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Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
World's biggest retailer will soon have more robots than human employees
Amazon will soon have more robots than human employees working in its warehouses. The retail giant has long been increasing automation for tasks once completed by humans. As a result it now has more than one million robots in its workplaces, according to the company's own data. This new record is nearing the amount of human workers in its facilities, and will soon surpass them. Amazon's enormous warehouses are now staffed with large plucking 'robots' that can pick up and move packages with their long metallic arms. Other robots are used to pack products into packaging and to help with sorting. One of the newest robots, called Vulcan, even has in-built sense of touch which helps it to distinguish between different items on shelves, the Wall Street Journal reported. Amazon's latest move is to connect the robots to its order-fulfillment systems - meaning the machines can work together and with humans to complete jobs - according to the report. 'They're one step closer to that realization of the full integration of robotics,' robot analyst Rueben Scriven told the Journal. Currently around 75 percent of Amazon's deliveries are helped by a robot at some point on their journey. Amazon claims this has been one of the main factors behind their improved productivity. It also helps solve issues such as high staff turnover at its fulfilments centers, the retail giant said. It has also freed current staff from some repetitive and cumbersome tasks such as heavy lifting. 'I thought I was going to be doing heavy lifting, I thought I was going to be walking like crazy,' Amazon employee Neisha Cruz told the Journal. Cruz spent five years picking items at an Amazon warehouse in Windsor, Connecticut, but was then trained to oversee the new robotic systems. Cruz now earns more than double the pay she started on and is able to work behind a computer rather than on her feet. Amazon boss Andy Jassy warned that AI will lead to job cuts However, the robots are also replacing jobs and slowing hiring at the company which currently employs 1.56 million people, mostly in warehouses. It comes after Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy recently revealed that the increased implementation of AI means the company will slash the size of its workforce in the coming years. 'As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,' Jassy wrote in a memo to staff last month. 'It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce,' he explained. And Amazon is not alone. Last month Microsoft also said is planning to cut thousands of jobs as it ramps up investments in AI. The cuts, which will hit sales roles in particular, are part of a broader effort to streamline the company's workforce, according to Bloomberg. The layoffs are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of the tech giant's fiscal year, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. In June Procter & Gamble, which makes diapers, laundry detergent, and other household items, also announced it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 15 percent of non-manufacturing roles. Americans are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of AI on the jobs market. The tech is continuing to upend the jobs market with white collar entry-level jobs disappearing fastest and layoffs in tech, finance and consulting gathering pace.
Mint
01-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Amazon is on the cusp of using more robots than humans in its warehouses
The automation of facilities is approaching a new milestone: There will soon be as many robots as humans. The e-commerce giant, which has spent years automating tasks previously done by humans in its facilities, has deployed more than one million robots in those workplaces, Amazon said. That is the most it has ever had and near the count of human workers at the facilities. Company warehouses buzz with metallic arms plucking items from shelves and wheeled droids that motor around the floors ferrying the goods for packaging. In other corners, automated systems help sort the items, which other robots assist in packaging for shipment. One of Amazon's newer robots, called Vulcan, has a sense of touch that enables it to pick items from numerous shelves. Amazon has taken recent steps to connect its robots to its order-fulfillment processes, so the machines can work in tandem with each other and with humans. 'They're one step closer to that realization of the full integration of robotics," said Rueben Scriven, research manager at Interact Analysis, a robotics consulting firm. Now some 75% of Amazon's global deliveries are assisted in some way by robotics, the company said. The growing automation has helped Amazon improve productivity, while easing pressure on the company to solve problems such as heavy staff turnover at its fulfillment centers. Mobile robots reposition package carts at the Amazon facility in Shreveport. For some Amazon workers, the increasing automation has meant replacing menial, repetitive work lifting, pulling and sorting with more skilled assignments managing the machines. 'I thought I was going to be doing heavy lifting, I thought I was going to be walking like crazy," said Neisha Cruz, who spent five years picking items at an Amazon warehouse in Windsor, Conn., before she was trained to oversee robotic systems. Today she sits in front of a computer screen in a Tempe, Ariz., office making sure mobile robots inside Amazon facilities across the U.S. are working properly. She earns about 2.5 times more pay than she did when she started at Amazon. Robots are also supplanting some employees, helping the company to slow hiring. Amazon employs about 1.56 million people overall, with the majority working in warehouses. The average number of employees Amazon had per facility last year, roughly 670, was the lowest recorded in the past 16 years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, which compared the company's reported workforce with estimates of its facility count. The number of packages that Amazon ships itself per employee each year has also steadily increased since at least 2015 to about 3,870 from about 175, the analysis found, an indication of the company's productivity gains. Some of Amazon's newer facilities, such as those built for same-day delivery, have 'smaller employee footprints and help us deliver with greater speed," a company spokesman said. Amazon is also rolling out artificial intelligence in its warehouses, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said recently, 'to improve inventory placement, demand forecasting, and the efficiency of our robots." Amazon said it will cut the size of its total workforce in the next several years. The second-largest private employer in the U.S., Amazon is a bellwether for a range of businesses automating work around the country. Its broad rollout of robots shows how technological advances are accelerating, transforming factory floors and rippling through