Zappos hires robots to take over inventory floor

Just think -- Zappos has been shipping out shoes .9284 minutes after you order them for years with mere humans running the show. Now, your new kicks will likely be at your doorstep moments after you think of ordering them. Said e-tailer has just completed implementation of Kiva Systems' Mobile Fulfillment System, which will see "a fleet of Kiva's mobile robotic drive units and inventory storage pods" hit the company's Shepherdsville, Kentucky facility. The move is being made to keep its distribution system in tip-top shape even with the addition of new products outside of just footwear, and unless some of those mechs grow a mind of their own, we'd say things should pan out just fine.

[Via CNET]

[Virendra Yadav @ Jun 28th 2008 6:03AM]

Where are my sneakers running at?

[Blackstar @ Jun 28th 2008 12:53PM]

This just how is started in iRobot...

[Mike10010100 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:03PM]

I, for one, welcome our new robotic shipping overlords.

[Blackstar @ Jun 28th 2008 2:25PM]

I see a Kiva vs. Roomba death-match coming soon.

[Rocketboy @ Jun 28th 2008 10:36PM]

I see three people replying to the top post so their lame attempt at humor is at the top.

[Blackstar @ Jun 29th 2008 9:44PM]

And I see one person participating in it while condemning it at the same time.

[Rocketboy @ Jul 1st 2008 1:26PM]

Yes, because what, am I to post at the very bottom "Hey, you guys at the top, there was no reason to reply to the top message."?

[Blackstar @ Jul 16th 2008 1:29PM]

Well, if you are going to bitch about it, then yes.

[William Donelson @ Jun 28th 2008 6:13AM]

"pan out fine"

Except for the people losing their jobs...

[Stork @ Jun 28th 2008 6:33AM]

Yeah, I mean it's not like Kiva Systems employs people to develop & maintain this system.

[monkfishbandana @ Jun 28th 2008 7:01AM]

@ Stork

Erm...I don't think you understand what he's saying.

When he says people, he doesn't mean a selection of every person in the entire world, he means people from the inventory floor at Zappos...

[Rboyett @ Jun 28th 2008 8:04AM]

I read the entire article and there is no mention of any layoffs. It sounds like they have the robots going on the warehouse floor to collect items for sale then bringing them to a human that packs them up for shipping. Looks to me that they've basically found a more efficient way to operate than having people running all over the warehouse floor looking for customer product.

However, the article is short on specifics so there isn't a way to be totally sure of that..

[Jeff @ Jun 28th 2008 8:35AM]

@Stork, the skillset for packing shoes is a very different then the skills needed to develop this system, the OP is concerned about the Zappo's employees. Not the net result of the loss of Zappos employees to the gain of Kiva ones.

@William Donelson

I disagree, without more information from the article, I would guess that those floor employees would be utilized in a similar way that UPS works in their automated hubs. Filling a gap in fulfillment between the automated system and the inbound/outbound doors. The automated system can process more packages, so employees who would pick product (in the case of UPS sort the packages) would be moved to jobs like quality control or packing. To show how that would work in the UPS setup more employees would work in the unload, load, data capture, or irreg sort (packages that cannot be put into the auto system), to make sure the system is working at capacity.

Zappos puts a lot of emphasis on their employees, which is why I think this is their plan for controlling costs. Make the individual employee more productive (having one person touch each order instead of two), shorting the amount of time it takes to process the same volume. Their business is still growing, so that increases the volume so the impact on jobs is minimized. (Or they may just run fat until the volume picks up)

[cbragg @ Jun 28th 2008 8:25AM]

Actually, Zappos is an extremely ethical company and is very loyal to their employees. I don't know for certain, but I would be willing to bet that any person that might have been replaced by these robots was probably offered another position somewhere in the company. Zappos doesn't do layoffs.

