When will warehouses fully embrace robotics?

If you were dropped onto this planet and landed at McCormick Place in the heart of Chicago in the middle of March, you would probably conclude that planet Earth had been overrun by robots.

Everywhere you turned on the ProMat conference floor, there was a robot lifting something, putting something away, or transporting an item from one place to another.

But, despite a conference hall overrun by technology, the on-the-ground reality is a bit different. Not so long ago, commercial real estate firm Prologis estimate the amount of facilities with any type of automation at around 10%. A recent report from JLL found that one-in-two logistics and industrial occupiers plan to increase their use of automation technologies such as automated storage and retrieval systems by 25% between now and 2030.

Only about 60% of logistics companies across the Asia Pacific region have deployed automation solutions such as automated guided vehicles or telescopic conveyors, JLL added. And by most accounts, Asia Pacific-based firms are ahead of the technological curve.

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