evident that robots aren’t replacing humans, instead making their lives easier. Plus, because people are relational creatures, employees enjoy forming bonds with the robots, which are given individual names. “There’s real collaboration in the way that it works,” Normand says.