Amazon Tests Robots For Automating Fulfillment Centers (yahoo.com) 40
Yahoo Finance shares an interesting prediction. Amazon has an "under-the-radar robot push" that "could boost its profit margins big-time, Morgan Stanley managing director Brian Nowak said."
Nowak said Amazon has quietly developed six significant next-generation fulfillment centers in the past three years that bring automation front and center... Amazon now has industrial robots that can increase efficiencies across the storage, inventory management, pick and packing, and sorting order fulfillment processes.
Fulfillment costs make up about 20% of Amazon's retail revenue, so he reasoned that automation could have a significant impact on long-term operating profit potential. Nowak says if 30% to 40% of Amazon's US units were fulfilled through next-generation robotics-enabled warehouses by 2030, it could lead to $10 billion-plus of savings... The investments in robots may already be paying off. Amazon's North America retail operating margins on a trailing 12-month basis have risen for five straight quarters. North America operating margins improved to 6.2% from 4.6% a year ago.
Nowak made the remarks on a Yahoo Finance podcast (at the top of their article) after touring one of Amazon's robot-enhanced sites in Louisiana. He believes robotics can drive down Amazon's costs compared to other retailers like Target (which he sees as lagging behind Amazon on robotics).
Meanwhile workers at an Amazon facility in North Carolina held a vote Saturday on whether to unionize. But roughly 75% of the workers voted against unionization.
Fulfillment costs make up about 20% of Amazon's retail revenue, so he reasoned that automation could have a significant impact on long-term operating profit potential. Nowak says if 30% to 40% of Amazon's US units were fulfilled through next-generation robotics-enabled warehouses by 2030, it could lead to $10 billion-plus of savings... The investments in robots may already be paying off. Amazon's North America retail operating margins on a trailing 12-month basis have risen for five straight quarters. North America operating margins improved to 6.2% from 4.6% a year ago.
Nowak made the remarks on a Yahoo Finance podcast (at the top of their article) after touring one of Amazon's robot-enhanced sites in Louisiana. He believes robotics can drive down Amazon's costs compared to other retailers like Target (which he sees as lagging behind Amazon on robotics).
Meanwhile workers at an Amazon facility in North Carolina held a vote Saturday on whether to unionize. But roughly 75% of the workers voted against unionization.
What is this crap? (Score:5, Informative)
This is Yahoo talking out of their ass in the hopes that they sound smart.
Re: What is this crap? (Score:3)
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The Kiva robots were just the beginning of their automation, now they're doing pick-and-pack, which no one else is doing.
The 829 That Voted To Unionize (Score:5, Informative)
Will probably lose their job. There are no more protections and with the anti-union governments in both NC and the fed; there will be no one willing to take any action.
Not likely (Score:5, Interesting)
I think instead Amazon will work with the Trump administration to bust the union while destroying the national labor board. That's a much more cost effective means of preventing Union activity.
Meanwhile the main push for automation right now is for white collar workers. Tech workers and customer service workers and stuff like that.
And remember a robot will always take your job no matter how low quality your life is. Because the robot can work 24/7 and you can't. Human beings are not efficient machines. We are ludicrously and tremendously wasteful in addition to having all the baggage that goes with being human.
I mean Christ I know most of us are either Gen X or boomers here on this forum. We all saw the cartoon about the guy who tried to beat the steam machine. And he only just barely beat it and died in the process. And that was a machine from 100 years ago.
We have social issues we are going to have to do something about that we don't want to because we like the way things were when we were growing up. Unfortunately based on the last election I think we're going to stick our heads in the sand and ignore the fire around us and let it burn us to a crisp.
Re: Not likely (Score:2)
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We are going to need a lot of advancements in materials and reliability in order for those robots to be cost-effective to replace $15 an hour human beings with basically no benefits.
It will happen and it could happen faster but like I said the focus is on automating white collar jobs because that's where the cost savings are
Re: Not likely (Score:2)
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So far advances in robot body technology seem rather slow. They're definitely happening, but not rapidly. That is probably changing as the controlling programs get more useful, but how rapidly?
OTOH, warehouse robots are probably already sufficient to the job, or nearly so. All that's needed is better controlling programs. (But robot plumbers or electricians....that's going to take awhile.)
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Depends on the context. In "green fields" new construction there's no reason to think that robots won't be doing plumbing and electrical installations within a few years, with the human just getting involved to make connections. The guy that has to get in the crawl space to fix what the possums chewed up will be around for a long time, though.
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A couple of years ago I saw on Spectrum, the journal of the IEEE, a robot prototype which lays conduit through open rebar according to a plan, so if there isn't yet there will be soon. It was slow, but every prototype is. I know that there have been semi-automated systems for a while for feeding pull strings through conduit, one that continues the job by attaching the string to the cable and then pulling that through isn't a big stretch.
Dusty Robotics has had this little bot working on construction sites
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Mine as well, but now that I'm living in Seattle I get to watch big buildings go up and it can be fascinating. Automated excavators are already at work in some mines, and they were supposed to be deployed on a bunch highway projects last year. Watching them dig the hole for the 40-floor building across the street from my office I can easily see them doing a lot of that work (loading the conveyors carrying dirt out of the hole is even more mindless than picking strawberries). Robot dogs are patrolling the
It Ain't Under The RADAR (Score:2)
Amazon has long relied on robots to fulfill orders in their warehouses.
It's now a longstanding tradition.
What's more surprising it that it seems to be pretty much them and the Chinese(JD, China Post) doing it. I haven't heard of others adopting this technology.
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There are a few other big companies doing it, but I think union agreements bar it at UPS. Large warehouses have automated truck loading and unloading systems in use, but not sure how common it really is. End-to-end automation is very hard, but the expensive and hazardous parts tend to get automated quickly.
