The robots are gathering to help beat Britain’s supply-chain shortages

Brexit and a shortage of lorry drivers mean items are missing from supermarket shelves. But further up supply chains, the picture is cheerier, for a nation of shopkeepers has built some of the world’s most advanced retail logistics. With around £350,000 spent on automation per warehouse in 2020, Britain’s distribution and fulfilment centres are the world’s most robotised, according to Interact Analysis, a research group. In America, for comparison, the figure is $375,750.

Britain was also an early mover in e-commerce. Amazon set up its virtual British store in 1998, three years after the American original. Its British fulfilment centres use small, squat robots to slide under shelves and shuttle them to people who pick and pack the right goods. Things get hectic at this time of year. A recent Black Friday offer by one client resulted in two days’ worth of off-peak order volume in an hour, says Scott Merrick, Cygnia’s chief information officer. The firm also has to cope with constant change, in the form of new products and customised packaging such as Christmas gift boxes. All this is a problem for robots, which, unlike humans, struggle with variety.

Cygnia says workers displaced by robots will be redeployed, as the firm is expected to grow. Indeed, automation can create jobs, not just for technicians and programmers, but also because improved efficiency tends to generate additional business, says Rueben Scriven, a senior analyst with Interact. He already sees signs of a net increase in warehouse employment.

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