Guest Blog Post for Robotic Simulation Provider

A guest blog explains the five benefits of using a robotic simulation in warehouse automation and ends with a call to action to schedule a demonstration. This spec assignment is based on the sources listed at the end of the manuscript plus my work experience as a business analyst for enhancements to a robotic system used in warehouse automation. My contributions: Ideation, research, writing, SEO optimization, logo design, and layout.

This spec assignment performs at least four functions during the customer journey:

1. Helps the company show up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) as an authority on robotic simulations
2. Helps a prospect understand the benefits of using robotic simulations during the warehouse automation process (preliminary research)
3. Helps a prospect cost-justify the purchase of robotic simulation services (buying decision)
4. Prompts the reader to sign up for a demonstration, becoming a lead who is willing to receive other marketing materials (moves the prospect another step further on the customer journey)

Five Ways a Robotic Simulation Can Save You Time, Money, and Risk in Warehouse Automation

You may have seen a news report or YouTube video showing the inside of an Amazon warehouse. Every day, robots and human workers ship approximately 1.6 million packages. Amazing, right?

Amazon is not alone, of course. According to the research firm Interact Analysis, about 20 percent of warehouses in 2022 used some form of robotics, up from 15 percent in 2018.

What if you’re a smaller company without Amazon’s resources? You can still introduce or enhance the use of robotics to increase your warehouse efficiency.

One way to stretch your budget is to invest in a robotic simulation. A robotic simulation is a software system that displays a virtual warehouse on a computer screen. As you watch, you can see how a virtual robot interacts with a virtual set of workers and objects inside the virtual warehouse.

Why do you need this virtual step? Robots come with some basic software, of course. However, it is up to your development team to incorporate the robot into a warehouse management system. A warehouse management system is the software that coordinates all the actions and processes in a warehouse.

There are at least five ways a robotic simulation can reduce risk and save you time and money.

A Robotic Simulation Lets You Preview the Warehouse Design

Your first step is to use the robotic simulation to create a virtual version of the proposed warehouse layout, which will guide the rest of the software development.

Consultant Mal Walker of Logistics Bureau says the ideal warehouse design follows four tenets:

1. Flow. The workflow (ideally one-way) should prevent gridlock as goods move from Receiving to Shipping.
2. Accessibility. The goal is to store goods in a way that simplifies picking and packing, without wasted motion.
3. Capacity, Capacity is the number of goods the warehouse can process in a certain time. In an ideal design, the system should never operate at 100 percent. Instead, the capacity should allow for growth over the project’s lifetime. Otherwise, gridlock will overwhelm the system and it may fail.
4. Traceability. The system should be able to record every action made by a person, a robot, or another piece of equipment. This traceability helps to analyze and correct errors.

To get an idea of the cost savings, let’s consider one example. Imagine a robotic arm hitting a shelving unit, triggering a cascade of falling pallets and goods. In the robotic simulation, this is an “oops” that triggers a software fix. In the real world, this is an expensive “incident” that causes injuries and sets off a cascade of delays, paperwork, and costs.

A Robotic Simulation Lets You Experiment Without Disrupting Production

The last thing any manager wants to do is disrupt a system that is running smoothly. Fortunately, you can explore “what if” scenarios in a robotic simulation without affecting the production system.

For example, having all packing slips printed at a single printing station might seem efficient. But what happens when there are printing errors? In the existing system, someone must walk to the printing station to pick up the error notices. And then walk back to a different workstation to fix the error. And each walk is three hundred yards over a concrete floor. This could become an ergonomic nightmare. What if the system sent the printing errors directly to a manager’s workstation? A robotic simulation makes it easy to explore such alternatives.

A robotic simulation also allows you to set SLA and KPIs, to be sure the new system will meet expectations. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are important measures of a system’s efficiency. And, if you perform logistics for another company, SLAs (service level agreements) are a key part of your contract.

A Robotic Simulation Avoids Expensive Do-Overs

Before you start actual work on the physical warehouse, you will need to approve the system requirements. As you work through the approvals, the robotic simulation is a handy guide to each step in the approvals.

Why call everyone back for another meeting? If you have ever worked in Information Technology (IT), you may have seen the sign, “Never time to do it right. Always time to do it over.” Reviewing the robotic simulation – one more time – gives everyone a chance to break this expensive cycle.

Shorten the Production Cycle

A robotic simulation provides valuable shortcuts during the production cycle.

First, the approved robotic simulation cuts the time needed to create a test environment. A test environment includes the latest version of the software under development, as well as data generated by the system. A Quality Assurance (QA) team can use the test environment to prepare for testing the real system before it goes “live”.

A robotic simulation can also be used to get a head start on developing system documentation and training materials. If you are developing a system for sale, for example, complete and clear system documentation can be an important deliverable for your customers.

Even if you only need to prepare documentation for your own employees, this can be a daunting task. Imagine you need to train workers in five different work roles. Someone must put together five different sets of training manuals, samples, exercises, and quizzes. And then plan and coordinate training sessions, whether in person or online. Having access to a robotic simulation can save valuable time in preparing employees to use the new system on Day One.

So, there you have it: Five ways that a robotic simulation supports sound IT management. Your company may never reach the size of Amazon, but a robotic simulation can let you be their peer in quality.

RoboSim Robotic Simulations works with major robotics manufacturers to help our customers create virtual versions of their new or upgraded warehouse automation systems. To get a jump start on your next robotics project, call our Customer Success Team to schedule a demonstration.

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Sources:

“57 Amazon Statistics to Know in 2023,” Landing Cube, published December 20, 2022, accessed September 19, 2023. https://landingcube.com/amazon-statistics/

Liz Young, “Companies Are Slow to Adopt Robot-Oriented ‘Dark Warehouses,” The Wall Street Journal, published February 17, 2023. “https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-are-slow-to-adopt-robot-operated-dark-warehouses-46e1c887/

NVIDIA Blog by Gerard Andrews, “What Is Robotics Simulation,” published June 29, 2023. https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2023/06/29/what-is-robotics-simulation/

Mal Walker, “The 4 Warehouse Design Principles – F.A.C.T.,” Supply Chain Secrets, 2020, accessed September 19, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SPz9F-BYWU