2023-09-24 05:17:39
In the logistics sector, automation is making rapid progress. Autonomous robots have appeared, particularly in the warehouses of large groups like Amazon, but also in Swiss companies like La Poste or CHUV. Behind this revolution, the question of the future of workers arises.
A silent warehouse. In the distance, the sound of wheels sliding on the polished floor. Those of dozens of robots which transport goods under the control of artificial intelligence. This once futuristic scene is taking place more and more often in Swiss warehouses.
These autonomous robots are designed for work in stocks. They are excellent at repetitive tasks, carrying heavy loads and tidying up. An evolution embodied by AGVs (automated guided vehicles). At the CHUV, these machines resembling large skateboards transport carts of dishes, linen or medicine.
>> The robot moves alone behind the scenes of the CHUV:
Robots are revolutionizing logistics in Switzerland / Video news / 40 sec. / Tuesday at 3:49 p.m.
Maxence Mouliade, head of the goods distribution sector, testifies to their effectiveness at the microphone of La Matinale: “We call them turtles. They are designed to fit under the trolleys and carry them like a shell.” If three of these machines are currently circulating at the CHUV, twenty more are expected.
Employees undergoing retraining
But what happens to the employees formerly responsible for this task? The CHUV has focused on training. Asib Mustapha, for example, was able to retrain following obtaining a CFC in logistics.
“There were 20 to 25 employees taking care of the carts. When we saw the robots arriving, we said to ourselves that they were going to take our job,” says Asib Mustapha. But now, he manages the stock on the floors, while the robots work for him. He no longer has to push 500 kilo carts over a distance of up to 15 kilometers per day.
The Swiss Post is not left out. She laid the foundation stone for a state-of-the-art warehouse in Villmergen (AG), almost as large as eight football fields. It will become La Poste’s largest logistics storage center, at a total cost of 137 million francs.
Swisslog, the company in charge of automation in this project, plans to integrate high-rack pallets with 23,000 automated pallet locations, 19,000 for medium parts, as well as a robot system to manage 125,000 bins for small parts.
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Today, in large warehouses, robots already fetch the right pallets with the items that must be included in the order. A human operator is still needed to place them in the package. But order picking robots are coming.
Heinrich Lüthi, director of Swisslog, confirms this technological shift: “We already have solutions which will be launched by next year.” Practically, a robotic arm will recognize the object, pick it up without breaking it and place it in the order made by an online customer.
A market worth 130 billion
Today, the market is buoyant and three main factors are fueling this growth: internet purchasing habits accentuated by Covid, technological advances making robots more efficient and, faced with challenges such as the war in Ukraine, the strategic interest in having warehouses in Switzerland.
A central question remains: what future for workers? Daily life certainly changes. Machine maintenance and small repairs have become part of daily work. Control and relations with the outside world, notably signatures, remain in the hands of humans.
Cohabitation is only just beginning. ABB, which has just opened a fully automated factory in China, predicts that the global robot market will grow from $80 billion today to $130 billion in 2025.
Pascal Wassmer
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