Warehouses across the world, including India, had remained technologically starved for decades. However, in the past few years, the booming e-commerce sector has accelerated adoption of advanced robotics technology in warehouses. The industry is in the phase where the ‘primitive go-downs’ are being turned into smarter warehouses, observes Vivekanand, Country Manager, India and SAARC, GreyOrange, which makes advanced robotics systems for warehouses. In conversation with Rakesh Rao, explains effect of e-commerce and GST on the sector and highlights some of the interesting trends in warehouse automation.

 

What is the status of the warehouse automation industry in India? What is driving the warehouse automation market in India? 

Warehouses constitute about 60 per cent of the supply chain function and is the base for procurement, manufacturing and distribution services. A few years back, warehouses reminded us of unorganised go-downs filled with thousands of packages being sorted by numerous teams of people. However, in recent times, we have witnessed almost a revolution where such go-downs have upgraded into large-scale distribution centres and have deployed advanced technologies and modern automation. For instance, many progressive warehouses at the moment are installing AI-driven autonomous robots which reduce their order fulfilment and inventory replenishment time. These unique solutions cater to various in-house operations such as inventory storage (put away), replenishment, picking and combining orders. Hence, they play a major role in enhancing business agility and growth as well as eliminating complexity.

 

The biggest factors driving the growth of the warehousing market would be the increasing demand of consumers, rising competition among retailers to satisfy their end customers and the growing ecommerce industry.

 

How is e-commerce driving warehouse automation? 

A large section of people have migrated to online shopping due to various factors like convenience, accessibility, affordability, diverse choice and ease of payment. Moreover, they have become accustomed to having their products delivered to them within a day or so. Therefore, more and more retailers are upgrading their warehouses with some degree of automation as they race to deliver goods to the shoppers ever faster. The increasing demand for goods to be delivered, not only on time but on the same day is pushing the need for robotised warehouses which will make the whole process of sorting orders and delivery quicker.

 

Kindly brief us about GreyOrange and its products and solutions.

GreyOrange is a multinational firm that designs, manufactures and deploys advanced robotics systems for automation in warehouses, distribution and fulfillment centers. It was founded in 2012, and is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Japan, Germany and India and a state-of-the-art research and development (R&D) center in Gurgaon. The company’s marquee solutions Butler (goods-to-person inventory storage and picking and combining system) and Linear Sorter (modular system for automating sorting processes in warehouses and fulfilment centres) serves customers across industries and geographies to increase efficiency multi-fold and improve last mile delivery.  

 

 The GreyOrange Butler goods to person solution for automated material movement in warehouse caters to end customer, retail stores and production floors. The AI-powered Butler is designed to demonstrate super-smart decision-making capabilities to streamline and accelerate the order fulfilment process. Reducing time for order fulfilment and inventory replenishment in warehouses is imperative for businesses today to gain a competitive advantage. The GreyOrange Butlers help accelerate order fulfilment and inventory replenishment, while enabling warehouse managers to reduce stock losses and pilferage by tracking inventory in real-time and improve operator efficiency. The AI-powered Butler robots, using Machine Learning, are able to react to various situations as well as adapt to scenarios such as seasonal peaks, or surge in demands due to flash sales. The Butler solution is deployed across India, Japan, Hong Kong and the Americas.

 

In 2018, GreyOrange introduced the AI-powered Butler XL that can be used in manufacturing facilities and omnichannel warehouses, to move different kinds of loads from raw materials to finished goods. 

 

How is demand for two of GreyOrange's flagship products: Sorter and Butler?  

In the last few years, the company made inroads into new markets across the globe such as Japan, Latin America and Europe through strategic partnerships, riding on the back of the demand for these products. Some of the largest e-commerce and logistics players are already making a difference in their supply chain with GreyOrange solutions. Customers in India include e-commerce and omni-channel retail players such as Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Pepperfry; and logistics players such as Aramex, DTDC, Delhivery. Customers across APAC and Latin America include Kerry Logistics (Hong Kong), Ninja Van (Singapore), Nitori (Japan), Pos Indonesia (Indonesia), Loggi (Brazil).

 

There has been a steady rise in the usage of robotics in warehouse management globally. Are you seeing the same trend in India as well? 

Warehouses, not only in India, but across the world have remained technologically starved for decades. In the past few years, with e-commerce booming, the pressure increased on warehouses to adopt advanced robotics technology to ensure higher productivity and faster delivery. Now, we are in the phase where the ‘primitive go-downs’ are being turned into smarter warehouses, fulfilment and distribution centers, where robotics solutions are deployed for put-away and picking (inventory management), profiling (quality check) and sorting based on the specific configurations to improve throughput. 

