Eighty percent of humans will engage with smart robots on a daily basis, and one in 20 supply chain managers will manage robots, rather than humans, by 2030, according to Gartner, Inc.
Organizations are placing greater emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of their existing workforce by supplementing with robotics due to factors like labor scarcity and rising costs. Smart robots have been identified by chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) as an important investment area, though many acknowledge their organization lacks internal robotics expertise to maximally leverage these innovative technologies.
“CSCOs must develop an organizational structure to support the management of growing fleets of robots by creating a warehouse automation strategy,” says Abdil Tunca, Senior Principal Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. “Managers will encounter different scenarios when managing robots than they would with people, especially when managing fleets of task specific and polyfunctional robots, which will navigate more tasks and spaces within warehouses and fulfillment centers.”
As robot fleets expand rapidly, more companies will adopt and explore diverse applications for robotics, according to Gartner. Initially, when fleets are small and specialized, a technical professional or engineer will oversee operations within specific functional boundaries. However, the research group says that, as fleets grow and companies embrace varied robotics use cases, establishing a management structure to oversee robotics operations becomes essential.
