The Japanese clothing store chain Uniqlo has a warehouse in Tokyo where 90% of the work is done by autonomous machines.
Automation covers more and more tasks and, as it could not be otherwise, takes new places. Traditionally, machines have been very present in factories, with an increasing level of autonomy. But now they have made the leap to the other great space of the production line: storeroom.
In Tokyo they already have their first success story. Japanese clothing store chain Uniqlo he has renovated a warehouse to be 90% autonomous. That is, only 10% of the work is done by people. The machines do the rest.
It is a robotic system designed for transfer products leaving the warehouse autonomously and take them to the trucks. The machines read the electronic labels and classify the goods, so that the stock figures are constantly updated.
Likewise, the receipt of goods is also automatic. Robots read labels and mount products on conveyor belts that lead them to the area where they will be stored.
Only a small part of the tasks are done by human employees , which turns out to be a technical prodigy. Although a report from the Davos Economic Forum pointed out that by 2025 52% of tasks at work would be automated. Something that clearly indicates what the trend is.
Uniqlo warehouse renovation it has been carried out in collaboration with the company Daifuku , specialized in material handling equipment. A refurbishment of this type can cost between 9 and 90 million, depending on the characteristics of the warehouse.
A balance in jobs
The catastrophic theses, which speculate on the loss of a good number of jobs due to automation, have their counterpart. It is true that artificial intelligence and robotics will fill some of the jobs that a person has traditionally held. But they will also create new ones.
In fact, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report estimates that artificial intelligence will create the same jobs it destroys. The consultant studied the UK market to make its predictions, which although applied to this country serve as a reference for other places. He put the spotlight on the year 2037 and pointed out that by then AI would have finished with 7 million jobs. However, at the same time it would have created another 7.2 million.
Images: Pexels, Pashminu
