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ROBOTS ARE COMING FOR WAREHOUSING’S HARDEST JOBS
Warehousing jobs are getting harder to fill. According to the 2026 MHI Annual Industry Report , 90% of supply chain organizations cite talent acquisition and workforce issues as a top challenge. Companies are responding by automating the jobs that are the most physically demanding and the hardest to sta.
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FedEx and Amazon made major robotics announcements within days of each other this summer. FedEx and physical AI company Dexterity ( bottom ) are expanding their partnership beyond the
Despite years of pressure to bring production closer to home, reshoring remains near the bottom of the priority list for supply chain leaders, according to Accenture’s latest Pulse of Change survey. Surveying 3,000 C-suite leaders across 20 countries and 19 industries, including 322 supply chain and operations executives, the report finds that fewer than one in three leaders plan to reshore or nearshore operations . Investing in domestic production ranks last among strategic priorities, even as 78% of supply chain leaders say operations have become materially harder over the past six months. Instead, leaders are building resilience within the networks they already have. Two-thirds have already renegotiated or restructured partnerships based on a supplier’s country of origin, and nearly half are diversifying their supplier networks. Forecasting, scenario planning, and risk management are top priorities for the majority of supply chain executives. There is a notable split between supply chain leaders and the broader C-suite. Operations executives are most focused on supply chain continuity and rising costs, while the broader C-suite is prioritizing AI and digital tech investments. While both groups are increasing AI spending, supply chain leaders are approaching it through a more workforce-focused lens. Regional pressures dier, too. In the Americas, 56% of supply chain executives name labor and talent shortages as the disruption most likely to force a strategy change in 2026. This number is well above what is reported in Asia-Pacific (45%) and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (32%). Reshoring makes for good headlines, but it isn’t a practical solution for the majority of companies, the report stresses. Instead, leaders are leaning into stronger forecasting, diversified suppliers, and resilient partnerships.
pilot phase, moving Dexterity’s trailer-loading robot, Mech, into full production at the FedEx Hagerstown Hub in Maryland. Trailer loading has historically been one of the hardest tasks to automate because no two loads are alike. Mech uses a spatial reasoning system called Foresight to decide how to place packages for space, stability, and speed. Amazon ( top ), meanwhile, is more than doubling its fleet of Cardinal and Sparrow robotic arms in 2026. Cardinal loads packages into carts, while Sparrow picks individual items from containers into totes. The company also introduced Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch, capable of
stowing and retrieving items at the highest and lowest levels of inventory pods. Amazon says more than 40% of its items were delivered same-day or overnight in the first half of 2026, and credits robotics as a driver behind that metric. FedEx and Amazon aren’t alone. The Association for Advancing Automation reports that collaborative robot orders jumped 55.6% in Q1 2026, even as automotive orders fell. This is a sign that demand is spreading well beyond the industries that have dominated the robotics market in the past. The global warehouse automation market is currently projected to double by 2030. The companies moving now are building an advantage that will be dicult to close later.
August 2026 • Inbound Logistics 15
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