Supply Chain Transformers! How Robotics and Automation Are Changing the Game
At ProMat, people were saying: ‘That’s the future!’ I was saying: ‘That’s the present,’” says Rafael Granato, marketing director for MHI member PINC Solutions. He’s referring to the company’s drone systems, which can fly through a manufacturing or distribution center facility under their own direction to take inventory. Automation and robotics have come of age; they’ve reached the tipping point from being a solution for only the top rank of companies to a solution spreading throughout the entire industry.
One driving factor is the increasing sophistication of today’s robotic devices; instead of performing relatively simple, programmed tasks, they are able to assess variables, make decisions and choose the best course of action—such as changing their routing to avoid obstacles.
“There was a time when automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) were an elitist product, and really only applied within Fortune 50 companies—and even with those, only on a very plant-by-plant basis,” says Mark Longacre, marketing manager, automated systems for MHI member JBT Corporation. “Today, it’s a whole different environment. The product range has expanded a lot; that has really opened up these products to mid-size companies, and Fortune 50 companies are looking at enterprise-wide deployment.”
Read the full article in MHI Solutions