labor markets. The company began introducing advanced robotics to its warehouses after it paid $775 million in 2012 to buy Kiva Systems, which made robots that ferried shelves of products around. Early on, robots moved large amounts of unpackaged items, a physically difficult task for a human to do. Over time, the machines began taking on even more challenging assignments, such as packaging, sorting products and lifting heavy items. Amazon's automation advances are on display at its 3-million-square-foot facility in Shreveport, La. There, more than six dozen robotic arms sort, stack and consolidate millions of items. Robots also zip carts of packages for loading onto trucks, help package customer paper bags for orders and transport products to be in position for packaging. One of the machines uses computer vision and small robotic arms. Robots perform several tasks working with humans. The robotic system that helps sort inventory moves products to an employee, who then picks the items that fill an order. Another reaches for hard-to-grab items inside shelves, with the supervision of a human worker. Products move 25% faster through the facility than at other sites. Amazon has trained more than 700,000 workers across the world for higher-paying jobs that can include working with robotics, the company said. The increased use of automation, including over a dozen robotic arms in Shreveport, has helped Amazon improve productivity. 'You have completely new jobs being created," such as robot technicians, said Yesh Dattatreya, senior applied scientist at Amazon Robotics. Warehouse workers are being trained in mechatronics and robotics apprenticeships. Dattatreya is leading a newly created Amazon team from the company's Bay Area innovation lab to put more advanced artificial-intelligence systems into its robotics. The goal, he said, is to turn future warehouse robots into assistants that can respond to verbal commands, such as to unload a trailer. Keshia Jenkins troubleshoots a stalled mobile robot at Amazon's Shreveport fulfillment center. Amazon has been testing a humanoid robot, its manufacturer Agility Robotics said. The robots, which have legs, arms and a head and have been tested with tasks such as recycling containers at Amazon, are still in research and development, Amazon said. Amazon Robotics Chief Technologist Tye Brady said in an interview that the company will continue to need many workers and that new robots are meant to make their jobs easier, not displace them. Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director at the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates on the behalf of warehouse employees, said robotics haven't changed jobs as much in smaller Amazon sites as in large fulfillment centers to date. Yet Kaoosji expressed concern about the longer-term impact on employment. The company's 'dream is to have significant reduction of workforce in high-density facilities," he said. Write to Sebastian Herrera at
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GreyMatter by GreyOrange Recognized in Interact Analysis' Warehouse Software Market Insight Report
Interact Analysis predicts the warehouse automation software market will reach over $16 billion by 2030 ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GreyOrange Inc., a leader in AI-driven fulfillment automation, announces recognition of its GreyMatter hyper-intelligent warehouse orchestration in Interact Analysis' comprehensive report, Warehouse Software Market Insight. Authored by Interact Analysis Research Manager Rueben Scriven and Senior Analyst Irene Zhang, the report reveals key insights into the rapidly evolving warehouse software market, highlighting a projected CAGR of 12.7% from 2023 to 2030. Interact Analysis predicts the warehouse automation software market will reach over $16 billion by 2030. The report underscores the pivotal role of mobile robots in propelling growth within the fleet management system market. Their swift deployment, space efficiency compared to fixed automation, and flexible purchasing models, such as Robotics as a Service (RaaS), have accelerated the adoption of mobile robots - and the need for corresponding software. According to the report, 'To enhance operational efficiency in warehouses, implementing a Warehouse Execution System (WES) is likely to be considered a strategic choice.' 'With more disparate automation systems being used, along with more complex logistical processes, the need for fine-tuned orchestration and execution is becoming paramount to stay ahead of the curve,' said Rueben Scriven, Research Manager, Interact Analysis. 'Being able to orchestrate fixed automation, mobile automation, and manual operations, GreyMatter is a true Warehouse Execution System.' In alignment with this concept, GreyMatter's hyper-intelligent warehouse orchestration is at the forefront of this software revolution. GreyMatter is designed to solve critical warehouse operation challenges. It seamlessly supports both fixed automation and robotics while maintaining exceptional reliability as agent numbers grow. With advanced functional areas like Fulfillment Engine, Inventory in Motion, and Integrated Automation, GreyMatter ensures precise and efficient operational orchestration. 'The recognition of GreyMatter's value to the industry by Interact Analysis is a nod to the commitment of GreyOrange to producing competitive advantages for our customers,' said Akash Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, GreyOrange. 'GreyMatter's capability to operate across various facility types, flex up and down according to inventory levels and demand, and provide agnostic multiagent orchestration for robotic and human labor differentiates the WES, and prepares companies today with solutions for future needs.' Download the Warehouse Software Market Insight report, compliments of GreyOrange here. Learn more about GreyOrange's GreyMatter by visiting Interact Analysis, Warehouse Software Market Insight 2025, Rueben Scriven and Irene Zhang; January 2025 About Interact AnalysisInteract Analysis is the leading authority on the warehouse automation market. With analysts located across the world including the US, China, UK, and Germany, Interact Analysis helps its clients stay ahead of the curve with its high quality research and analysis. About GreyOrangeGreyOrange Inc. is at the forefront of AI-driven robotics systems, transforming distribution and fulfillment centers worldwide. Its emphasis on orchestration, innovation, and customer satisfaction marks a new era in efficient, responsive supply chain solutions. The company's solutions offer a competitive advantage by increasing productivity, empowering growth and scale, mitigating labor challenges, reducing risk and time to market, and creating better experiences for customers and employees. Founded in 2012, GreyOrange is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices and partners across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit Media ContactLeah R H Robinson, APRLeadCoverageleah@ photo accompanying this announcement is available at in to access your portfolio
