MATERIALS HANDLING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
MM: Much like on the
shopfloor, do you think
that people in materials
handling are also worried
that automation is going to
steal their job?
HP: Naturally, people driving
a forklift truck and looking at
automation must perceive this
as a threat to their job security.
But the fact is that customers
rarely want to reduce staff; they
say, first of all, that they want to
grow, and then that they simply
cannot find people willing to
do the job. They are short of
people, and this is what drives
them towards needing to look
for automation, because people
will not be available.
Another reason they are
going for automation is that
in some cases, the working
conditions are too hard, and
people are breaking. They care
about their people, so move
them out of these, let’s say,
nasty applications. In these
cases, automation makes sense.
And then only maybe in third
place would companies say ‘OK,
of course I need to be in higher
labour countries, I need to be
competitive and better efficiency
is the name of the game.’
The Industry 4.0 ‘agenda’ says
that we won’t have fewer jobs
in the future, but different ones.
And this whole is also true for
the drivers of forklift trucks. If
you look at them today, it’s much
more than driving: they need
to do material identification,
they need to know where to
go. Automation can assist the
drivers in the best possible way.
MM: What are the wider
trends that are set to affect
materials handling?
HP: The first thing that keeps
us up at night right now is
automation. The second is how
to get more value from data –
how to connect the equipment
more. And then, as we discussed,
alternative energy. These are the
immediate big trends. Looking
further ahead there is always the
question of what will replace
our vehicles. We call them turtles – small vehicles
that run around the warehouse. Then how will
material itself change? Will we move from a pallet
into a small parcel size; parcels are getting smaller
and smaller? Micro deliveries, end to end customer
deliveries – things like this will come up.
MM: As warehousing and materials
handling changes, how much do you have
to think ahead to predict what the key
trends will be?
HP: Where we have forklifts, most companies
are using pallets. Smaller parcels and pallets will
be more and more common in manufacturing
environments. These turtles represent the first
move into this. We have ideas about what we
think we come from micro parcelling and the like,
but I think I will retire long before traditional
pallets become obsolete. It’s a system that works,
so why change it too much? Much like diesel
power, it’s not that one system will die and a new
one will be there, but more and more systems are
popping up. After some years, we will figure out
what is the best one and then maybe the amount
of choice will narrow down.
Automation
is seen as a
threat to jobs
in the materials
handling sector
“Industry 4.0 says that we will
have different jobs in the future.
This is the same for FLT drivers.”
Henry Puhl, president, STILL GmbH
28 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk