(Original title: Amazon Robots Poised to Revamp How Whole Foods Runs Warehouses)
Netease Technology News June 28 News According to Bloomberg News, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey spoke to employees after Amazon bought Whole Foods for 13.7 billion US dollars, which praised Amazon’s technological innovation. .
McGee said in his speech: "We are about to join a visionary company. I think we will see such innovations and many new technologies in our stores. I think you will see a holistic development of the Whole Foods Supermarket. â€
One of the major issues related to this acquisition is also the concern of all Whole Foods supermarket employees: Will Amazon's new technology make their jobs obsolete and lose their jobs?
Informed sources said that in the acquisition negotiations, Amazon spent a lot of time to analyze the logistics technology of the Whole Foods supermarket and proposed ways to reduce costs. Since the details involved privacy, the source requested to remain anonymous. Amazon and Whole Foods declined to comment on the matter.
Gary Hawkins, CEO of the Los Angeles Retail Technology Promotion Center, said that the changes brought about by the exchange may occur in the warehousing process that users are not aware of. The Retail Technology Promotion Center is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles that helps retailers conduct business and brand innovation. Hawkins believes that in the long run, Amazon will strive to develop automated distribution of machines, but in the short term cashiers at Whole Foods will not be replaced.
"The most suitable place for Amazon to apply its expertise is in the warehouse. This is what it really does," Hawkins said. The cost reduction will be reflected in the price of the goods. Whole food supermarkets, which are expensive and dare to dare to enter, may hopefully get rid of the image of “Whole Paycheckâ€.
According to a document obtained by Bloomberg, Amazon believes that automation is an important strategic advantage in the acquisition strategy of Whole Foods Supermarket.
Whole Foods has 11 distribution centers that specialize in delivering fresh foods to supermarkets. Another seafood processing factory, kitchen and bakery provide cooked food to supermarkets. Experts said that these are the areas that Amazon is most concerned about.
Amazon has a warehousing network covering the United States and manages a wide variety of commodities with thousands of robots. Amazon's warehousing expertise has grown as businesses continue to evolve. Most of the goods are stored in large suburban warehouses. However, as Amazon hopes to achieve faster delivery of goods, the company began to use small logistics centers in the urban areas, mainly to store goods that people want quickly, such as mobile phone chargers or toothbrushes.
The use of robots to manage the warehouse did not affect Amazon’s frantic demand for new employees. The Amazon workforce reached 351,000 at the end of March this year, a year-on-year increase of 43%. In January, in response to President Trump’s call for job creation in the United States, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos promised to hire another 100,000 new employees in the next 18 months.
Due to the product features of e-commerce, Amazon did not build its own fresh storage system. The acquisition of the Whole Foods Supermarket has allowed Amazon to renovate people’s shopping experience for fresh groceries.
Brittain Ladd, a senior adviser to Amazon's supply chain, said that Amazon may be considering designing an automated storage network specifically for household groceries. This warehouse may occupy 1 million square feet, while serving Whole Foods supermarkets and Amazon's fresh groceries. Not surprisingly, warehouses use robotics and automation to reduce labor costs.
Ladd said that the ultimate goal is to create the most advanced distribution capabilities, providing customers with the best fresh produce, vegetables and meat. Amazon will also win the competition with Wal-Mart in the fresh food sector through this move.
One of the great challenges for Amazon is how to apply the experience of dealing with durable goods such as books, toys, and electronics to fresh, corrosive products such as strawberries and steaks. The latter category requires more care, storage temperature and quality checks have higher requirements.
After the warehouse is automated, Amazon may also bring robots to retail stores, but people will not see robots replacing human cashiers in a short time. Austin Bohlig, a robot investment consultant at venture capital firm Loup Ventures, believes that early supermarket robots would be primarily responsible for checking inventory and reminding human employees to replenish stocks when commodity reserves are low.
Because these robots work with human employees, the safety of the workplace is also a question that Amazon needs to consider.
Amazon has opened a concept supermarket in Seattle. The concept store named Amazon Go has no employee duties. Consumers use smart phones to register when they enter the supermarket. The supermarket camera will record the goods that the consumers have removed from the shelves. After the purchase is completed, directly picking things up and going home, the system will automatically complete the settlement deduction.
Amazon said it has no plans to apply the Amazon Go model to Whole Foods, but informed sources revealed that Amazon apparently has no intention of retaining positions for human cashiers in its long-term plans.
Even if the technology is not a problem, social lyrics require Amazon to be cautious in using machines instead of humans. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has been paying attention to the treatment of staff at Whole Foods and is always ready to fight. The Whole Foods Supermarket has been paying high wages for employees and avoiding large-scale layoffs to avoid the trouble of bringing trade unions.
David Pryzbylski, a lawyer at Barnes & Thornburg Law Office, believes that the layoffs and unemployment caused by automation will induce people’s fears and cause workers’ opposition. (Sun Wenwen)
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