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There are a few companies in Europe as well, if you search for "warehouse robots" on YouTube they'll show up. Amazon seems to be a long way ahead of everyone else, though.
Missing Information (Score:1)
The article neglects to mention that the robots are free and have no operating costs.
Re: Missing Information (Score:2)
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There's also training, which for many jobs is a major expense, and the reason why Amazon goes to great lengths to retain good workers. With the robot you only need to the first one, all the subsequent 'bots are just copy/paste.
John Henry will save warehouse jobs (Score:4, Funny)
When John Henry was a little baby,
Sitting on his pappy’s knee,
He grabbed a box and a little piece of tape,
Said, “This box'll be the death of me, Lord, Lord.
This box'll be the death of me.”
Now, the captain said to John Henry,
I’m gonna bring that packing bot around.
I’m gonna take that packing bot out on the job,
I’m gonna whop that tape on down, Lord, Lord.
Gonna whop that tape on down.”
John Henry told his captain,
“A man ain’t nothing but a man,
But before I let that packing bot beat me down,
I’ll die with my tape roll in my hand, Lord, Lord.
I’ll die with my tape roll in my hand.”
John Henry said to his shaker,
“Now, shaker, why don’t you sing?
’Cause I’m throwing twelve feet tape from my hips on down.
Just listen to that sticky tape ring, Lord, Lord.
Just listen to that sticky tape ring.”
The man that invented the packing bot,
He thought he was mighty fine.
But John Henry, he made fourteen boxes
While the packing boy only made nine, Lord, Lord.
The packing bot only made nine.
John Henry taped up the boxes
Till his tape roll was striking fire.
He taped so hard he broke his poor heart.
Then, he laid down his tape and he died, Lord, Lord.
He laid down his tape and he died.
They took John Henry to the graveyard,
And they buried him in the sand.
And every delivery truck comes rolling by
Says, “Here lies a box taping man, Lord, Lord.
Here lies a box taping man.”
Now, some say he was born in Texas,
And some say he was born in Maine.
But I don’t give a damn where that poor boy was born.
He was a box taping man, Lord, Lord.
He was a box taping man.
Re: (Score:2)
The same story can apply to Tharge, who used to run down antelope, trying to demonstrate that he was better than a thrown spear.
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Actually, in the appropriate terrain, and for a person in excellent condition, running down the antelope is the right move. But you still need that spear, because otherwise closing in at the end is too dangerous. Humans evolved as cursory hunters, just as wolves did. People were a bit less specialized, though, and had a wider diet, which allowed them to succeed in areas that wolves had a lot of trouble in.
We didn't stop chasing down game until the spear-thrower was invented. (See atlatl .)
Cost of labor drives innovation (Score:2)
As long as the cost of labor goes up inovation and adoption of automation will also go up. They don't do much automation in China because labor is cheep and the idea that tariff are going to bring jobs back to America is idiotic on many levels. The fact that automation is cheeper than people is one of the reasons.
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They don't do much automation in China.
This is simply not true. China not only has one of the most automated industry in the world, they're the country which is investing more in the sector nowadays.
https://itif.org/publications/... [itif.org]
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Amazon selects morons for employement (Score:2)
Anybody who seeks a job with the most soulless company in the world, Amazon, will also be unwilling to stand up for themselves with a union. It takes a strong beta cuck personality.
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The reason why most Amazon unionization efforts fail is because jobs at their fulfillment centers pay better and have **FAR** better benefits than any non-Teamsters warehouse job you'll encounter. I've worked doing fulfillment for Target and at a different warehouse and it was an absolute shit job with shit pay, and dangerous as hell. People that I've talked to who worked at the Amazon FCs describe an entirely different environment, with pay and benefits miles above the industry standard.
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I've read several articles about injuries, being overworked, lack of proper breaks (like the bathroom is 5 minutes away and the break is 10 minutes long), and other abuse at Amazon warehouses. Where the truth lies? Please, go get a job and report back.
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Look at the ads associated with those articles. When I started doing that I realized that Walmart (mostly) and Target were using their ad revenue to commission anti-Amazon articles. You'll see more of these articles in areas getting a new Amazon FC, because their competition is terrified of losing all their workers.
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I remember reading about Tesla using the argument that, hey, we already treat workers well so why have a union? But I guess the flip is if they already treat people well why are they trying to prevent a union?
Same here, if the conditions are so great why are they trying to unionize? That they're trying, to me, seems like an indicator that maybe it's not so great.
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I was told, with no idea how authoritative it was, that it was so that they weren't saddled for years with useless people that they weren't allowed to get rid of like the railroads were.
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yeah I could see that, I imagine it's more difficult to fire people with a union involved.
B&B (Score:2)
He said fullfillment... [youtube.com]
Amazon screwed up (Score:2)
They will always need humans, because they failed to standardize vendor packaging.Instead of telling their vendors to supply items in a specific robot-friendly format, they allow various arbitrary retail shaped packaging styles. They should instead tell their vendors to ship items to the amazon warehouse in a box that can be handled by robots. Amazon makes large enough sells to pressure their vendors to agree to that. Plus retail packaging is actually more expensive for the vendor in a lot of cases so they
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They can change that at any time, just by offering a cheaper processing fee for standardized packages.
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They don't want to dumb-down the process, they want to make it good enough that the process can deal with the variations. In the long term it's probably better to wait to automate until your robots are good enough to handle both a Teletubby and a case of water, since there will always be things that are not amenable to a standardized package.
\o/ (Score:1)
Everybody loves Amazon.
Robot unions in 3, 2, 1...