Page 15 - Logistics News - May June 2022

WAREH O US IN G VIS I O N S TUD Y

retail. This may not be surprising when you consider that person-to-goods (P2G) picking, material movements and
respondents indicate their shipping volumes have increased other automated inventory moves, 92 percent in Europe
more than 20 percent on average over the past two years. and 94 percent globally will invest in software that helps
automate analytics and decision-making. They want to raise
Like associates, though, warehouse operators are worker effectiveness and efficiency and reduce labour costs.
viewing these challenges as catalysts for change and growth.
Between now and 2025, over eight in 10 expect to increase “As the pace of operations accelerates and workflows
the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) they carry and the become more complex, warehouse operators have found the
volume of shipped items. They also plan to expand returns average time to get workers to full productivity is 4.7 weeks,”
management operations, offer more value-added services says James Lawton, Vice President and General Manager,
and increase their physical footprints, with both the number Robotics Automation, Zebra Technologies. “Right now,
and size of warehouses increasing. decision-makers feel the most important labour initiative is
to reduce unnecessary tasks so associates can focus on more
While six in 10 warehouse operators worldwide also customer-centric work. If warehouse operators automate
want to increase headcount within the next year to right-size through AMRs and workflow optimisation software, it
their workforces, around half admit finding (55 percent) and will be easier to scale operations and meet service level
training (54 percent) workers in a timely manner remain big agreements as customer demands and labour availability
challenges. This is especially true in Europe, where 48 percent fluctuate.”
report it difficult to find workers and 50 percent say training
is challenging. As a result, around eight in 10 decision- Job satisfaction – and worker retention – are
makers agree they will have to rely more on automation in by-products of automation
the future. With warehouse operators planning to increase automation,
some might say jobs will be lost. Yet, study respondents
Balancing the scales: augmenting the workforce believe automation may help keep more people in their L O GI S T I CS NEWS
with automation jobs and fill empty ones. Over three-quarters of warehouse

While most warehouse operators both in Europe (88 associates in Europe (75 percent) and worldwide (78 percent)
percent) and globally (90 percent) will deploy AMRs for say walking fewer miles per day would make their jobs more

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