Warehouse automation has mostly been taken on by big organisations with deep pockets, but growing accessibility and maturing vendors are allowing solutions to trickle down and grow through the market.
ABI Research predicts the global installed base of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in warehouses will surpass 500,000 by 2030.
“There are now many options to automate a warehouse. Both stationary and mobile automation solutions have continued to expand to new form factors and are becoming more effective as Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing grows,” explains Ryan Wiggin, supply chain management & logistics industry analyst at ABI Research.
He estimates that new warehouse buildings dropped by as much as 35% in 2023 compared to 2022 because of economic headwinds and demand shifts, with the reduction expected to continue into the first half of 2024.
However, he believes that as construction picks up later this year, incorporating automation into new builds will be top of mind for organisations.
“While automation is of key interest, companies should continue to invest heavily in augmenting their manual workers with digital devices and wearables to boost worker experience while introducing automation for basic movement tasks. The most efficient warehouses are those that focus on both areas,” concludes Wiggin.
