Retail's rise of machines

[BelieveNothing]

Retail's rise of machines


Photo: The Canadian Press
A man watches automated equipment at the Sobeys Vaughan Retail Support Centre.

Back in 2009, Sobeys found itself at a crossroads.

Labour costs were rising, employee productivity was waning and the grocer knew that it had to keep building bigger distribution centres to accommodate the growing number of items being sold in its supermarkets.

Instead of building out and hiring more workers, the national grocery chain built up and replaced many employees with robots.

"The combination of labour costs going up and SKUs (stock keeping units) being on the rise kind of forced us to start thinking outside the box and try to find a technology to help us resolve those issues," said Eric Seguin, senior vice-president of distribution and logistics for Sobeys.

Sobeys operates four robotics distribution centres: two facilities north of Toronto spanning 750,000 square feet, another in Montreal and one in Calgary that opened earlier this month.

Unlike its 21 traditional warehouses, the mostly automated centres rely on robotics instead of workers to pull items off the shelves and pack them onto pallets to ship to its 1,500-plus grocery stores.

One robot does the work of four employees, Seguin said.

"The robots don't get tired," Seguin said. "They always show up the morning after the Stanley Cup final. They are always there the morning after the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter if it's 35 (Celsius) and a beautiful weekend."

https://www.castanet.net/news/Business/199524/Retail-s-rise-of-machines

How many years until humans are obsolete?

[maryjane48]

bring on guarenteed income. this is just the tip of a large iceburg

[BelieveNothing]

bring on guarenteed income. this is just the tip of a large iceburg

That's right!

Everything is coming together nicely isn't it!?

The future looks SO wrong

[Sparki55]

bring on guarenteed income. this is just the tip of a large iceburg

Please inform me as to where this guaranteed income will be supplied from. Its like you assume the government is somehow making money from the robotization of manufacturing jobs and then this money is transferred to all the labourers out of work.

The real place the extra money will be coming from is out of the pockets of people who educated themselves and have the jobs which design and maintain this equipment listed above. So while some sit at home taking in their guaranteed income, others will be hard at work to support themselves and all the other people who did not change with the shifting work force requirements.

[BelieveNothing]

bring on guarenteed income. this is just the tip of a large iceburg

Please inform me as to where this guaranteed income will be supplied from. Its like you assume the government is somehow making money from the robotization of manufacturing jobs and then this money is transferred to all the labourers out of work.

The real place the extra money will be coming from is out of the pockets of people who educated themselves and have the jobs which design and maintain this equipment listed above. So while some sit at home taking in their guaranteed income, others will be hard at work to support themselves and all the other people who did not change with the shifting work force requirements.

WHO is allowing Machines/robots to take over human jobs?

WHO???

[GordonH]

Who do you think should be stopping this automation BelieveNothing

[BelieveNothing]

Who do you think should be stopping this automation BelieveNothing

All Human Beings who Value Humanity

[GordonH]

Who do you think should be stopping this automation BelieveNothing

All Human Beings who Value Humanity

Then you need to educate yourself about the business world and how publicly traded businesses. Make it so investors will invest.

If you have any investments of even a bank account all of that gets small or large return (even that small interest made on savings account comes from somewhere).

[maryjane48]

they have already talked about robot tax. whats your plan when no jobs? if you dont want anarchy i suggest you come up with a plan sooner than later .

[Sparki55]

they have already talked about robot tax. whats your plan when no jobs? if you dont want anarchy i suggest you come up with a plan sooner than later .

Who is "they"?
If you are talking about the Canadian government, a tax on manufacturing robots would be a very poor choice. All companies who utilize automation would relocate their factories in other countries which still allow automation with no additional tax. This would further job displacement as Canada would also then lose jobs for technicians, programmers and engineers who keep these systems operating.
There will still be jobs available, new opportunities will be created, this is not the end of humanity but only a shift in occupational fields. The human race no longer creates bows, arrows and swords for castle warfare, but we don't see thousands of out of work smithers, we have different jobs now, such as car manufacturing and power plant operators.
I do side with you on service jobs, banning self checkouts and McDonald's ordering kiosks would be a great idea. These companies would not be able to pack up and leave as the service needs to be provided in Canada and cannot be moved. These companies would be forced to increase their costs to provide customer service, so there is that trade off but I agree if it keeps jobs for kids, university students etc.

[maryjane48]

a tax on robots working . not being made .

[maryjane48]

um its not just canada . all the major countries are thinking about it . it makes sence. robots dont need healthcare. robots dont take sick days ect. there will be room lots of room to pay a aotomation tax .

this is coming to work place near you. robots can also build a house now all on its own . try google. you be amazed

[ORWELL]

man, a slow day for Castanet, this system was installed 8+ yrs ago....

that conveyor picture really doesn't do the Witron logistic system justice, developed in Germany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYR_TbHQ-o

it's a ballet of barcoded bins, the pallet builder is cool as it calls & builds the skid to a specific store's aisles. This system (provided the buyers & suppliers did their job) is no reason for out of stocks

it should have a fleet of IT techs to support it vs manual case pickers, I know which job I'd rather do

[alfred2]

um its not just canada . all the major countries are thinking about it . it makes sence. robots dont need healthcare. robots dont take sick days ect. there will be room lots of room to pay a aotomation tax .

this is coming to work place near you. robots can also build a house now all on its own . try google. you be amazed

They do not need a union , and work withou tgoing on strike.

[Sparki55]

this is coming to work place near you. robots can also build a house now all on its own . try google. you be amazed

Robots can't reproduce my job, they are incapable of imagination.
Anyway, enjoy your day. Your arguments lack concrete sources and therefore I am unable to really get my point across to you since you choose to ignore facts.