5083324118

FINANCIAL TIMES

= o.

HOMi KOMO Uł COHMMtt TKM MAMITt HUMCt C****KM WMtCMIM IHłttti MOWTOtP

7)FT

ISU9

cfcr

Polish companics tum to robots as labour shortagc bitcs

Manufocturers reły on technology to combaT ageing popolatioo and emłgraHon faltout

*

f

in

P

J*m« SMW tn V»TOf*l POtand KCEMBEO 17 20N    p 40 0

The Amica warehouse on the outskirts of Wronki, a smali town in western Poland, towers over the surrounding oountryside, houses up to 230,000 iteins, and can proccss 1.600 of them in an hour. But perhaps the most striking thing about the cavcmous grey facility is that it can be run by just one person.

lnstead of workers. huge orange robots driven by algorithms glide bet wen 46m-hig)i hays packed with washing machines and ovtns, shuffling them around so they can be dispatched as quickly as possible to customers around the world.

Opened two years ago, the futuristic warehouse is central to Amica s e.\pansion plans. But it is also part of the Polish white goods group's battle against the labourshortages that are constrainingone of Europcs fastest-growing economies.