Mick Mountz: What happens inside those massive warehouses?

Translator: Bob Prottas Reviewer: Nhu PHAM

翻译人员: Jing Peng 校对人员: Haoyu Li

I want to talk to you about,

我向你们讲诉

or share with you, a breakthrough new approach

或分享的是 库存管理方面的

for managing items of inventory inside of a warehouse.

一个突破性的新方法

We're talking about a pick, pack and ship setting here.

我们这里讨论的是 取货，包装和出货

So as a hint,

给大家一个提示

this solution involves hundreds of mobile robots,

这个新方法使用成百个

sometimes thousands of mobile robots,

有时候是上千个 移动机器人

moving around a warehouse. And I'll get to the solution.

让它们在仓库里忙碌 我待会儿会介绍这种方法

But for a moment, just think

现在先回想一下

about the last time that you ordered something online.

上次你网上购物的情景

You were sitting on your couch

你坐在沙发里

and you decided that you absolutely had to have this red t-shirt.

见到一件一定要买的红色T恤

So — click! — you put it into your shopping cart.

你一点， 它便被放到了购物车里

And then you decided that green pair of pants

然后你又想买条绿裤子

looks pretty good too — click!

看上去很好看，买！

And maybe a blue pair of shoes — click!

再买双蓝色的鞋吧，一点

So at this point you've assembled your order.

这时候你已经搜集完了

You didn't stop to think for a moment that

你并没有停下想一想

that might not be a great outfit.

整套的行头根本不搭

But you hit "submit order."

但是你已经提交了订单

And two days later, this package shows up on your doorstep.

两天后，包裹就到了

And you open the box and you're like, wow, there's my goo.

打开一看，这些还真是我买的

Did you ever stop to think about how those items of inventory

你有没有想过

actually found their way inside that box in the warehouse?

这些货物是如何从仓库 被放进盒子里的呢？

So I'm here to tell you it's that guy right there.

那我现在来告诉你 看那有个男人

So deep in the middle of that picture,

在照片的中间

you see a classic pick-pack worker

你会发现一个 传统的取货-发货工人

in a distribution or order fulfillments setting.

正在分配或者执行订单区域工作

Classically these pick workers will spend 60 or 70 percent of their day

在传统工作模式下

wandering around the warehouse.

这些工人一天有60%到70%的时间 都浪费在行走当中

They'll often walk as much as 5 or 10 miles

他们经常要在仓库中 步行五到十英里

in pursuit of those items of inventory.

寻找订单中的货物

Not only is this an unproductive way to fill orders,

这个方法不仅效率低下

it also turns out to be an unfulfilling way to fill orders.

也满足不了工人的成就感

So let me tell you where I first bumped into this problem.

让我来讲讲 我在哪儿第一次碰到这个问题

I was out in the Bay area in '99, 2000, the dot com boom.

那是1999-2000年间，互联网公司方兴未艾 我在旧金山湾区

I worked for a fabulously spectacular flame-out called Webvan.

一个叫“Webvan”的红极一时 但短命的电子商务公司工作

(Laughter)

（笑声）

This company raised hundreds of millions of dollars with the notion that

这家公司以网上出售杂货 并送货上门的理念

we will deliver grocery orders online.

筹集了数亿美元的资金

And it really came down to the fact that we couldn't do it cost effectively.

最终不符成本效益法则

Turns out e-commerce was something that was very hard and very costly.

事实证明电子商务并不简单 花费也大

In this particular instance we were trying to assemble 30 items of inventory

在这个例子里，我们尝试从仓库把30个货物

into a few totes, onto a van to deliver to the home.

装箱，装车，再送到顾客家里

And when you think about it, it was costing us 30 dollars.

花了我们三十美金

Imagine, we had an 89¢ can of soup

回想一下，那个年代一罐汤是89美分

that was costing us one dollar to pick and pack into that tote.

而我们从取货到装箱竟要花一美元

And that's before we actually tried to deliver it to the home.

那还是没加运费之前的花销

So long story short, during my one year at Webvan,

长话短说，我在Webvan的一年间

what I realized by talking to all the material-handling providers

和所有货物处理的供应商探讨过

was that there was no solution designed specifically to solve each base picking.

当时根本没有一个方法是专门针对取货的

Red item, green, blue, getting those three things in a box.

就是把红的，绿的 和蓝的货物放进一个箱子里

So we said, there's just got to be a better way to do this.

但我们觉得一定有更好的方法

Existing material handling was set up to pump

现有货物处理是把商品 装到托盘或箱子里

pallets and cases of goo to retail stores.

然后送到零售商店

Of course Webvan went out of business, and about a year and a half later,

理所应当，在一年半之后 Webvan关门大吉

I was still noodling on this problem. It was still nagging at me.

但我还在琢磨这个问题 仍束手无策

And I started thinking about it again.

我反复思考

And I said, let me just focus briefly on what I wanted as a pick worker,

应该把注意力放在： 如果我是一个取货-发货工人

or my vision for how it should work.

我想要什么或 我认为应该怎么做

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I said, let's focus on the problem.

我说：“让我们只关注问题吧。”

I have an order here and what I want to do is I want to put

我现在有一个订单 我想做的是

red, green and blue in this box right here.

把红的，绿的和蓝的货物 放进这个箱子里

What I need is a system where I put out my hand and — poof! —

我需要一个操作系统 一伸手-成了-

the product shows up and I pack it into the order,

商品出现 然后装箱

and now we're thinking,

现在让我们想想

this would be a very operator-centric approach to solving the problem.

这是一个以操作工为中心的解决办法

This is what I need. What technology is available to solve this problem?

这就是我想要的 现有的科技可以实现吗？

But as you can see, orders can come and go, products can come and go.

如你所知， 订单来来往往，会变动，商品也是

It allows us to focus on making the pick worker the center of the problem,

这个方法把取货-发货工人作为中心

and providing them the tools to make them as productive as possible.

只要提供相关工具 就能使他们尽可能的高效

那我是怎么想到这个办法的呢？

So how did I arrive at this notion?

Well, actually it came from a brainstorming exercise,

实际上，来自一次头脑风暴的实践

probably a technique that many of you use,

可能你们大多数人 都用过这种方法

It's this notion of testing your ideas.

就是对一个新想法集思广益

Take a blank sheet, of course,

先准备一张白纸（白板）

but then test your ideas at the limits — infinity, zero.

在各种极端情况下验证你的想法

In this particular case, we challenged ourselves with the idea:

在这个例子里，我们设计了一个命题

What if we had to build a distribution center in China,

如果在中国建一个配送中心 我们应该怎么做

where it's a very, very low-cost market?

那里的成本很低

And say, labor is cheap, land is cheap.

劳动力和土地都很便宜

And we said specifically,

我们说的具体点

"What if it was zero dollars an hour for direct labor

如果每小时的人工费是零美金

and we could build a million- square-foot distribution center?"

我们可以建造一个百万平方尺的配送中心

So naturally that led to ideas that said,

那么就不由想到

在仓库里雇很多人

"Let's put lots of people in the warehouse."

And I said, "Hold on, zero dollars per hour,

我说：“等一下，一小时零美金

what I would do is 'hire'

那我就‘雇用一万个工人

10,000 workers to come to the warehouse every morning at 8 a.m.,

每天早上八点来仓库

walk into the warehouse and pick up one item of inventory

每人只取一件商品

and then just stand there.

然后站在那儿就行了

So you hold Captain Crunch, you hold the Mountain Dew,

就像你拿一袋Captain Crunch（谷物早餐）， 你拿一罐激浪饮料

you hold the Diet Coke.

你拿一瓶健怡可乐

If I need it, I'll call you, otherwise just stand there.

就站在那儿， 有需要我会叫你

But when I need Diet Coke and I call it, you guys talk amongst yourselves.

当我需要健怡可乐, 我就叫它， 工人之间互相告知

Diet Coke walks up to the front — pick it, put it in the tote, away it goes."

健怡可乐就会被工人传过来 装箱走人”

Wow, what if the products could walk and talk on their own?

如果这些货物能自己说话和行走该多好！

那将是有趣且有效

That's a very interesting, very powerful way

that we could potentially organize this warehouse.

具有潜力的库房管理法

So of course, labor isn't free,

当然，劳动力没有免费的

on that practical versus awesome spectrum.

实际与理想的差距！

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So we said mobile shelving — We'll put them on mobile shelving.

所以我们想到了移动式货架 我们把货物放在上面

We'll use mobile robots and we'll move the inventory around.

使用移动式机器人 就可以让整个存货都动起来

And so we got underway on that and then I'm sitting on my couch in 2008.

我们开始实施这个创意 2008年，我坐在沙发上看电视

Did any of you see the Beijing Olympics, the opening ceremonies?

你们都看北京奥林匹克 运动会的开幕式了吗？

I about fell out of my couch when I saw this.

当我观看时， 差点没从沙发上滚到地上

I'm like, that was the idea!

像这样就行！

(Laughter and Applause)

（笑声与掌声）

We'll put thousands of people on the warehouse floor, the stadium floor.

我们让成千上万的工人站在仓库里 而他们站在球场上

But interestingly enough, this actually relates to the idea

有趣的是，这两件事还真有联系

in that these guys were creating some incredibly powerful, impressive digital art,

那些人创造了另人难以置信的数码艺术

all without computers, I'm told,

听说连计算机都没用

it was all peer-to-peer coordination and communication.

全靠人与人之间的合作与交流

You stand up, I'll squat down.

你站起来，我就蹲下

And they made some fabulous art.

从而创造了精美的图案

当你让个体之间相互交流时

It speaks to the power of emergence

in systems when you let things start to talk with each other.

系统中便形成了新的力量

So that was a little bit of the journey.

简单来讲 这就是新点子的由来

So of course, now what became the practical reality of this idea?

那么现在这个想法变成什么样了？

Here is a warehouse.

It's a pick, pack and ship center that has about 10,000 different SKUs.

是一个拥有万种不同存货 的取货，装货和出货中心

We'll call them red pens, green pens, yellow Post-It Notes.

我们叫它们红笔 绿笔，黄色便贴

We send the little orange robots out to pick up the blue shelving pods.

我们派出那些橙色小机器人 去挑选蓝色的小货架

And we deliver them to the side of the building.

并把货架送到仓库的边缘

So all the pick workers now get to stay on the perimeter.

这样所有的取货工人 现在只呆在周边地带了

And the game here is to pick up the shelves,

（机器人的）任务就是挑选货架

take them down the highway and deliver them straight to the pick worker.

运输货架，送到指定地点

This pick worker's life is completely different.

取货工人的命运一下子 截然不同

Rather than wandering around the warehouse, she gets to stay still

不像以前穿梭于仓库中 她可以固定在

in a pick station like this

像这样的取货操作台旁

and every product in the building can now come to her.

所有仓库里的货物 都被送到她的面前

So the process is very productive.

全部过程都很高效

Reach in, pick an item, scan the bar code, pack it out.

伸出手，提取货物 扫描条形码，然后包装

By the time you turn around,

当转过身来时

there's another product there ready to be picked and packed.

另外一件物品已经等着 被提取和包装了

So what we've done is take out all of the non-value added

我们做的就是 免去所有的无用功

walking, searching, wasting, waited time,

像走路，寻找， 浪费掉的和等待的时间

and we've developed a very high-fidelity way to pick these orders,

我们开发出一种高度精确的取货方式：

where you point at it with a laser, scan the UPC barcode,

把货物对准激光 扫描条形码后

and then indicate with a light which box it needs to go into.

然后按一下灯 指示货物进入了该进的箱子

So more productive, more accurate and, it turns out,

因此更高效更精准

it's a more interesting office environment for these pick workers.

为工人们开创了 更为有趣的办公室似的环境

They actually complete the whole order.

他们能够在此完成整个订单

So they do red, green and blue, not just a part of the order.

红的，绿的，蓝的， 而不是一部分

And they feel a little bit more in control of their environment.

他们觉得可以更好地 驾驭自己的工作环境

So the side effects of this approach

这一方法的深远影响

are what really surprised us.

让我们大吃一惊

We knew it was going to be more productive.

虽然我们估计到 它将大幅提高效率

But we didn't realize just how pervasive this way of thinking

但我们没有料到的是

extended to other functions in the warehouse.

它会遍布到仓储管理的其他方面

But what effectively this approach is doing inside of the DC

这种方法的真正有效性

is turning it into a massively parallel processing engine.

是使配送中心变成了一个 大规模并行处理引擎

So this is again a cross-fertilization of ideas.

这又是一个跨界互动的创意

Here's a warehouse and we're thinking about

这是一个仓库 让我们想象一个

parallel processing supercomputer architectures.

具有并行处理器 的超级计算机的构架

The notion here is that you have

原理是这样的

10 workers on the right side of the screen

在屏幕右边有十个工人

that are now all independent autonomous pick workers.

他们都是独立的 并有自主权的取货工人

If the worker in station three decides to leave and go to the bathroom,

如果三号操作台的工人要去洗手间

it has no impact on the productivity of the other nine workers.

对于其他九个工人来说并没影响

Contrast that, for a moment, with the traditional method of using a conveyor.

于此不同，对比一下 传统工艺的传送带

When one person passes the order to you,

当上家递给你订货箱

you put something in and pass it downstream.

你装一件物品进去，传给下家

Everyone has to be in place for that serial process to work.

为了保证这连续的过程 每个人都必须各就各位

This becomes a more robust way to think about the warehouse.

