Automation provider vs Robotic reseller – How long does it take to install the robots?

Implementation timetables are important and indicative

It’s one thing to sell a system. It is entirely something else to set it into motion. Flexible warehouse automation is a significant step for any business, and it can be easy to get lost in the “big picture” questions. Matters like overall speed of ROI, the kinds of efficiency advantages on offer, general safety considerations and so on.

These are all important, but the more normal questions of any business investment are still valuable, even in a field as new and distinct as industry 4.0. To find your best business partner in this sector, you need to ask the everyday questions and the more complex technical issues. As well as things like software integrations, the monitoring of KPIs, the kinds of technical support programmes available, and supplementary technology and equipment, you need to know the bottom line – the timeline. That’s why it’s so vital to ask the question

How long does it take to install the robots?

This might seems like a difficult area to judge answers. With this kind of warehouse automation being such a new field, not many companies know what ‘fast’ looks like compared to slow. But there is still much that can be learned by comparing responses.

Will you be dealing with a genuine automation provider with a proper answer that makes sense in context, or will you receive evasive estimates from a robotic reseller? Compare your answers to the following to know more.

Robotic resellers

When asked about the speed of implementation, robotic resellers can offer guestimates, approximations, and vague projections. However, when pressed on the subject they won’t be able to answer in a concrete fashion. The reason for this is simple – they don’t regard it as their role. Implementation is outside of the scope of their responsibility.

Robotic resellers provide the robots and provide instructional materials on the robots, but in terms of implementation, that will always be up to the client. It will depend on the client’s staff, the client’s resources, the client’s technical abilities and so on. Robotic resellers can’t give propper estimates of implementation time scales, because that is not their field. As far as they can go, their only concern is that you can set it up at all. Beyond that, the client is on their own.

Automation providers

By contrast, when automation providers are asked about implementation timetables, their responses are much more grounded. Unlike robotic resellers, they will be committing their own resources to the implementation processes, thus they can provide educated estimates as opposed to generalised guesses.

Automation providers will be sending experts to scope out all the necessary information to give you a reliable and grounded timetable. This will be based on everything from your warehouse’s current capacity to your flooring situation, where your pick stations need to go, how many staff you expect to need, and many other salient details.

Automation providers will deploy engineers ensuring to ensure everything remains on schedule, software teams keeping integration deadlines in line, and training technicians to get your warehouse staff up to speed so that when the robots go online everyone will be ready.

When asking an automation provider “how quickly can you set it up” their exact answer will be based on what their staff will do for you, and how fast they can do it. This is in dramatic contrast to a robotic reseller, who can only offer vague guesses based on what they think you can do. Automation providers are there to supply a complete automation solution. They can give you a real estimate of how long the process will take. Automation providers offer far more than robots and an instruction manual. Their comprehensive solution means a comprehensive outline of implementation timetabling.

Inspired implementation

Discover what it can really mean to have an automation provider organise your flexible robotics implementation. Book a consultation with the Wise Robotics team of experts today, and learn more about what it could look like for your business when specialists, technicians, and engineers come as a part of your industry 4.0 package.