Steady progress inside small to mid-sized operations

This month in Modern, we offer the second of back-to-back System Reports that take the temperature of where we are in the continuing tale of the application of robotics inside the warehouse/DC operations of small to mid-sized companies.

Last month, executive editor Bob Trebilcock took us inside Top Notch Distributors, a leader in the wholesale distribution of architectural door hardware. Top Notch was being squeezed between rising customer expectations and keeping up with growth in a challenging labor market. Their answer was pretty cut-and-dried: autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).

“Top Notch was an ideal example of a small to mid-sized company that made the leap from paper-based, pick-to-cart operations to system-directed pick-to-robots to create a safer and more efficient DC,” says Trebilcock. “This month is another similar sized company that’s eager to continue its automation journey.”

Trebilcock takes us back inside NorthShore Care Supply, a company we featured in the September 2020 issue. In that first story, he visited NorthShore’s new DC in Green Oaks, Ill., a facility that doubled its square footage and provided room to grow for a company that was then realizing 30% year-over-year annual growth.

“In 2020, I saw the new robot-to-goods solution the company had installed to minimize the labor needed to pick orders,” says Trebilcock. “On this most recent trip, nearly a year later, it was to see the robotic palletizing system the company implemented to address the labor shortage at the receiving dock.”

According to Trebilcock, one of the most encouraging elements of this recent visit was that Adam Greenberg, the company founder, was eager to discuss the next automation project he wanted to take on—a reminder that high levels of automation aren’t just for the big boys.

“It’s making a difference in smaller warehouses that are experiencing the same impact from the labor shortage and increasing customer service level requirements as their larger competitors,” adds Trebilcock.

Companies of all sizes are starting to see new opportunities to get the warehouse space they need to improve fulfillment operations right in the middle of a space crunch.

Senior editor Roberto Michel dives into the concept of warehousing on-demand, a growing sector of companies that offer platforms to connect businesses that need to store inventory and fill orders on a temporary basis with warehouses that have excess space.

“Having someone else do your warehouse fulfillment for you isn’t new, since 3PLs have offered warehousing for decades,” says Michel. “But on-demand players differ by typically not asking for long-term contracts and by bringing in smaller or regional 3PLs as DC partners.”

Michel says it may be too early to say if the on-demand model is a real rival for the biggest 3PLs. “We’re at a point where so many brands and omni-channel retailers are trying to quickly revamp their networks for resilience and e-commerce support that both models will thrive,” he adds. “But the timing does seem good for new, nimble approaches from fulfillment network providers.”