[G Man @ Jun 28th 2008 8:31AM]

Would you rather keep them, incurring high monthly upkeep costs,

or pay a one off sum for the robot system, with only maintenance upkeep costs?

The prospect of humans getting laid off is not a thing most of us like to look at but it is a sad reality of the progression we pace.


Its one hell of a rat race after all.

[Ping @ Jun 28th 2008 9:12AM]

How about the engineering jobs gained, which helped design and build the robots?

[Socioguy @ Jun 28th 2008 11:10AM]

@Ping

Probably not so much.

There's bots to build the bots.

It's a never ending cycle.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jun 28th 2008 1:35PM]

Zappos Pays people $1,000 to quit.

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/06/14/zappos-pays-folks-1-000-to-quit/

[johnzilla @ Jun 28th 2008 3:54PM]

@Jeff

Anyone who is relying on their order-picking skills as a sole source of income cannot be surprised they're losing their jobs.

Seriously...after hundreds/thousands of magazine articles, TV shows, news reports, movies, etc. not to mention what has happened to other people over the last few decades, anyone who still thinks they can make a career out of menial labor is a fool.

Yes, it sucks to lose your job...I've lost mine more than once. But I didn't lose it because of some grand conspiracy against the little guy, I lost it because I was lazy and didn't keep myself valuable to my employer. And I certainly would never expect to hold a job for very long if that job could be done by a machine.

People need to take personal responsibility to keep themselves and their skills marketable and in demand. It isn't up to anyone else to do it for them. Anyone who doesn't take that responsibility seriously deserves zero sympathy.

[HarmfulDose @ Jun 28th 2008 7:31PM]

All our physical labor is done by one Australian man...

[Jeff Caradona @ Jun 28th 2008 7:38PM]

@johnzilla

You bring up and interesting point and I cannot agree with you more about taking initiative, building your skills, and controlling your own life. If all you expect to be is an un-skilled laborer then, yes, you're going to end up without a job at some point no matter what. Especially in this day and age.

These jobs should be a steeping stones, not their sole career path.

[Wenke @ Jun 29th 2008 12:08AM]

Oh jeez...

It's so terrible when technology and innovation starts replacing manual labor.


Some one once told me that any job that can be performed in a repeatable manner can, and probably will, be automated in the future. It's called industrialization. It kinda changed the whole world in the 20th century, seriously... look it up.

Ok, maybe I placed that sarcasm tag a bit early :)

[haX0r @ Jun 28th 2008 6:22AM]

Nike....I am your father!

[Ace b @ Jun 28th 2008 7:39AM]

Nooooo........!!!

Wait....then that means......

.....MOM GOT FREAKY WITH A SNEAKER?!?!?!?!?

[ybd @ Jun 28th 2008 9:40AM]

You people are so unfunny I feel physical pain from reading your comments

[Ace b @ Jun 28th 2008 5:07PM]

@ybd

And you just gave us a great reason to continue these unfunny jokes.

[g3n3tix @ Jun 28th 2008 6:57AM]

Orange Gamecubes ?

[kingu @ Jun 28th 2008 7:02AM]

Slightly modded

[christomapher @ Jun 28th 2008 7:17AM]

I, for one.... ?

[404 @ Jun 28th 2008 7:51AM]

Welcome the lack of repetitive, predictable and unoriginal comments that were old before some of us were even born.

That's what you were about to say, yes? ;-)

[tekdemon @ Jun 28th 2008 7:40AM]

As robots get more capable I'd guess a lot more people are going to be somewhat expendable in terms of their jobs. Making it that much more important that you keep ramping up the complexity of your own skill set so that a robot can't do it.
And when the day comes that the robot can do it anyway...well...let's just hope that you own many of those robots, lol.

[Col. Newman @ Jun 28th 2008 7:59AM]

BOOOOOOOOO

This means a bunch of people just lost their job.

