By the sheer nature of the go-to-market strategy in many beverage organizations, making a business case for automation in the warehouse has been difficult. You will notice that I said in the warehouse. Automation has existed for decades on the other side of the wall in manufacturing, and today is rarely given a thought when new production or filling lines are installed. So why is it that most companies continue to experience an increase in warehouse costs as a percentage of the cost of goods sold, but still fail to consider automation in the warehouse? Do wo under-appreciate warehouses because of complexity? Maybe. Is it because companies cannot justify automation because of their go-to-mar-ket strategies that stress stem time to the first delivery point to many facili- ties, thereby diluting shipping volume in any one facility? Probably. Or, is it that because automation in the warehouse has received so little attention, because few people understand it? Actually, the answer is all three. At least it used to be.
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