if you've ordered something from a big box retailer or
an e commerce giant this holiday season, chances are
it was sent to you from an automated fulfillment center
or warehouse. It's because more retailers are turning to
automation to stay competitive using intelligent motion solutions to increase
speed and efficiency. So one company at the forefront
of this evolution is columbus Mckinnon. It's a manufacturer
of automated systems. Joining me now is David Wilson
. He's the ceo of columbus Mckinnon. So David
thanks so much for joining us. So how important
is automation for retailers and consumers? It's critically important
. Michelle, thank you for having me on.
I think as you look at where we are in
the holiday season, all of us are receiving packages
coming to our doors and each one of us knows
how unavailable labor is in the marketplace today, there's
one applicant for every two jobs available. And so
the work that we're doing with our customers to make
sure that they're efficient and can ship product to our
our customers or their customers is super important to everyone
out there, including the retailers themselves who are trying
to offset this and unavailability of or in availability of
labor. Now, some of your customers include some
of the biggest retailers in the world. Um,
I recently visited one of these fulfillment centers and saw
some robotics in person. What are some trends that
you're noticing in the space in the terms of automation
of these facilities. Yes, absolutely. They're they're
using robots, they're using conveyor solutions. They're using
all kinds of lifting equipment to assist with the package
movement throughout their facilities and effectively taking materials that come
into their facilities, sorting them, storing them and
then moving them based on demand. And ultimately ai
trends are increasing. So using intelligence, big data
and the ability to put that together to help determine
what kind of stocks to keep in place. And
really they're driving to the three A's, as I
call it automation, artificial intelligence and availability of material
. Now, I know that the World Economic Forum
estimated that by 2025 we're gonna lose about 85 million
jobs due to automation. But at the same time
because of automation, they think we're going to add
97 million new jobs. So what kind of jobs
are we gonna see as a result of this move
towards more robotics and automation At such a great point
and a lot of people immediately go to the fact
that this takes jobs away. But what it does
really creates better jobs for employees and more challenging opportunities
for people to grow their careers with an exciting new
areas that are growing rapidly. The estimates right now
are that retailers will invest somewhere on the order of
$51 billion dollars In automation equipment through 2030 in this
space. And so there's gonna be a tremendous investment
, a lot of growth and a lot of opportunities
for people who are seeking exciting jobs in those spaces
to develop and growth. Now the pandemic has accelerated
the adoption of automation and Ai and robotics. Do
you think this boom is going to continue as we
return to what we're considering now, the new normal
. I do, I do I think it's it's
kind of irrefutable, you know, there's a trend
in the direction of higher efficiency, increased availability,
more intelligence around the movement of materials and handling and
with the in availability of labor thrown in and more
reassuring of both manufacturing and final mile distribution, you
just need to have more automation to help solve those
challenges. So although there's a slowdown at present or
predicted slowdowns, I think that there's demand that's going
to continue to move in the direction of of significant
growth for um for this industry. Now, speaking
of that slowdown, we do see that consumers may
be pinching their wallets, just being a little bit
more conscious about what they're spending at this time,
which is definitely going to affect the retail sector.
How do you think this will affect your business?
Well, I I do think that's true, increased
prices do affect all of us, but I ultimately
believe that we're going to continue to develop and grow
through this challenge because ultimately, whether there's one piece
sold or 1000 or a million pieces sold, the
benefit of moving to automation is ultimately going to win
the day and it gets back to the points I
raised earlier about the three A's you've got the automation
that makes you more productive and competitive artificial intelligence to
analyze data, including big data to really determine what
you should stock and then, ultimately, the availability
of materials that will differentiate for our retailers and ultimately
help you and I as consumers to get what we
want when we want it. What do you think
the role is of artificial intelligence and robotics in the
future of automation? I think it's going to play
a key role. I really do. I think
um the artificial intelligence will make these robotic pieces of
equipment much more intelligent, whether its roots that robots
are moving within a factory, repeatedly analyzing waste inefficiency
, the location of materials and where they're stocked.
Or it's the automation of picking and distributing and packing
and moving packages. All of that really lends itself
to increased accuracy, higher availability, higher efficiency and
productivity and better jobs for the people who are seeking
them well, thanks to David Wilson, he's the
ceo of columbus Mckinnon