Robot Operations Framework

Now we are ready to build the team for the PoC. To be honest, a lot of people in the warehouse are involved in this project. But most of them are just loosely involved and most of the time they just ask for a status update. It follows that it makes sense to create a core team for the PoC and keep others in the loop on a regular basis.

The possible roles in a core team can look like this:

• Innovation Management brings in the idea or impuls to try something often in combination with a specific case
• Project Management to plan and observe the process
• Logistics Planner to plan the use case and do the solution design for the possible use cases
   

Additionally, if you are able to get support from a higher position like the operations manager or the warehouse manager this could be of help, too.

In terms of reporting make sure that you are reporting to all important stakeholders and departments involved. Here are some of them:

• Top Level Management needs updates regarding KPIs and overall project progress.
• EHS Management (Environment, Health, Safety) needs to be updated if you need to adjust something in the environment of the facility
• Quality Management wants to know if standards and guidelines are sufficiently applied and if they need to adjust something.
• Shift / Team Leads are also in the loop. They have to update their employees as well as plan the robot process on the operational level.
   

When talking about the core team we mostly mean roles not employees. Some of the roles are maybe part of the job that one single employee can do. In order to reduce complexity in communication and decision making competencies it makes total sense if just 2 or 3 employees take all the roles.

Lastly, make sure that the core team has sufficient competencies to assign tasks to all involved parties and that the project is backed by all parties involved to avoid obstacles and dependencies of every kind.