Labor Trends Impact on Pallet Processing

Warehouse Labor Shortages and Increased Automaton

One of the most critical labor trends in the warehouse industry is the ongoing shortage of skilled workers. This shortage has been exacerbated by factors including COVID, a shrinking labor pool, and competition from other industries offering higher wages or more attractive working conditions. Warehouses have traditionally relied on a significant amount of manual labor for tasks like pallet handling, inventory management, and order fulfillment, but the labor shortage is pushing warehouses to look for alternatives.

In response, many warehouses are turning to automation to alleviate the strain of labor shortages. Automation technologies such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), conveyor systems, pallet dimensioners, and Ti-Hi counting solutions and computer vision-powered pallet scanning systems are helping to reduce the reliance on human labor for repetitive and physically demanding tasks. By integrating automation into the pallet processing workflow, warehouses can improve throughput, reduce human error, enhance quality, and ensure continuous operations even with a limited workforce.  These challenges were leading drivers behind the design of the Vimaan PalletSCAN pallet processing systems.

Rising Warehouse Wages and Labor Costs

Alongside labor shortages, rising wages are another trend impacting warehouses. To attract and retain workers, warehouses are often forced to increase pay and offer additional incentives such as signing bonuses or benefits packages. While this can help in the short term, it also raises operating costs, making it more expensive to process pallets through traditional manual methods.

To counterbalance these rising costs, many warehouse operators are investing in labor-saving technologies.   Over time, the upfront investment in automation pays off by lowering labor-related costs and improving overall efficiency.

Emphasis on Worker Safety and Ergonomics

Another trend reshaping the warehouse labor force is the growing emphasis on worker safety and ergonomics. Processing pallets manually often involves heavy lifting, repetitive movements, and other physically taxing activities that can lead to injuries, worker fatigue, and decreased productivity. In response, warehouse operators are prioritizing technologies that reduce the physical strain on workers.

To better understand the expectations on providing a safe and healthy warehokuse workplace accomodations, warehouse management should stay apprised on changing OSHA warehouse standards.

Demands for Faster, More Efficient Operations

As eCommerce continues to grow and customer expectations for faster delivery times rise, warehouses are under pressure to process pallets more quickly and accurately than ever before. Labor shortages and rising costs only add to this challenge, forcing warehouse operators to rethink their approaches to pallet receiving and shipping inspections.

Technologies like automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), computer vision, and real-time tracking solutions are helping warehouses meet these demands by speeding up pallet processing times while maintaining high levels of accuracy. These systems allow for rapid identification, scanning, inspection, sorting, and movement of pallets, ensuring that goods are processed and shipped out more efficiently, even with fewer workers.