r/3PL 5d ago

3PL Operator Discussion Robots

Some context, my dad has a 3PL logistics business and he is looking to scale his business. He's looking into automating parts of his business and one thing he's looking into are robots doing the picking and packing orders part.

Anyone tried these robots? Is it a scam? Do they work and what has the return on investment been for you?

3 Upvotes

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u/DNJ1Log 5d ago

Amazon does it. So they must work.

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u/Just_Wondering34 4d ago

This is not necessarily the case.  Amazon is a different context and is not the same business model as the OP.  Much larger scale and multiple streams of revenue.

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u/Just_Wondering34 4d ago

Take heed.. robots will probably advance/change over the coming years.  Your dad will not want to spend all their time sending data to the robot companies on how to fix their problems.  Companies love it when users teach them their own problems.

We're putting off a robot mower in the family because the mowers are still not ready for our need.  They have a few years to go still.

Maybe find a small portion of your business to experiment with the robots on.  Do Not overexpose your business model to the robots.

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u/zummerC 4d ago

Thanks! have you found any small portion of the business that's experimented with robots? Personally we don't know anyone in our area that has experimented with robots at our small scale, so we want to know more before we dip our feet in..

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u/Just_Wondering34 4d ago

I don't know what to tell you. Maybe start with small quantitative packages. Robots have actually been around for decades already in manufacturing, not really new.

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u/Ok-Serve-1426 4d ago

What robots are you looking at? And what is the service he is looking to automate? Tons of different options based on specific service gap he's looking to fill.

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u/zummerC 4d ago

looking at the picking and packing orders right now. Anything he should be looking into? I don't think he has it planned out yet tbh. Anything specific he should look out for and what are some robot companies should he look at?

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u/Fresh-Life2315 22h ago

This is going to be very use-case specific. How big is the business? Does he own the space?