 

Further, the market for industrial automation in India is on the rise, with verticals such as e-commerce, FMCG, retail and pharmaceuticals gradually adopting robotics systems to transform their supply chain.

 

How is implementation of GST enabling adoption of automation in warehouses?  

According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, with the implementation of GST, the Indian logistics market is expected to reach about $ 215 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent.  

 

Due to its ‘One Nation, One Tax’ policy, retailers now have to pay only once in order transfer their goods from one state to multiple states. Companies can look to have large, state-of-the-art warehouses as a result of consolidation, between four and 10 times the size of the current facilities. To operate such facilities efficiently and reliably, businesses will need more than just trained manpower. This is where GreyOrange products play an important role - to automate the warehouses in order to make these more efficient, accurate, productive and profitable. Here we are speaking about millions of packets being shipped every day! 

 

For businesses, our products will offer a clear cost benefit in terms of leaner inventory, eliminating the need to duplicate or triplicate the inventory on stock, and storing what will actually be dispatched or consumed.  

 

How are automobile manufacturers reacting to warehouse automation? Are they investing in it?

In India as well as globally, industrial robots have been around for a few decades doing high-precision tasks such as welding and assembling, heavy lifting and auto body painting. We have seen how robots have made automotive assembly lines faster, safer, more cost effective and efficient- all at the same time. According to International Federation of Robotics, 70 per cent of industrial robots are currently at work in the automotive, electrical/electronic and metal and machinery industry segment. The association further estimates that the number of industrial robots deployed worldwide will increase to around 2.6 million units by 2019. 

 

Do you plan to offer warehouse automation solutions to automotive and auto component companies?

The Butler goods-to-person robotics system is well suited for automotive components as there are numerous SKUs for automotive use and these components have very diverse product attributes; some are lower value and are fast moving components, and some are very high value and may be slower moving. The way the Butler system fulfills and consolidates each order results in higher efficiency and accuracy. Among the sites we are currently deploying, one of them will be used for distribution of automotive components.   

 

What are your plans to tap overseas/exports market?

A few months ago, we announced our partnerships with 10 key players who are regional and local specialists in warehouse technologies and end-to-end automation solutions, and who will manage the sales and customer support for the installation of GreyOrange robotics technologies in Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Americas. GreyOrange has acquired marquee customers in Japan and Europe. These include a global 3PL using the Butler system for one of its pan-European distribution operations in Benelux and a leading e-commerce platform for their regional Fulfilment Center.

 

What is the future of automated warehousing in India?

The world’s largest distribution centres in India are adopting innovative technologies, including robotics logistics and cobots, to transform their operations today. The potential of such advanced technology is evident, and it can be predicted that more and more companies will plan to switch to fully-automated or robotised warehouses to enjoy its benefits - they are more flexible, cost effective, improve productivity and enhance space utilisation. 

 

Other important considerations include how they create a safer working environment, eliminate product damage, provide less shipping errors and are environmentally friendly. 

 

Looking forward, retail businesses can prepare their people, processes and infrastructure to embrace new technologies and understand its advantages to better manage the growing demands and aggressive competition in the market. These will then become the successful businesses of the future - swift and flexible enough to take advantage of new technologies - as they would be able to adapt to the accelerated change in sourcing, production and distribution that are necessary to maintain their lead.

 

 

With manufacturers looking to become Industry 4.0 compliant, how will it aid the development of warehouse automation market?

According to a market research report, the warehouse robotics market is expected to be valued at $ 4.44 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 11.8 per cent from 2017 to 2022. The elements pushing the growth of this market include the rising demand and supply in the e-commerce industry, need for highly efficient and reliable warehouses and increasing adoption of warehouse robotics, autonomous as well as collaborative robots by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  Hence, robotised warehouses is the answer to achieve the highest output along with seamless operations in their distribution centres.

 

What are your growth plans for future?

We plan to continue expanding our capabilities in India and across the globe. In the coming years, we see GreyOrange entering new industries/verticals and geographies. We continue to expand our capabilities in India across new verticals. Our solutions are installed by some of the largest retail and FMCG customers in India. In the coming years, we see GreyOrange entering new industries/verticals like pharma and automotive. From an ecosystem perspective, we will be focusing on building stronger partnerships with new players in the automation space.