n NEWS September 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com 12 A UK ROBOT AND AUTOMATED materialshandling specialist believes that the economic case for automating warehouses and fulfilment centres has been helped by a recent ruling that the retailer Next must pay its shop staff the same rate as its warehouse workers. More than 3,500 current and former Next employees had claimed that store staff, who are mostly women, should not be paid less than warehouse workers – most of whom are men. They argued that better-paid warehouse jobs are more likely to be filled by men because of the physical demands of the work, putting women at a disadvantage. In its defence, Next argued that the different rates of pay between its warehouse and retail staff were justified because warehouse staff are generally paid more than shop workers. But the retailer’s argument was rejected by a pay tribunal – a decision that could cost it around £30m in backpay. Workers at five of the UK’s largest supermarkets are reported to be pursuing similar equal-pay cases. Frazer Watson, recently appointed vicepresident of the Lancashire warehouse automation specialist Rainbow Dynamics, believes that the ruling is likely to add to the already significant recruitment issues faced by the supply chain sector. “One of the ways that logistics companies and own-account warehouse operators have tried to tackle the labour crisis that has existed since Brexit, has been to offer increasingly attractive rates of pay in order to draw in the workers needed to run their facilities,” he points out. “But this ruling means that if a retailer or its logistics services partner decides to seek extra warehouse staff by raising pay, the retailer must also offer its shop assistants the same deal,”Watson continues. “So, not only is the retailer’s wage bill increased but if it is possible to earn the same amount by working in the relative comfort of a high street shop as in a warehouse – which can be cold, dark and sometimes dangerous places – the already tough task of recruiting warehouse personnel will be even more difficult. “In my opinion, this verdict can only accelerate the trend we are seeing across the logistics sector for companies to introduce automated and robotic solutions as a way of mitigating the problems associated with recruiting suitable personnel and the high cost of labour.” Chorley-based Rainbow Dynamics designs and builds robotic load-handing and automated parcel-sorting systems for warehouses, parcel-handling facilities, manufacturing sites and e-commerce fulfilment centres. Rainbow, founded by CEO Alfred Chen, recently appointed Jens Mueller as MD. Mueller has held senior roles in the sector, including with SSI Schaeffer and GLP. It has also appointed Frazer Watson as vicepresident to spearhead the company’s UK business strategy. Before joining Rainbow, Watson held roles at Movu Robotics, Invar Systems, EDG and Datascan. Pay tribunal ruling could boost case for automated handling Watson: tribunal verdict will accelerate trend to automated and robotic warehouse systems SOFT ROBOTICS, the US developer of soft gripper, 3D vision and AI technologies, has sold its gripper business to Germany’s Schmalz Group for an undisclosed sum. Soft Robotics has reformed itself as Oxipital AI, aiming to deliver “transformative” AI technologies to critical industries, enabling a new generation of resilient, efficient, sustainable manufacturing. The divestiture of the mGrip gripper business will allow Oxiptal AI to focus on commercialising its end-to-end visual AI systems for high-speed product inspection and robotic picking. In 2020, Soft Robotics raised $23m and formed a strategic venture with Fanuc to integrate its mGrip grippers with Fanuc’s robots. The company’s backers included Honeywell and Yamaha. The new owner of the mGrip technology is the German familyowned vacuum specialist Schmalz, which is planning to expand its activities in the food-handling sector. As well as the gripper products, Schmalz has acquired associated patents and knowhow. “The food industry is a growth market," says Schmalz Group managing partner, Dr Kurt Schmalz. “We now offer our customers finger grippers for the automated handling of food products, in addition to an extensive portfolio of vacuum grippers.” The modular, flexible mGrip grippers can be adapted quickly to suit customer needs. They can handle delicate objects that are difficult to grip due to their changing shapes. The hygienic design is suitable for food industry applications such as handling baked goods, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. Schmalz employs around 1,800 people at 31 locations worldwide. It will continue to run the mGrip business at its existing location in Boston, US, giving it quick access to the market and uninterrupted delivery. www.oxipitalai.com Gripper firm sells assets, and changes name and strategy Schmalz Group managing partner, Dr Kurt Schmalz, with one of the newly acquired gripper products
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