Developments in Automated Picking - Johnson Stephens Consulting

Steve Johnson, managing principal of Johnson Stephens Consulting (JSC), shares the latest developments taking place with automated picking for distribution and e-commerce fulfillment centers with Dustin Mattison’s Supply Chain Podcast.

Amazon’s raising of the minimum wage to $15 has led to a heightened interest in evaluating robotics-assisted picking automation in order to reduce costs. At the same time, in order to compete with Amazon, e-commerce companies are looking to use the technology. 3PLs are also using automation to increase the productivity of the picking process.

Steve shares the newest technical advances and developments in automated picking which will soon contribute to the realization of the holy grail in the supply chain, namely a robot being able to pick two very different items that sit next to each other in a flow rack.

Productivity has been shown to improve, which in one case led to a 100% improvement in picking rates. Another example showed results of picking merchandise in a fulfillment center using 500 people as opposed to 800 people.

There will be an upgrade in jobs available for technicians who work in fulfillment centers and DCs.

Dustin Mattison

Featured blogger Dustin Mattison is a teacher of supply chain, international trade, international e-commerce, international marketing and logistics at Jimei University in Xiamen, China.

He has been blogging for Kinaxis for the last eight years. Dustin conducts weekly podcast style interviews with supply chain executives and professionals covering a wide range of topics of interest to the Kinaxis community.

About Johnson Stephens Consulting

Johnson Stephens Consulting is a supply chain operations consultancy that provides clients with cost-effective, service-focused solutions. Opportunities include logistics network optimization, facility planning & design, WMS, TMS & LMS services labor management engineering, LEAN distribution, and operations excellence. Founded in 2003, JSC professionals have completed over 400 projects and served over 130 different retailers, wholesalers, e-commerce/direct to consumer companies, 3PLs, and consumer products distributors.