Adaptive Fulfilment in Action: Automation for Tomorrow

How can fulfilment operations become more productive today without limiting their ability to adapt tomorrow?

In the recent UK webinar “Adaptive Fulfilment in Action: Automation for Tomorrow”, hosted by Logistics Business, experts from Locus Robotics, Noatum Logistics and Miebach explored how flexible, software-led automation can help organisations respond to changing order profiles, labour availability and demand.

Principal Consultant Jon Brewin from Miebach UK joined Kane Edwards, Business Development Manager at Locus Robotics, and Steve Hicks, Commercial Director at Noatum Logistics, in the discussion moderated by Peter MacLeod, Editor and Content Host at Logistics Business.

One of the central themes of the session was that automation alone does not make a warehouse future-ready. While traditional fixed automation can deliver significant throughput, its effectiveness often depends on the assumptions made when the system was designed.

The panel therefore highlighted the importance of designing for adaptability as well as performance. Modular automation, operational data and scalable technologies can give businesses greater freedom to adjust capacity and workflows as requirements evolve.

From Miebach’s perspective, Jon Brewin emphasised the importance of starting with the business and operational challenge rather than a preferred technology.

Equally, the entire flow through the facility should be considered – from replenishment and picking to packing, dispatch and exception handling.

Scenario modelling can then help organisations understand how a proposed solution might perform under different conditions, including seasonal peaks, changing product mixes, labour constraints and future growth.

The webinar also explored how autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can support this approach. By reducing repetitive travel and product movement, AMRs can allow warehouse colleagues to focus on activities where human judgement, dexterity and exception handling add greater value.

The panel discussed examples involving Boots, DHL and The Quality Group (TQG) to illustrate how robotics can contribute to increased picking productivity, operational efficiency and growth.

However, technology is only one part of a successful implementation. Workflow design, systems integration, training, safety, colleague engagement and clear performance ownership all play an important role in achieving sustainable results.

Another topic was Robotics as a Service (RaaS). By shifting robotics from a significant upfront capital investment towards an ongoing service model, RaaS can offer organisations another route to scaling automation as requirements change.

As with any commercial model, however, the full business case matters.

Ultimately, the discussion reinforced the principle: future-ready fulfilment is about installing not the most, but the right amount of automation so that the operation can continue to adapt and keep the flexibility to respond to whatever comes next.

Watch the full webinar on demand: