As Lucy is employed at an ever-growing list of businesses, she’s reporting back on an interesting phenomenon taking place on the road to automation.
Articles
Part 1 - In the beginning...
While it was slightly before your time, the Industrial Revolution in the 1760s marked a massive turning point for human society. Catapulted into a world of machines, factories, automation and global trade, our daily lives and standard of living were changed forever.
Ever have one of those ‘aha’ moments? When the light bulb comes on and you suddenly have a new level of insight and understanding? I can clearly remember one of my own ‘aha’ moments when I was in my teens, working in the family manufacturing business.
If you’re in the retail, distribution, or logistics industries, you’ll know that 'Velocity' has been one of the 3 V’s of Supply Chain since the late 1990’s. The obsession with supply chain speed certainly hasn’t waned since then – in fact it’s reaching fever pitch today with the 'Amazon Effect', which brings with it increasing discussions around the last mile of the supply chain. Being a process...
Software Automation is an interesting category. It's essentially a bunch of 1’s and 0’s being told how to act like a turbo-charged human. Crazy, right?
As kids, we all grew up watching superhero movies and cartoons. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. They always saved the day, conquered the villain, prevented world destruction, and restored the status quo.
It’s 9pm. You’ve finally got the kids to bed and you’re sitting down browsing Netflix when you remember you still need that new gadget if you want to complete your home repair job on the weekend. You reach for your phone, jump on Google to look for it, and 3 minutes later you’ve purchased it. Delivery should be Friday morning, just in time for the weekend.
Be it Sydney, Shanghai, or San Francisco…. wherever you are on the planet, not a day passes without some media buzz around automation, from AI to robotics. Increasingly, businesses of all sizes are looking at how they can take advantage of automation within their own operations, in an effort to drive revenue and reduce cost.
I hear a lot of talk these days around robotics and automation in the warehouse - especially in picking and fulfilment tasks.
And so, with all the gifts unwrapped and the holidays behind us, the world has emerged blinking into the bright light of January.