A robotic picking system can post an impressive pick rate and still leave your team handling too many exceptions. For fulfillment leaders, the real test is how much of your operation’s picking volume it can handle reliably. And whether that performance holds as products, packaging, and demand change.

Is physical artificial intelligence the key to creating autonomous warehouses?

Aftermarket parts distributors face a unique set of fulfillment challenges. SKU counts continue to grow, demand can change without warning, and customers often need parts quickly to restore critical equipment. At the same time, distributors must maintain accuracy, control costs, and operate with limited labor.

RFID and machine vision are gaining momentum because they offer a practical, cost-effective path to automation. Unlike large-scale robotics projects that often require major facility redesigns and significant capital investment, RFID readers and AI-powered camera systems can typically be layered onto existing warehouse and manufacturing operations.

Great operational gains come through integrating RFID, machine vision and robotics into a coordinated operating model.

Tim Taylor, senior director of platform product management at Tecsys, discusses how warehouse operators can balance the need for customized solutions with that of access to the latest and most secure applications.

Scentsy is a global leader in fragrance products. As order volumes increased, SKUs expanded, and warehouse space became limited, manual operations could no longer keep pace. Scentsy partnered with Dematic to implement a future-ready solution combining AutoStore™ empowered by Dematic, intelligent software, and a pick-to-cart system to maximize storage capacity, optimize inventory flow, and accelerate e-commerce fulfillment.

While warehouse automation is a costly upfront investment, it drives long-term savings by reducing facility footprints, lowering energy consumption and minimizing packaging waste.

At what point does "AI" move from being a buzzword to something of demonstrated value to warehouses? Shri Hariharan, senior vice president of global solutions with Blue Yonder, shares his view.

The ability to coordinate people, robots and workflows in a warehouse may become just as important as the intelligence built into any single machine.