With the news that Amazon have filed a patent for underwater warehouses[1], Pallet Trucks UK, one of the leading names in manual handling equipment, has warned workers not to neglect the current state of the warehousing market in favour of an uncertain future.
“Towards the end of last year, Amazon said they would deploy airships as warehouses,” said Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of Pallet Trucks UK. “While that may become a reality in a number of years, there are so many things to consider than the design of the ship or how an underwater warehouse would work.”
The dangers and potential mistakes inherent in having airships positioned above prominent cities, or dropping items into pools of water, are apparent, but they are typically ignored when reported on because of Amazon’s contributions to the warehousing industry.
Warehousing must not get carried away by a potential future when it has so much going on in the present; workers are still the backbone of logistics, and while airships and pools theoretically sound like good ideas, there is always the chance that they will break. If humans are discounted from the process entirely, there is a good chance that the mistake will not be noticed for some time.
The present of the warehousing industry lies in good workers and good tools which are up to the job, and not in a potential future that discounts workers entirely.
“Employers have to ensure that they treat their workers with the same respect with which they treat potential Amazon products,” added Phil Chesworth.
[1] https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/10/amazon-files-patent-underwater-warehouses/
