School of Management academics team up with UK Warehousing Association for study on automation

Vaggelis Giannikas, Alistair Brandon-Jones and Ayse-Begum Kilic are working with the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) to develop a survey-based study to investigate the adoption and assimilation of automation in warehouses.

The research will investigate the opportunities and barriers to the adoption of 'advanced automation technologies'. These automation technologies include things like Robotics, Goods-to-Person systems, Automatic Sortation or Packaging Equipment and Smart Shelving & Pallets.

They hope to better understand the current level of automation uptake, as well as the appetite for automation among UKWA members.

UKWA CEO Peter Ward explains, “The automation of warehouses is a hot topic for 2021, particularly as we emerge from twelve months of lockdown. Massive changes, not least the meteoric rise of ecommerce, have reshaped logistics and, as we heard from our Logistics Users Discussion Panel last month, automation in warehouses is perceived increasingly as a ‘must-have’ rather than a ‘nice-to-have’ to be efficient, productive and flexible to customer needs.”

He adds, “UKWA has been vocal in encouraging members to embrace digitalisation and part of this process is investment in robotics and automation, but we understand that in times of uncertainty, there is an understandable reluctance to make the major investment that may be required."

We're excited to share the results of the survey in due course.