Will technology close the labor gap?

Sister publication Logistics Management wrapped up its “31st Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends,” a survey our team works on with Karl Manrodt of Georgia College and Chris Boone of Mississippi State. The survey was designed more than three decades ago to track transportation spending, but the scope has broadened over the past 10 years.

For example, five years ago we placed more focus on the key factors driving digital transformation in overall supply chain operations. This year the team added a section focused on how supply chain management professionals view the current labor environment—what some believe has entered a “crisis” mode.

According to the survey, only 6.75% of respondents “strongly agree” that adopting new technologies will reduce the dependence on labor. However, 80% of respondents “agree” or “strongly agree” that the number of technologies employees must use to help retain that labor is increasing.

“It was clear that respondents expect IoT-based technologies and robotics to make the most significant impact on supply chains over the next few years,” says Boone. “Robotics and automation promise to make supply chains more efficient and less labor intensive, while IoT and artificial intelligence can enhance human performance and decision making. The faster these are applied, used and optimized the faster they’ll help in retention.”

This month in Modern, we continue to track the evolution of robotics and IoT and the roles these technologies are playing to help the labor force respond to and interact with supply chains. Starting on page 18, executive editor Bob Trebilcock takes us inside C-StoreMaster’s 135,000-square-foot DC in Huntsville, Ala., where he documents how the traditional distributor to convenience stores is putting robotics to work to transform into a “technology company.”

“C-StoreMaster encapsulates a couple trends,” says Trebilcock. “One is the new level of innovation that’s come out of small to mid-size businesses as they find ways to compete with the big guys,” he says. “In fact, they built this facility with the employees in mind and created the best work environment possible in a region of very low unemployment.”

The other trend is what Gartner analyst Dwight Klappich has dubbed “heterogenous robotics.” “Rather than one type of robot, C-StoreMaster is operating their new facility with multiple robotic types, with plans to introduce more in the future, including the possibility of autonomous lift trucks,” says Trebilcock.

Starting on page 28, senior editor Roberto Michel takes us one step closer to understanding the breadth of knowledge and advanced decision making IoT can bring us. He says the value it offers continues to evolve the more operations roll it out.

“We tend to think of IoT as monitoring the health of physical ‘things” like motors or bearings, but image data can also be fed to the Cloud for analysis,” says Michel. “This stream of image data can be tapped to reveal issues like inbound cartons that are damaged or bigger than expected. There’s value in that, even if it’s not what you usually think of as an IoT-enabled sensor or piece of equipment.”