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☆ Shopify's midlife crisis: How a surprise pivot away from logistics capped the e-commerce giant's whirlwind year
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

But Shopify's logistics acquisitions, which came with around 550 more staff altogether, started to look like dead weight after the shine of the initial announcements wore off. By the beginning of 2023, the attitude toward logistics inside Shopify had shifted to palpable frustration, four people who worked for Shopify's logistics division said. Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesIndependent of logistics, Shopify saw massive cultural shifts in the past several years. One core tenet of Shopify's work culture is "default to open," meaning it values transparency and sharing information with employees. The letter referred to Shopify's logistics work of the past four years as a "side quest" that distracted the company from its "main quest."

Persons: Shopify, it's, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Lance McMillan, crafters, Tobias Lütke, Slack, —, Lütke, Shopify's, I've, Toby Shannan, Morgan Stanley, Jeff Hoffmeister, Bobby Morrison, Allan Leinwand, Kaz Nejatian, Nejatian, Madeline Stone, Emma Cosgrove Organizations: Employees, Amazon, Systems, Kiva Systems, Toronto Star, Getty, miscalculating, Facebook, ecosgrove Locations: Shopify, Ottawa , Ontario, —, Silicon

Warehouse workers pick items up, sort them and put them down millions of times a day. Warehouse workers at Amazon and other companies are at risk of developing repetitive-stress injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. The Sparrow is “a major leap in technology challenge and technology development,” said Joseph Quinlivan, Amazon’s vice president of global robotics and technology. Amazon workers at the robotics facility in Westborough, Mass. New robots aren’t expected to replace warehouse employees but will lead to more roles to work with the robots, Amazon said.

☆ Attabotics raises $71 million as startups vie with Amazon over robotic warehouse of the future
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Attabotics' all-in-one automated fulfillment system is condensed into a single vertical structure, using robotic shuttles to pick goods and then deliver to workers. Attabotics, a 3-D robotics supply chain company, has raised $71.7 million in new funding to continue its push into automatizing warehouses. The raise comes amid the push to further optimize shipping fulfillment and warehouse technology as e-commerce continues to grow. Amazon has steadily added to its fleet of warehouse robots since it acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012, which has now become Amazon Robotics, the company's in-house incubator of robotic fulfillment systems. In June, Amazon unveiled its first fully autonomous robot that can operate alongside warehouse workers, in addition to other systems that can sort and move packages.

☆ Amazon unveiled a new warehouse robot that can identify and pick 65% of the items it sells. 'This will take my job,' one warehouse worker said.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The robot's capabilities have sparked fears among some Amazon workers that Sparrow could leave them without work. Sparrow "will take my job," one Amazon warehouse worker said, after reading Amazon's description of the robot. "Everyone knows that Amazon wants to replace human labor with robots," said Ryan Brown, an Amazon worker and the president of the union Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment. One of Amazon's robot arms is installed at Brown's facility, he said, but "interestingly enough, the robot that we have is always down." "These robots collapse," agreed Brett Daniels, an Amazon worker and Amazon Labor Union organizer.

☆ Amazon introduces 'Sparrow' robotic arm that can do repetitive warehouse tasks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new robotic arm that can sort and lift packages in warehouses. Amazon on Thursday showed off a new robot that could one day assist warehouse workers with some of the more tedious aspects of the job. The company unveiled "Sparrow," a robotic arm that can pluck millions of items of varying shapes and sizes, on stage at the Delivering the Future conference near Boston, where it showcased new robotics, transportation and last-mile delivery technologies. Amazon has steadily added to its fleet of warehouse robots since it acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million a decade ago. Amazon in June unveiled its first fully autonomous robot that can operate alongside warehouse workers, in addition to other systems that can sort and move packages.

☆ Logistics Operators Find Robots Are Helping Recruit Tech-Savvy Workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The impact of robots on logistics operations is growing more complicated as companies weigh how automation affects recruiting both management leaders and staffers for the warehouse floor. Manufacturers and retailers such as snack-food giant Mondelez International Inc. and department store chain Nordstrom Inc. say the investments are also changing their supply-chain workforces. Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. The buy jump-started the company’s rollout of greater automation in its growing logistics network and expanded the pipeline of engineers and other technology workers into the business. Lee Beard, senior vice president of transportation at Seattle-based Nordstrom, said the retailer has been highlighting its technology investments to job recruits.

☆ Warehouse giants like Amazon and others are desperate for more robots, but human workers worry they make the job more dangerous
▼ + stars: | 2021-08-31 | by ( Andrew Moseman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

As a new workday dawns in the warehouse, workers take their places around the floor to start their shifts. Amazon, the industry juggernaut, began bringing robots into its warehouses after purchasing the robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012. This year, it launched a billion-dollar fund focused on logistics and supply-chain robotics companies, the biggest splash in a sea of warehouse robotics investments and acquisitions. A Harvard Business Review survey of 77 warehouse workers in 2022 found that they viewed automation in warehouses slightly more positively than negatively. While workers worried about job loss and dealing with tech malfunctions, they were optimistic that robots could make their work safer and more productive.

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