Logistics Robotics in 2024 and Beyond With Jonathan Briggs From Nimble

As vice president of sales and solutions at Nimble, a fully autonomous 3PL, Jonathan Briggs knows just how powerful warehouse robotics can be. In this episode, he and Lori discuss the history of robotics in logistics, what companies are doing today, and how things will evolve in years to come.

What are robots capable of?

Jonathan explains that in the past five years, the development of sophisticated artificial intelligence has led to “full-task robotics, where a robot can now do a full task of a person end to end.”

“It’s not just moving an item around a warehouse to make it a little bit more efficient. Now we can displace people because [robots have the same] functionality.”

What about human jobs?

Lori poses a tough question: If robots can replace humans in the warehouse, won’t that harm workers? Jonathan says no, explaining that robots aren’t necessarily leaving people jobless; they’re usually used when there isn’t enough human labor to meet logistics needs.

Even more importantly? Robots can perform tasks that are often taxing and dangerous for humans. As Jonathan points out, “Everywhere you look, there's a shortage of labor, there's injuries and accidents. What we do is get rid of jobs that people aren't showing up for, are getting hurt doing, or don't want to do.”

Save money on warehouse real estate

One often overlooked benefit of robots? They allow businesses to make their DCs smaller while maintaining efficiency. Jonathan says, “Most people look at automation through the lens of labor, labor, labor—cost of labor versus cost of machine. But you can add in another layer of dimension there: [you] can shrink the building, [you] can shrink [your] utilities.”

Links

• Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdbriggs/ 
• Visit Nimble’s website: https://www.nimble.ai/