Latin America Warehouse Robotics Industry

Latin America Warehouse Robotics Market Analysis

The Latin America Warehouse Robotics Market is expected to register a CAGR of 11% during the forecast period.

• Companies that have their manufacturing plants located in China are moving some production to Mexico and Brazil to reduce supply chain risk and serve the American market. With many players aggressively investing in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia, the market scenario is poised towards growth.
• The growth in the e-commerce industry in the Latin American region and the growing need for efficient warehousing and inventory management are factors driving the market studied. Automation in warehousing offers extreme convenience when it comes to cutting down overall business costs and reducing product deliveries errors.
• The emergence of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the advent of a network of connected systems are helping industries perform a multitude of tasks, such as material batching, picking, ordering, packaging, warehouse security, and inspection, as well as improve the operational efficiency by huge margins.
• With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, robots and automation play a critical role in managing the situation. Furthermore, the situation is likely to bring new opportunities to the market. With workers quarantined across the world, warehouses that use manual picking are likely to halt, severely impacting the global supply chain.

Latin America Warehouse Robotics Market Trends

The Adoption of Industrial Robotics Expected to Act as a Significant Driving Factor

• The demand for industrial robotics is majorly observed in industries, such as automobiles and heavy engineering. The increasing global adoption of industrial robotics across industries is ecpected to create significant growth opportunities in the Latin America region. Robotic investments in January 2019 totaled at least USD 644 million worldwide, with a total of 25 robotics transactions. In 2020, an estimated 1.64 million industrial robots were in operation worldwide.
• In July 2020, SpaceTime Labs and Small Robot Company collaborated to co-develop autonomous aerial and terrestrial robots to transform Latin American agriculture. The strategic partnership will focus on co-developing an on the ground, end-to-end per plant planting, weeds, pests and disease management and nutrition management.
• The traditional industrial robot consists of a manipulator arm designed to perform repetitive tasks. This category also includes systems, like Amazon's warehouse robots and collaborative factory robots that can operate alongside human workers.
• Deploying collaborative robots (cobots) is an excellent move for companies looking to enhance productivity and drive efficiency in order fulfillment operations. Rather than hiring more employees during peak periods and laying them off or keeping them on (at the detriment of bottom lines) as demand ebbs, businesses can deploy cobots as needed. For example, some collaborative robot companies allow warehouse operators to rent, buy, or do both.
• Further, warehouses are large, which means associates walk long distances to find SKUs and transport orders to packing and shipping areas. An average warehouse wastes an estimated 6.9 weeks each year on unnecessary walking and other motion, which amounts to about 265 million hours of labor at the cost of USD 4.3 billion. Collaborative robots also eliminate the need for long walks between functional areas during each picking process stage.

Brazil is Expected to Witness Significant Growth Rate in Adoption

• Owing to the decreasing operating cost, a few of the companies in Brazil are focusing on automating their logistics and increasing the warehouse robotics capabilities. For instance, Aromaty Fragrances, a Brazilian fragrance manufacturer, has completely turned its logistics around by opening an automated warehouse in Louveira (a town in São Paulo State). The warehouse, designed to house raw materials, also features the Mecalux Easy WMS management system.
• The expanding millennial population and the increase in disposable incomes are creating many opportunities for retailers, like Amazon, to introduce new product lines, thereby, creating a considerable need for advanced warehouse facilities. In the case of such high throughput warehouses, AMRs can help in scaling up the efficiencies and mitigating the challenges related to labor.
• The developing e-commerce industry contributes to the need for sorting systems across warehouses for retail and online retail companies. This has resulted in a growing need for managing the delivery process. This factor is leading to investments in warehouse robotics in the country. The established players in the global market, with an extended product portfolio, are utilizing the opportunity of this trend by expanding their reach in the country.

Latin America Warehouse Robotics Industry Overview

The competitive landscape of the Warehouse Robotics in the Latin America region is moving towards fragmentation, owing to the presence of several regional players and the expansion of global players in the region. The presence of these players and their constant innovative activities are intensifying the market scenario. Owing to their market penetration and the ability to offer advanced products, the competitive rivalry is expected to continue to be high.

• August 2020 - Geek+, a global provider of Autonomous Mobile Robots expanded into South America with its first robotics project, providing smart logistics solutions to Walmart Chile, the largest supermarket chain in the country, with 345 stores distributed across the country under banners Liders Hiper, Lider Express, Superbodega Acuenta and Central Mayorista.
• November 2019 - Komatsu received a contract to supply 37 autonomous trucks to a mine in Brazil - the Carajás mine owned by Vale, a Brazilian mining company wth annual revenues of around USD 34 billion, which is said to be the largest mine in Vale's 77-year history. The company aims to leverage innovative technology to reduce impact on the environment and enhance health, safety and operational efficiency.

Latin America Warehouse Robotics Market Leaders