{"id":4430,"date":"2013-12-10T14:14:14","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2013-12-10T14:16:48","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T14:16:48","slug":"automated-pick-pack-operations-strengths-weaknesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/news\/automated-pick-pack-operations-strengths-weaknesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Automated pick and pack operations, strengths and weaknesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>\n\tThe changes in Pick and Pack services within the warehousing world<br \/>\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n\tAutomation is becoming a bigger part of many <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/pages\/Pick-and-Pack\/\">pick and pack operations<\/a> as the world tightens its belt another notch or two, but how <img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"pick and pack\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4431\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/AUTOMATED-PICK-AND-PACK-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/AUTOMATED-PICK-AND-PACK-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/AUTOMATED-PICK-AND-PACK-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/AUTOMATED-PICK-AND-PACK.jpg 1732w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>common will pick and pack robots actually become? Let&rsquo;s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages to using automation.\n<\/p>\n<h3>\n\t<strong>Pros of automated pick and pack: <\/strong><br \/>\n<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Cost<\/strong>. That is the whole point. If you can fit the &lsquo;bots into your operation, they are likely to cost substantially less than human pickers, over time.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Speed<\/strong>. Especially if the process can be made simple enough, robots can really keep up the pace. They don&rsquo;t tire either, obviously.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Precision<\/strong>. The right EOAT (end of arm tooling, special hands, fingers, and more exotic appendages for the &lsquo;bots) can be quite dexterous and exact. Overall, robots can be relied upon to do the exact same thing the exact same way every single time.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Long Hours<\/strong>. A &lsquo;bot will work day and night without complaint or a single tea break. So far, none of them have expressed any religious objections to working on holidays, either.\n<\/p>\n<h4>\n\t<strong>Cons of automated pick and pack services: <\/strong><br \/>\n<\/h4>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Flexibility<\/strong>. If your facility needs to move a wide variety of items, humans still present the most flexible option. While I&rsquo;m sure there is a &lsquo;bot out there that can handle both toilet cisterns and blister packs of plastic toys, I bet it&rsquo;s expensive.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Maintenance<\/strong>. Robots wear out. They need repairs and adjustments. Of course, humans do too, so you have to weigh the cost against national insurance contributions and salary.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Judgement<\/strong>. They don&rsquo;t have a shred of it. It may be obvious, but that is the main strength of a human packer. Most humans won&rsquo;t do something bloody stupid 10,000 times in a row without at least saying &rdquo;Hey, boss&hellip; I just don&rsquo;t feel right about packing the toxic sludge bags in the same box as the roofing nails. Are you sure this is right?&rdquo;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The changes in Pick and Pack services within the warehousing world Automation is becoming a bigger part of many pick and pack operations&#8230;&nbsp;<span class=\"cmtcnt\">0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whichwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}