Autonomous Robots in the Grocery Warehouse,
WSJ
This is a grocery warehouse.
We service grocery stores with dry goods items.
We receive directly from the manufacturer and stock items and then deliver them to the stores [by] (at) their request.
Text: Robotics company Symbotic is trying to change the food distribution industry. The company has developed a system to automate jobs formerly done by humans. It is owned by Rick Cohen, who also owns grocery wholesaler C&S Wholesale.
Symbotic has installed its systems in warehouses used by Target and other companies.
So if we (had) received [in] coffee, it would be not just a case of coffee, it would be a full truck of coffee in pallets.
We take those pallets, load them on to conveyors and then the first robot would take that pallet apart layer by layer and then those layers would then be broken up into single case quantities and then stored within the structure by the next set of robots.
We then receive the customer’s order and they would give us an order for coffee and for peanut butter and mayonnaise and whatever else they wanted.
Those cases would then be retrieved by the bots and then brought out to a third set of robots which would then build the customer’s order in a pallet to their specification.
Text: Symbotic says its system can cut labor costs by 80% and reduce warehouse size by 25% to 40%. But the equipment alone can cost between $40 million and $80 million… potentially a tough sell for food wholesalers and grocery chains operating on slim profit margins.
People do not handle the product in the automated system.
On each shift we have five to six associates out on the floor that are monitoring the system and there (here) to resolve any issues that come up and (to) keep the lines running.
It’s running essentially 20 to 21 hours a day and seven days a week.
The reason we can store things more efficiently is because we really don’t have any barriers to store one product next to another.
We can store it as needed to get the most efficient throughput in the system.
If you can satisfy a customer’s demand in less square feet then that means you can store more product in the same building or you can store it in a smaller building and still [achieve] (satisfy) the same (level of) customer demand.
Notes:
() = addition
[] = substraction
Vocabulary: (definition source Merriam-Webster)
Grocery: the food and supplies sold by a grocer Warehouse: a structure or room for the storage of merchandise or commodities dry goods: grocery items (such as tobacco, sugar, flour, and coffee) that do not contain liquid receive from the manufacturer the food distribution industry Wholesale: the sale of commodities in quantity usually for resale wholesaler: a merchant middleman who sells chiefly to retailers a case of coffee: a box of coffee conveyor: a mechanical apparatus for moving articles or bulk material take that pallet apart: to disassemble that pallet brake up into: to disassemble retrieve: to return successfully build to specifications cut costs by slim margins handle associate monitor keep the lines running throughput: the amount of something (such as material, data, etc.) that passes through something (such as a machine or system) satisfy customer demand
Grammar:
Prepositions: -from: “We receive directly from the manufacturer” a starting point of an activity. -of: “a case of coffee” used as a function word to indicate the component material, parts, or elements or the contents. -at: “[by] (at) their request” used as a function word to indicate the means, cause, or manner Example: “used by Target and other companies” -into: “then be broken up into single case quantities” used as a function word to indicate the dividend in division -within: “within the structure” used as a function word to indicate enclosure or containment -by: “by the next set of robots” through the agency or instrumentality of -by: “cut labor costs by 80%” used as a function word in multiplication, in division, and in measurements