Automating the gaps

MANY FACTORIES today have automation tools and systems in place to help drive productivity across operations. Often these are laser-focused on improving uptime, quality, and increasing outputs and are only added to certain points in the process, usually to tackle a well-defined task and generate a fast payback with obvious gains. However, one critical piece of the puzzle is often overlooked: the flow between those points or stations.

If the material handling between stations isn’t automated with the same rigor as the stations themselves, the bottlenecks will simply move into the gaps instead. These delays can be hard to recognise because no single machine looks “broken”, but they can significantly contribute to the wider productivity losses within a business.

Intralogistics is often ‘taken for granted’ or seen as a secondary function surrounding the production line. Material transfer, workstation replenishment and pallet handling are all small parts, but when delays across all processes are added up, they can make a huge difference to line efficiency.

This is why many operations are starting to use collaborative robotics to manage their intralogistics - whether through collaborative industrial robot arms (cobots) or autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).

For intralogistics, cobots handle the task itself while AMRs handle the flow, extending automation throughout an entire production ecosystem. This is how logistics becomes a competitive lever. The real question for companies is not whether to automate, but where collaborative automation can generate the most value.
In logistics and intralogistics, collaborative robotics work best when they are introduced not to “do robotics”, but as a practical response to the challenges companies already face, often with an aim to improve overall productivity.

How cobots and AMRs can be applied

There are three main areas for opportunity when it comes to collaborative robotics in logistics and intralogistics:

- End-of-Line Operations: Many repetitive and physically demanding tasks come together at the end of the operation line. Activities such as pick and place handling, case loading and palletising are often ideal candidates for collaborative automation.

Cobots can improve productivity while maintaining consistent levels of accuracy. This  becomes especially valuable when batch sizes vary, product formats change frequently and production schedules demand greater flexibility.

Plus, cobots’ ability to work flexibly within existing factory layouts without major disruption are key drivers behind their growing adoption.

- Line Feeding and Assembly Replenishment: Production lines depend on materials arriving at the right location at the right time. When this doesn’t happen, operators are forced to wait for materials or perform transportation tasks themselves instead of focusing on value-added activities.

As AMRs can work independently, they become valuable not as “forklift replacements”, but as tools for reducing repetitive missions, and stabilising flow.

- Flexible Manufacturing Environments: Cobots are known for versatility in environments that face growing pressure from volume, variability and limited space.

Often, SMEs struggle to embark on their own automation journey but by incorporating tools like cobots, they have a cost-effective, ready-to-go option that evolves with their needs over time.

In European manufacturing, this works incredibly well because factories tend to be made up of advanced but not always homogeneous plants, with high-mix production, and a constant need to adapt to varying operating scales.

Real world applications - meet Vibo

In practice, Vibo applied AMRs to its intralogistics operation, making processes smoother and directly driving productivity. The Italian manufacturer serves the furniture sector in more than 70 countries and has built its competitiveness on tightly integrated internal flows. Due to this, efficient intralogistics is not optional, but essential to maintaining service levels and operational continuity.

The company required an automation solution that could operate safely in an open environment, without fencing or layout changes, and could adapt to variable internal flows.

It introduced a MiR1200 Pallet Jack, an AMR that detects, picks up and delivers pallets weighing up to 1200kg, to automate pallet transport previously handled by electric forklifts, whose charging cycles left parts of the shift uncovered.

Beyond improving continuity, the AMR also freed employees from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities.  The result was not a technology showcase, but a targeted automation project aligned with how the factory uniquely operates, fixing a real-world need.

Focus on ROI, not robotics

Enthusiasm for new technology is important, but manufacturers should avoid viewing cobots and AMRs as investments to simply tick the automation box. The most successful projects start with a business challenge, not a technology requirement, and work backwards to find the right solution.

Every organisation will have different use cases, shaped by different priorities, but no business can escape the reality that intralogistics and flow underpin the entire operation.

By focusing automation on the gaps, manufacturers can build continuity that allows them to manage more variants, reduce repetitive tasks, and improve ergonomics, safety and space utilisation.

The key is not where automation starts, but how closely it aligns with a company’s specific constraints, workflows, and performance goals.

Mark Gray is UK sales manager at Teradyne Robotics

www.teradyne.com