Is there still a place for humans in the automated warehouse of the future?

It began in December, with CVS’s proposed $69bn buyout of insurer Aetna. In January, three more corporate behemoths — Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway — said they were forming a joint venture aimed at reducing health care costs and improving outcomes for their combined 1 million or so employees.

General Mills Inc. suffered the worst plunge since mid-2015 after shipping costs and other expenses squeezed profit margins to their thinnest point in years.

People are our greatest asset. We've heard this – and similar sayings – for years. Now, however, leading firms are actually putting this into practice, and are reaping rewards for doing so. Going into 2018, people are still a critical link in the supply chain. -Donnie Williams, Asst. Professor of Logistics & Supply Chain Management, and Karl B. Manrodt, Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, both at Georgia College & State University