What Will Be Required for Automation
I have been reading a lot of great posts here talking about all the automation and had some thoughts cross my mind.
What investments will be required to allow this automation to be deployed. If you look at a manufacturing line, retooling is a massive expense and required significant down time. It almost feels like a lot of full time jobs for the crew to set up lines. This is easier in a new facility where it is all planned in, but what about retro fitting.
Retail
Sure Amazon warehouses are largely automated, but they were build from scratch that way. I think much of the retail space will need to be revamped to allow robots. Much of the current retail market is in old, outdated, and cramped buildings. I live in an old river town and most of the downtown is very old, and most of the shops, big or small are not easy to get in or navigate. Will the cost of retro fitting these buildings be so high, the stores are no longer able to compete? I am not talking your big box stores, but your typical small business, camping, clothing, hardware stores?
One of the areas I am most interested in is the supermarket business. I would think stores would love to automate stocking, product rotation, and inventory management. Given the current layout, I don't see how robotics can paly any major role. The shelves are simply stocked too tight, and the isles are too narrow. Will stores need to be revamped, or will it be cheaper to start from scratch?
Cost to upgrade will be significant. We had a local chain Hy-Vee decided to buy into our local mall that is struggling and it was taking the flagship store vacated by Sears. While I think the location is strong, and it will have plenty of parking, it will take over year to retro fit it into a finished product. That is an expensive cap ex outlay.
Transportation
Self Driving Cars and Trucks are coming. Not sure I am ready for it, but they will be here. Out nations roads are vast, and vastly outdated. No matter the money thrown at them, we have too many miles to manage well. Not to mention most of these are to be a real mess around metro areas.
Will autonomous vehicles have their own lanes, will new super roads be created where driverless cars are allowed to travel at much higher speeds, given the reduced risk to human life. I think dedicated road will become a thing, but they will require new land, or massive renovations to existing roads, all of which is new investments.
- Railway
Sure - Electric, Autonomous trucks could replace them, but if we had an automated rail system - traveled on bridges and no longer had intersection with the autonomous car traffic they could still play a massive role in moving the heaviest, and bulkiest from coast to coast.
Currently it seems these rail lines have way too many stops and crossing that require a slow down in the towns they once were responsible for creating. A major renovation could vastly improve the efficiency.
Delivery
We get how much delivered by UPS/FEDEX/DHL on a daily basis. This is in addition to food, mail, etc. If we think about drone delivery taking over we have major improvements required to accommodate. Places to land, drop, and place packages. My city has buried electric and phones lines. This makes the air space a big cleaner, but things get harder in locations this isn't the case. What will need to be build for these vehicles to unload their goods securely?
To Me - Automation Is Coming
I am sure I have missed alot of areas and potential issues but we will see it sooner than many think. There will be a lot of new opportunity construction and retrofitting of current infrastructure to allow for maximum benefits. The markets will push it, new innovations and business will be created, and new solutions will be found. I want to stay on the side pushing for the change in an vain attempt to say 1 step ahead as long as I can.
sincerely,
This post NOT financial advise, it contains my personal opinion and experience and is intended for educational purposes. Perform your own research and analysis prior to making investment decisions.