‘Playing Nice’ with the Orchestration of Automation

Solo performances and smaller ensembles can highlight any orchestra’s performance. But when the entire group plays seamlessly together, the magic of the symphony can be experienced in dynamic, powerful—and sometimes even awe‑inspiring—ways.

In today’s supply chain community, there’s much talk of “orchestration” and “harmonization” in warehouses and distribution centers, alongside notes of scalability and interconnectivity. Here, too, there are integral soloists and smaller sections; consider Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Warehouse Execution Systems (WES), Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), Autonomous Forklifts, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), all playing their part. Each is important. Each can be competitive.

“Implementing automation in a warehouse is not a big challenge the first time you do it,” says Bill Denbigh, VP of go to market strategy for advanced supply chain solutions provider and MHI member Tecsys. “The second time, third time and fourth time, it’s a nightmare.” Automation tends to be monotasking, and these systems tend to be greedy for resources. “They don’t care about anyone else. They want to be the best automation they can be. Naturally, when that happens, you end up with conflict.” Humans in the mix don’t necessarily help.

At a time when speed, efficiency and accuracy matter perhaps more than ever, how can companies get such systems to “play nice” for the greater good? A sampling of industry leaders shared their thoughts on where things are in terms of orchestration, where things are headed—and what might help in the meantime. Data standardization, the use of APIs to connect disparate systems, open standards and protocols and common data models might be a start. But there’s more.

It’s All About the Data

Denbigh, located in the UK, still sees a “nascent marketplace.” Things are more mature in Europe than in the U.S., “but even they have significant problems,” said Denbigh, a member of the MHI Solutions Community Software Committee. “Orchestration is about multiple things. Number one is data. Can you get the data unified into an orchestration layer? It’s only as good as the data you can get out. You need the traffic control systems that run the automation to play nice and give you the data you need, which is hard. The motivation in the marketplace right now is not to play nice. Why would they?”

Task assignment and workload balancing are also nascent. Traffic systems are good at collecting data and doing the tasks, he said, “but very bad at telling you.” Visibility tends to come from feeding work in and measuring results on the way out, and there’s a lag in the middle. In addition, the “where do I send this order to?” element is “very rules-based,” he said. “There’s not a lot of AI or learning involved…. It tends to be, ‘Those kinds of orders all go to that.’ It’s very rigid right now in the allocation of task assignment.” The market must go toward dynamic assignment of tasks based on the current workload, he said, and that’s still a generation up from today.

Interplay Needed Beyond Integration

Kristi Montgomery, VP, innovation research and development, Kenco Group, hears a dual challenge when speaking with customers: “They’re realizing there’s a necessity for automation, and also realizing that no single vendor can provide all the solutions that are needed to automate their facilities end‑to‑end. ‘Integration’ is what supply chain leaders will initially say is needed, but the more they talk, you realize they’re not just looking for the data to pass between the vendors. What they’re really looking for is orchestration, meaning, ‘If I have this automation solution that’s unloading trailers, I need to have that task done before the next piece of automation arrives to pick it up and take it into the rest of the facility.’

There’s coordination of when each piece of automation needs to complete its task in order for the next one to be most efficient.” She is seeing some vendors ahead of others. That said, many silos remain. As each vendor has a product or service they want to sell, forced partnerships are often the result. AI and machine learning further complicate the picture.

Kenco Group, a third‑party logistics solutions provider, saw some of this coming earlier than others due to a variety of clients with unique challenges and different automation. “We’ve been talking in these kinds of terms for a couple of years now as we saw the labor market constraints trending,” she said. Those in manufacturing and retail, however, might be newer to the table when it comes to supply chain automation orchestration.

Regardless, there’s still a very real reliance on people when it comes to moving forward. “We have a pretty highly automated facility that we run for a large CPG company,” Montgomery said. “There are some really key, critical players—humans—who sit behind the scenes and ensure that each of those components do what they’re supposed to do, in the timeframe they’re supposed to do it.” This requires a lot of sophistication within the teams, she said, including “understanding all there is to understand about each of those pieces of automation and how to coordinate them together.” Eighty percent of processes can probably be done with automation, she said. “But there’s always going to be that 20 percent, the exceptions that humans are going to have to do. So, it becomes about, ‘How do we get the different skillsets that we need?’” The company has yet to put in automation solutions without also having to upskill or add someone in the space, she said. Further, “Automation will fail every time without good change management practices.”

No ‘One Size Fits All’ Here

Brian Keiger, chief commercial officer of MHI member Conveyco Technologies, is quick to point out that every company is different. As a result, the journey to choosing the best path forward will also be unique. As an order fulfillment and warehouse systems integrator, Conveyco Technologies doesn’t just come in to automate, he said. “We really go in and try to understand a customer’s business. We want to help them understand the impact of automation.” When someone asks for help with automating processes, then, he starts at the beginning. “I say, ‘Sign me up to be on your delivery trucks at 3 a.m. out to the stores. They’ll say, ‘Wait a minute. We want you to automate our warehouse.’… When you automate, everything is now being tied together into a seamless workflow.” Everything impacts everything else.

Clients might want to just automate one part, but doing that well takes an understanding of the entire process. “You have to have a little patience, and you have to make sure you’re working with the right people,” he said. A friend of Keiger’s likes to say that it’s not about adding more tech, “it’s about adding the right tech at the right time, knowing when and how to implement it, and doing it in a methodical way so that you’re adjusting and adapting in your business along the way with it.”

In addition to that thought of automating just “one little part,” Keiger comes across a variety of misconceptions. First, he often hears concerns that automation will replace human workers. “The reality is that automation is meant to augment human capabilities, not replace them. Humans and machines have to work together to achieve more efficiency and more accuracy in the warehouse.” He also hears that automation can happen through a generic, “one size fits all” approach. However, customization will likely be necessary to meet each company’s unique needs. “You can standardize, but it doesn’t work across the board. You need to understand where you need to push and pull those boundaries.”

Another misconception is that automation is “too expensive.” The initial investment may seem costly, but it can lead to significant long‑term savings through increased accuracy, efficiency and productivity. Some also think automation is “only for large companies,” but even small businesses and individuals can benefit. Finally, he hears that systems will “just take way too long to implement.” Pandemic timelines fueled these expectations, he said, but automation can often be phased in. “You can find the right technologies that allow you to flex, phase, grow and adapt. You can allow yourself to start small and scale up over time.”

Finally, Keiger, who is chair of the MHI Mobile Automation Group, believes it’s important to highlight sustainable practices in the supply chain—including labor sustainability, or creating environments people feel that they can work in and win in. Sustainability is “not just hugging trees.” It’s also about optimizing resources and retaining talent.