而新方法为仓储管理 提供了更合理的模式

And then underneath the hoods gets interesting in that we're tracking

更有意义的是

the popularity of the products.

我们可以跟踪产品的流行程度

And we're using dynamic and adaptive algorithms

我们运用动态与自适性演算法

to tune the floor of the warehouse.

来调节库存管理

So what you see here potentially the week leading up to Valentine's Day.

正如你所见，情人节前夕

All that pink chalky candy has moved to the front of the building

那些粉红色的糖果 被放在仓库的前面

and is now being picked into a lot of orders in those pick stations.

工人们正忙着装箱 因为很多人订购了糖果

Come in two days after Valentine's Day, and that candy, the leftover candy,

情人节过后两天，剩余的那些糖果

has all drifted to the back of the warehouse

被移到了仓库的后面

and is occupying the cooler zone on the thermal map there.

图上看，就是那些冷色调的区域

One other side effect of this approach using the parallel processing

运用平行处理的另一个影响是

is these things can scale to ginormous.

它能被扩展到难以置信的规模

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So whether you're doing two pick stations, 20 pick stations,

无论建立两个操作台，或20个

or 200 pick stations, the path planning algorithms

或200个，路径规划演算法

and all of the inventory algorithms just work.

和存货演算法都是一样的

In this example you see that the inventory

在这个例子里，你会看到

has now occupied all the perimeter of the building

库房的四周都被存货占据

because that's where the pick stations were.

那是因为四面都有操作台的缘故

They sorted it out for themselves.

是它们自行解决的

So I'll conclude with just one final video

让我用最后一个视频

that shows how this comes to bear

总结一下运作流程

on the pick worker's actual day in the life of.

它反映出取货工人真实的一天

So as we mentioned, the process is to move inventory along the highway

正像前面提到的，这个过程就是

and then find your way into these pick stations.

移动存货，找到该去的操作台

And our software in the background

后台的管理软件

understands what's going on in each station,

清楚每个操作台的情况

we direct the pods across the highway

管理软件指挥着每个货架的运行

and we're attempting to get into a queuing system

尽量让它们行为有序地进入操作台

to present the work to the pick worker.

提供给工人所需物品

What's interesting is we can even adapt the speed of the pick workers.

更有趣的是，我们可以量体裁衣：

The faster pickers get more pods and the slower pickers get few.

动作快的工人得到更多的货架 反之亦然

But this pick worker now is literally having that experience

这些工人真的体会到

that we described before.

以前梦寐以求的工作方式

She puts out her hand. The product jumps into it.

伸手，物品到手

Or she has to reach in and get it.

或伸长点儿，得到了

She scans it and she puts it in the bucket.

然后扫描，装箱

And all of the rest of the technology is kind of behind the scenes.

所有的技术本身都隐藏在幕后

So she gets to now focus on the picking and packing portion of her job.

所以她现在的工作 只需关注包装

Never has any idle time, never has to leave her mat.

没有空闲时间 也不用离开操作台了

And actually we think not only a more productive

事实上，我们认为 这不仅提高

and more accurate way to fill orders.

完成订单的效率和准确度

We think it's a more fulfilling way to fill orders.

而且对工人来说也更有意义

The reason we can say that, though, is that workers

我为什么敢这么说

in a lot of these buildings now compete

因为这间工厂的工人们

for the privilege of working in the Kiva zone that day.

为有幸到Kiva 区域工作 而相互竞争

And sometimes we'll catch them on testimonial videos

有时在客户证明视频中

saying such things as,

他们会说

they have more energy after the day to play with their grandchildren,

现在工作后， 有更多的精力和孙子孙女玩

or in one case a guy said, "the Kiva zone is so stress-free

曾经有个工人说： “Kiva 区域太轻松了

that I've actually stopped taking my blood pressure medication."

我现在都不用吃降压药了“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That was at a pharmaceutical distributor, so they told us not to use that video.

那是一家药品分销商 所以视频被禁了

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So what I wanted to leave you with today is the notion that

所以我想留给你们的是一个理念

when you let things start to think and walk

当机器有想法 能行走，并相互交流时

and talk on their own, interesting processes and productivities can emerge.

高效的流程和生产力便出现了

And now I think next time you go to your front step

我想下次，当你开门

and pick up that box that you just ordered online,

捡起网上订购的产品

you break it open and the goo is in there,

你打开箱子，东西都在

you'll have some wonderment as to whether a robot

你可能会琢磨一下

assisted in the picking and packing of that order.

会不会是机器人帮忙完成的订单呢

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）