[Pavan @ Jun 28th 2008 8:16AM]

I'm thinking with a company with the corporate culture of Zappos, they'll do a few voluntary getthehelloutofhere's where they give them some $$ if they volunteer to leave. This is the company that, after you go through training, they'll give you the option of a job or $2,000 if you want to walk away from the offer - that way they know you're really dedicated to the company if you're willing to forgo that money!

Plus, I'm getting the impression that these uber-Roombas are coming in to help with expansion, so it really just means they'll tone down hiring:


"with the addition of new products outside of just footwear"

[Pavan @ Jun 28th 2008 8:17AM]

I'm thinking with a company with the corporate culture of Zappos, they'll do a few voluntary getthehelloutofhere's where they give them some $$ if they volunteer to leave. This is the company that, after you go through training, they'll give you the option of a job or $2,000 if you want to walk away from the offer - that way they know you're really dedicated to the company if you're willing to forgo that money!

Plus, I'm getting the impression that these uber-Roombas are coming in to help with expansion, so it really just means they'll tone down hiring:


"with the addition of new products outside of just footwear"

[G Man @ Jun 28th 2008 8:31AM]

Would you rather keep them, incurring high monthly upkeep costs,

or pay a one off sum for the robot system, with only maintenance upkeep costs?

The prospect of humans getting laid off is not a thing most of us like to look at but it is a sad reality of the progression we pace.


Its one hell of a rat race after all.

[John @ Jun 28th 2008 9:04AM]

Zappos just got even cooler. I love that company!

[Markus @ Jun 28th 2008 9:56AM]

zappos! Zappos! ZAPPOS!

[Wes @ Jun 28th 2008 10:16AM]

A quick search turned up the following link.
These robots actually bring the shelves to the employees. So instead of running down a long line of shelves, the employees stand in one place, and the shelf comes to them, they pick the appropriate piece out and put it in the shipping box, hit a button, and the next shelf slides into place.
Although the dork on the video doesn't mention about restocking the shelves.
Should be minimal labor cutbacks if any at all, still human hands putting stuff into boxes. just easier and more efficient work for them.

http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/sections/factory_floor_tech/

[Dan @ Jun 28th 2008 12:50PM]

They've got holiday spirit too.

http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/2007/12/17/the_nutcracker_performed_by_dancing_kiva_robots.html

[mattmalignancy @ Jun 28th 2008 1:16PM]

This would be great, if people weren't going to lose their jobs over it...

[johnzilla @ Jun 28th 2008 3:58PM]

Welcome to 2008. If a robot can do your job, you shouldn't be relying on that job for your livelihood. It is that simple.

Jobs are not rights or entitlements. You only get a job when someone needs your skills and experience. Therefore, it should be obvious that the way to keep your job or keep working is to make sure your skills and experience are always in demand somewhere.

If your career plan is "a robot could do my job so I hope the company never buys one" you're in for a big surprise someday.

[BigD145 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:37PM]

"DEY TOOK OUR JERBS!!"

[HarmfulDose @ Jun 28th 2008 7:36PM]

"DEY TOOK OUR JERBSSS!!"

[rhys @ Jun 28th 2008 3:41PM]

They are D.R.D.'s!

[Wenke @ Jun 29th 2008 12:40AM]

Farscape FTW!!!

[mdoan @ Jun 28th 2008 3:43PM]

Um, Mary Kay Cosmetics has had an automated storage and retrieval system w/ robots since 1986. It's 80 feet high and looks like the Matrix.

[Sanh @ Jun 28th 2008 3:45PM]

NOOOOOO its already beginning! First they take our jobs on the inventory floor next they will destroy all humans.

[chris joseph @ Jun 28th 2008 9:35PM]

they'd be better off using a couple of FANUC arms on traversable rails with material handling grippers like the automotive manufacturers do

[BB @ Jun 28th 2008 10:53PM]

In the immortal words of Southpark...
"They took our jobs!"

[Markus @ Jun 29th 2008 1:06AM]

JORBS!