Will the robots eventually take over? That’s still an open query, but when sheer ability is the standards, the reply is a definite – yes. Already, robots can do almost anything a human can – no less a personage than Bill Gates describes their capabilities as “limitless” – and so they are still of their infancy. For businesses, robots mean efficiency and lower costs, especially in factories, warehouses, and other facilities that require significant human labor; not less than that’s how they’re perceived.
Nonetheless, managers often assume that replacing human staff with robots ends in a staff that works for zero dollars per hour – and might work 24/7, if needed. While robots – and other autonomous and automatic mobile equipment (AMRs and AGVs), in addition to vehicles and forklifts – do cost money, the considering is that given the reduction in expenses for the labor they replace, the return on investment must be great.
But that’s not necessarily true; many managers usually are not fully aware of or don’t give enough weight to the proven fact that robots and autonomous mobile equipment include their very own expenses, some direct and a few hidden. A number of the hidden costs that managers often don’t consider, but should, include- robots’ downtime attributable to charging, computer upgrades to administer the fleet, lost storage or production space – and even traffic jams.
Downtime inefficiencies
Robots and automatic moving equipment run on batteries – and people batteries have to be charged. The charging time depends upon the dimensions of the robot or vehicle, however it may very well be as much as 20% of the time they’re purported to function. As well as, data shows that other issues often keep robots down for an additional 12% of their time, meaning that many robots may very well be offline for as much as a 3rd of the time managers expect them to be working. That downtime – when a machine isn’t available to do the job – must be reflected when computing ROI.
Beyond the downtime, small interruptions or mistakes within the work cycle could cause other inefficiencies for automated robotic fleets. For instance, in lots of warehouses, picking is finished by robots, while packing and order verification is finished by humans. If a robot fails to choose and deliver an item to the packing area, or brings the incorrect item, the employee can’t complete that order, and the entire system is commonly paused, setting off a ripple effect of delays and idle robot time. And if the corporate is committed to shipping the identical day, as many online sites require suppliers to do, that would cause a ripple effect of disenchanted customers and lost business as well.
Expanding the Fleet Means Expanding the Budget
To compensate for the downtime most robots require, many warehouses or factories have a backup fleet – as many as 35% more robots or machines to choose up the slack for charging and maintenance downtime. Affiliated expenses for those extras include additional maintenance and battery alternative (as often as every year). But one expense that just isn’t likely taken under consideration is the necessity for a more robust server, with a purpose to control the extra robots or machines. That would require a big investment in recent hardware and software – an expense that would definitely affect ROI calculations.
As well as, the additional robots may require much more maintenance than anticipated. Robots that sit idle are subject to additional maintenance issues, resembling lubrication degradation, drained backup batteries, accumulation of dust in sensors, and motor problems. If robots are inactive as much as 20% of the time- as many are- that would mean a commensurate increase in extra maintenance costs to take care of these issues related to prolonged periods of inactivity,
Don’t Forget to Consider Lost Space
Robots need power, and in standard warehouse and factory setups, meaning allocating space for chargers and docking stations, often 10 square feet or more per charger. That extra real estate space costs money – whether in leasing costs, purchase of land, and real estate taxes – and people expenses have to be included when computing ROI. That also assumes there may be even space to be added; while that’s unlikely to be an issue in large distribution centers normally far out of town, it may very well be a significant issue for corporations which have opened up smaller warehouses in cities and suburbs to raised accommodate same-day delivery. In any case, when space is occupied by chargers or docking stations, it can’t be used for other purposes, and will hold back the flexibility to expand or scale.
Extra space for charging means less space for merchandise – which implies more transport costs bringing items from distribution centers to urban and suburban warehouses, more waiting time for orders to be fulfilled, and more inventory and tracking issues. This, too, could lead to missed or incorrect orders – and one other black eye with customers. One solution could be to simply expand the warehouse to compensate for the additional required space; one other could be so as to add vertical shelving to accommodate more goods if floor space just isn’t available. But those solutions, too, cost money – meaning that ROI would likely take a big hit.
Robot Traffic Jams Are a Real Risk
With more robots on a factory or warehouse floor, there may be a greater possibility that they’ll collide with one another or with human staff . Those collisions may lead to wreck, injuries and other major problems. When robots collide with one another, they’ll likely have to be repaired, adding to maintenance costs, and causing the power to change into even less efficient because now it doesn’t have enough robots to cover charging down time. And if a robot hits a human, victims might sue – so facilities need to extend their insurance to cover potential losses. Managers can go for collision detection systems, but those cost money, too. Although most facility managers are unlikely to have them in mind, these aspects could seriously compromise ROI estimates.
Clearly, the ROI of robots just isn’t an easy matter. Those that take into consideration the massive picture and include all these hidden costs may indeed be disenchanted or postpone automating their warehouses. But there are methods to further offset these costs and boost ROI. AI shows promise in solving robot traffic jams, but when a facility needs so as to add extra robots to compensate for charging downtime, the algorithm must be adjusted – which could again require a software or hardware upgrade, or hiring AI experts to vary controller systems.
One promising solution in solving a few of these issues lies in modern charging methods that reduce and even eliminate the necessity for charging downtime. These methods, resembling enabling robots to charge as they work, for instance, could reduce the necessity for fleets of backup robots and solve a number of the challenges of related to idle time, crowded work floors or warehouses, time lost waiting for robots to finish their task, space lost to charging docks, and expenses related to controlling fleets.
Automation is indeed the longer term, experts imagine; the variety of fully automated warehouses within the US has been steadily rising for nearly a decade. As well as, logistics and warehouse personnel are increasingly hard to search out, and same-day delivery has boosted the necessity for a reliable staff. That automation trend is prone to proceed, especially as more solutions to the problems surrounding charging, robot downtime and traffic jams, and logistics are solved, making the actual ROI of automation way more attractive. Until that happens, though, facility managers and owners must take into consideration the hidden costs of automation, and be certain that they’re accurately figured into their ROI figures. Automation can indeed profit a corporation’s bottom line – if it knows what it’s moving into, and might control the hidden costs.
