Combating Labor Shortages with Automated Warehouse Solutions

The U.S. economy is currently in a high-pressure labor market, and warehouses and distribution centers (DCs) are feeling the squeeze. From workers aging out of the workforce, complications from the pandemic, naturally high turnover rates and intense competition, DCs are in a seemingly endless battle for laborers despite increasing wages and sweetening benefit packages. Adding to the labor problem is that 80% of DCs primarily operate with a manual workforce. Previously, warehouses were blessed with a large and cheap labor pool, allowing them to relegate tasks such as picking, packing, sorting and operating forklifts to humans. The current labor shortage has highlighted the differences between manually operated DCs and those that have integrated automated solutions that have been able to keep up with growing e-commerce demands.