Meeting an evolving retail supply chain with automation

These changing conditions require flexibility and agility—things many legacy automation solutions aren’t known for. Older automation solutions have a reputation for being overly rigid and hard to change, making them sometimes as risky as they are rewarding to business. Where before, large sellable quantities were shipped to stores for customer purchase, e-commerce now has individual order numbers, often as low as one, sent directly to consumers. Picking needs are up, both from this direct-to-consumer e-commerce and also in-store pickup fulfillment and shelf replenishment.

Automation is still an essential component of modern retail warehousing. Pairing staff with robotic solutions enables significantly higher throughput and maximizes the value of laborers by relegating rote activity, such as walking to and from bins to machines. 

The key is choosing the right general merchandise retail automation solution. Modern general merchandise retailers need technology that addresses immediate needs without shoehorning possibilities for the future. Future-ready automation can:

• More effectively tackle uncertainties with software, like SynQ, that is as flexible and robust as the hardware
• Handle major differences in peak and off-peak demand—for both seasonal peaks and for sudden peaks in demand for a specific product, a common byproduct of influencer marketing and AI-powered search results
• “Flatten the curve” of peak staffing ramp-up
• Be expanded, reduced, or repurposed quickly and economically

We explore all this in our new e-book, Designing for What’s Next: Modular, Software-Orchestrated Automation for Retail. In it, Swisslog’s automation experts take an in-depth look at the factors changing the retail landscape and share real-world customer success stories that demonstrate how a future-ready solution can redefine possibilities for retail warehousing. 

Wherever retailers are in their on-site automation journey, Designing for What’s Next contains perspectives and actionable insights on the important considerations for successful general merchandise supply chains, and Swisslog experts are ready to help find the most flexible automation solution for your application.