Convenience store chain Sheetz Inc. was faced with antiquated material-handling equipment, inadequate software and short supply of warehousing capacity.

Inside a Shanghai warehouse the size of seven football fields, hundreds of robots pack roughly 200,000 boxes each day and ship them to customers across China. Four humans babysit.

Challenge: Due to the popularity of its product line, a food producer experienced a sudden increase in local market demand, resulting in an urgent need for cold storage space to accommodate increased inventory. In addition to growing demand, random order frequency necessitated inbound and outbound truck handling flexibility to ensure OTIF fulfilment while maintaining product integrity.

Instead of displacing American workers, robots may soon make many of their jobs more efficient.

Online sales are a must for just about every traditional retailer today. But they can also be a drag on profits.