The Material Handling Blog

Automated guided vehicle (AGV) technology has been used in materials handling for decades, but with more recent developments in technology it's becoming a more affordable and flexible solution than it used to be.

However, in some operations full automation may not be appropriate. This is especially true if the materials handling work that needs to be done is different from day to day, if it needs some level of human decision making or if order picking of many varied items makes up a big part of the work.

Warehouse automation is a hot topic in the materials handling industry at the moment. Stories about companies like Amazon's financial successes are often accompanied by videos showing swarms of robots shuttling goods to human workers who carry out fewer and fewer manual tasks. 

However, introducing automation to a materials handling operation doesn't necessarily mean getting rid of staff entirely. Instead, fully or partly-automated equipment and human workers can work together, with automation focusing on improving efficiency, safety and sometimes eliminating the need for humans to carry out the most repetitive tasks.