In a massive warehouse in Shanghai, dozens of humanoid robots are being trained to do simple, repetitive tasks. Controlled remotely, these robots work around 17 hours a day, folding T-shirts, making sandwiches, and opening and closing a door. The goal is to generate large amounts of data, use it to train machines, and eventually introduce humanoid robots into factories and warehouses.
Amazon bought the Kiva startup for $775mn in 2012. The founders realised that most of warehouse workers’ time was spent walking around to collect items. Its solution was stubby orange robots called Drive Units that navigated the warehouse using barcode stickers on the floor. It could also slide under shelves, lift them, and move them around the warehouse. By 2 017, Amazon had a fleet of 100 000 robots, and in 2026, it has over a million. In some of its advanced fulfilment centres, such as in Shreveport, Louisiana, there are thousands of robots performing a variety of tasks, such as the Hercules, for heavy lifting, or the Sparrow, which picks individual items.
A warehouse is a fairly simple operation – the first question is where do I put stuff, and the second is how do I go and fetch it?
Johan du Toit, Syspro Africa
Craig Brunsden, CEO of distributer Axiz, says there are several reasons why fully automated warehouses don’t make sense in South Africa, mainly because more automation means fewer jobs. “I believe that our approach must respond to what customers want in a way that helps to solve the socioeconomic problems we face as a country. This conversation may be different in economies that have single-digit unemployment numbers, where the impact of replacing picking and packing with machines isn’t as great.”
Warehouse automation also comes with a high cost barrier. In South Africa, where labour is cheaper than in developed economies, it makes sense to employ people in the warehouse because it’s more affordable than introducing autonomous systems. When Axiz’s lease expired a few years ago, it explored building its own facility elsewhere and investing heavily in automation. “But none of it made economic sense,” says Brunsden. “It was a non-starter. You can only be successful with this kind of thing if you have a massive operation, and for many, that’s just not the case.”
According to Gartner, 80% of warehouses and distribution centres will deploy some kind of warehouse automation equipment by 2028. But this doesn’t mean that everything will be automated.
This conversation may be different in economies that have single-digit unemployment numbers, where the impact of replacing picking and packing with machines isn’t as great.
Craig Brunsden, Axiz
Takealot’s main Cape Town pickup point and distribution centre in Richmond Park has a 6 700m2 customer collection area. Here, the online retailer uses Automated Guided Vehicles called "Weasels" that carry packages from the internal warehouse directly to the collection counter. Takealot says this not only adds a bit of fun to the collection experience, but it’s also reduced wait times to an average of three minutes.
Transpharm is the Shoprite Group’s wholesale pharmaceutical distributor, supplying a range of pharmaceutical products and surgical equipment to the Medirite retail pharmacies. At the Transpharm distribution centre in Centurion, an automated picking conveyor system is used for order fulfilment. Items are picked manually from the shelves per order slip and placed into a picking tote, and then placed on the conveyor. The filled totes are moved along the conveyor from the shelving to a centralised packing area, where the order is processed and packed for dispatch.
Locally, the focus is on smart warehousing, says Johan du Toit, senior VP for strategic growth, international sales and channel at Syspro Africa. “It’s less about being autonomous or introducing robots, and more about finding ways to be clever in the warehouse.” At the heart of this is a warehouse management system (WMS). “A warehouse is a fairly simple operation – the first question is where do I put stuff, and the second is how do I go and fetch it? And once you’ve put something somewhere, you should only touch it again when that product is being shipped out to a customer,” he says. A WMS will track stock levels and movements, so the business will always know what it has in the warehouse and where it is. The software optimises the warehouse layout to maximise space and efficiency, and creates smart picking instructions that optimise the picking route for an employee.
If you’re bringing in a robot that moves across your warehouse autonomously, a few bumps on the floor or an uneven spot can cause the robot to veer off course, which limits the solution’s effectiveness.
Werner Leithgöb, Lactalis South Africa
In this scenario, warehouse staff members are still present, but they now have tools and solutions to do their jobs more efficiently. More and more warehouses are using electric pallet jacks, which can handle heavier loads over longer distances. This accelerates the movement of products across the warehouse floor, says Werner Leithgöb, IT director at Lactalis South Africa.
Voice picking is also becoming popular, he says. Workers wear a headset and the system tells them exactly where to go – aisle, bay, shelf – what item to pick and how many units are needed. The pickers confirm they have the items, and the WMS is updated.
One of the big benefits of voice picking is that staff don’t need to look at screens or carry devices, and they can move through the warehouse more rapidly. In some of Lactalis’ warehouses, the business uses vertical movement forklifts to pick items on higher shelves. This means the business makes better use of its warehouse space. “Let’s imagine you have tiered storage in a warehouse,” says Leithgöb. “In a smart warehouse, you could use purchase data from your WMS to ensure that frequently picked items are packed on low and fast-moving shelves, while slower-moving stock that isn’t bought often is stored higher up.”
He says it’s important to find the right process to automate. “We sell six packs of yoghurt, which come in packaging that isn’t particularly hardy. If I want to get a machine to pick that pack of yoghurt in my warehouse, it’s probably going to take a while to calibrate it properly so it doesn’t squash the yoghurt tubs when it picks them up,” he says, adding that in some cases, the effectiveness of automation is heavily dependent on the product itself. Du Toit uses the example of a fully automated warehouse solution for storing and retrieving contact lenses. When a specific prescription comes in, the system automates picking based on the order data, with no need for human intervention. This solution works because contact lenses are a uniform product, and a robot or automated system can reliably store and retrieve them.
If a business plans to introduce automation, it’s important that the solution is a good fit for its facility, says Leithgöb. Something as simple as the condition of the warehouse floor can affect how well a solution performs. “If you’re bringing in a robot that moves across your warehouse autonomously, a few bumps on the floor or an uneven spot can cause the robot to veer off course, which limits the solution’s effectiveness.”
Leithgöb says a warehouse automation project needs to encompass people, processes, and technology. A company may say that its warehouse isn’t functioning optimally, and then assume that technology is the answer. But if a company hasn’t thought about change management or trained its staff properly and if it hasn’t properly defined and improved business processes upfront, the technology is not going to help, he says. “There’s no doubt that modern systems are great. But if you don’t have buy-in from the people who will be using the technology and if you haven’t optimised your value chain before the technology hits the warehouse, I promise that you’re going to spend a lot of money with very little reward.”
* Article first published on www.itweb.co.za
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