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The food and grocery market in the UK is one of the most competitive and fastmoving retail sectors , arguably , in the world . The pressures are immense , with disruptors to existing business models ranging from the rise of the discounters and the explosion in home delivery to the impact on supply chains of everything from weather to war . In addition , there is the constant cycle of new products and trends , such as vegan / meat free , which may or may not become established .

And all this is set against the challenges of ever more costly and increasingly unavailable labor , uncertain but generally increasing transport costs , and a consumer base that despite , or because of , the ‘ cost of living crisis ’, demands convenience and availability at the lowest price and exhibits diminishing levels of loyalty to retailers and brands .

To meet these challenges , one might think that investment in automation in the fulfilment chain – warehouses and distribution centers – would be a no-brainer . Higher throughputs , managed , picked and delivered more accurately , improving service levels with less inventory ( and waste ), better transport utilization , all with lower levels of labor and a more flexible and agile response to changing market conditions , whether there be one-off events or longer-term trends .

Past mistakes

Yet , there is a clear reluctance amongst supermarkets and other food businesses to go all-in on automation . This is perhaps unsurprising – there are few of the wellknown names that haven ’ t experienced some sort of technology-driven crisis over the past decade or two . Not infrequently these have left the business section for the front page , leading not just to missed sales and unhappy consumers , but to panicked shareholders , questions in Parliament , and ‘ thoughtful ’ op-ed pieces in the media . More often than not , the ‘ solution ’ has been to side-line the tech and flood the warehouse with people .

As a fully independent automation and systems vendor and integrator , however , we observe that it is only rarely that there have been fundamental issues with the hardware and software . Rather , the issues lie around timescales , complexity and over-ambition , and a lack of forward vision . Major investment decisions appear to have been driven by a combination of FOMO – fear of missing out on what the competition is thought to be doing , and the understandable desire of owners , whether public shareholders or private finance , to ‘ sweat the assets ’. Neither of these are sound foundations for the serious investment in advanced technologies that the sector undoubtedly needs .

Paradoxically for such a fast-moving environment , our first piece of advice would be to slow down a bit . Take the time to think ahead . However fast the implementation of technology , it may well not outpace transformations in the industry : think how quickly home delivery moved from being a niche ‘ inside the M25 ’ offer to being core business in the Highlands and Islands !

A measured approach

Implementation doesn ’ t have to be simultaneous and company-wide , across half a dozen DCs . Starting with a largescale pilot across a single DC , a particular class or skus and / or a particular channel will allow you to find out , not just if the chosen automation is really appropriate , but more fundamentally , whether you have truly captured the reality of how your business works , or should work , in practice .

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