Automating the Supply Chain with Robotics

1. Process robotics works by automating the entire supply chain from end to end—not just individual tasks—enabling all different sections to be managed in tandem. 

2. The adoption of software robotics allows professionals to focus less time on day-to-day processes and, instead, provides more time to drive value for the entire business.

ENTERPRISE PROCESS ROBOTS
1. Enterprise process robots are different from traditional automation tools in that they automate an entire business process such as the supply chain.

2. This removes the siloes between various processes and allows an entire process, such as managing procurement, shipping, warehousing and inventory management, to be handled in one centralized process.

3. This is effectively achieved by teaching the software robot how a job is completed, which is called embedded process know-how. The tasks are completed on a job-by-job level, but coordinated as an entire unified process, allowing the interdependent sections to work in tandem. 


DASHBOARD
1. Supply chain managers can use a dashboard to see that the current warehouse stock of a particular stock keeping unit (SKU) decreased below necessary reorder levels. 

2. The dashboard allows them to drill down by geography or SKU, facilitating a much deeper and instant breakdown of the overall process chain.

3. Dashboards not only allow the instant identification of problems, but also provide the ability to see how these problems affect the rest of the supply chain and, therefore, the ability to act upon them immediately.


CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS
1. Accuracy is critically important for the supply chain as small mistakes can impact an entire organization.

2. With goods and services crossing many boarders, supply chain managers must keep compliance and regulation on top of their agenda.

3. Workers in supply chain are are chronically overworked. Not only are these skilled professionals being pushed to manage the day-to-day minutiae and data entry, but they have to actively drive increases in value and efficiencies for the entire organization 

4. Some organizations are still pushing for  RFID automation, despite the technology's marginal success. Small suppliers are plagued with cost problems generated by the pre-compliance and compliance requirements of achieving an accurate and reliable RFID process.


EXAMPLES OF AUTOMATION
1. Hitachi has launched a robot  that has two arms for picking objects of different sizes, which could present a more affordable entry into the automated environment.

2. Google Glass is being used for 'vision picking' in the US, helping warehouse staff find the most direct route to a pallet or product in a large warehouse, to reduce pick and pack times.

3. Most warehouse and supply chain environments make use of innovations like RFID – which combines with wearables and scanners to create a more accurate, streamlined supply chain environment.

4. Amazon paid $775m to acquire Kiva Systems. Renaming the unit Amazon Robotics, the company quickly began deploying robots within its ever-growing network of distribution centers.

5. T.E.M's NexMotion NET series, leverages industrial grade Ethernet technology and offers networking solution supporting EtherCAT protocol for controlling functional modules outside of the controller.

6. The built-in controller, also known as the fieldbus master, digitizes high speed legacy signals into commands and broadcasts them to the corresponding I/O modules, to slaves near actuators, or to sensors located several meters away from the controller. 

7. The communication technology ensures successful delivery of the commands over long distances and reduces the possibility of distortion and disturbance to the signals.

8. UiPath Server facilitates human-robot collaboration by providing work queues. In a typical business process humans transform unstructured data into structured data and send it to the queue from where the robots are reading it and then process the rule based transactions. When the robot encounters a business exception, it flags it for a human to review it.

9. A new iteration of industrial robots by Infinion works alongside humans in factories as collaborative robotics, also called cobots, where they assist with manufacturing processes and boost output quality thanks to their highly accurate work.


THOUGHTS
1. Automation doesn't have to mean full robotics and the elimination of human input. Rather, it's about being smart about how you integrate technology into the supply chain organisation. It's about identifying the tools that will achieve operational cost savings; or those that will get products out to customers faster.

2. Investing in automating various functions or operations in the warehouse – for example, retrieval picking, sorting or palletising. Benefits from both within the four walls of the space to the supply chain will be realised such as improved labour efficiency, improved demand forecasting to better manage inventory, transport efficiencies and better response to store requests.

3. Process robotics does not necessarily have to replace people, but instead, offers businesses the highest level of release from the tedious error-prone manual work. Think of it as if the robot is taken out of the human.

4. Other potential areas ripe for robotics process automation include order management and data quality assurance.

(Source: Startrack, supplychainbrain, sdcexec, inboundlogistics, T.E.M., UiPath, infineon)