Category Archives: Automation

The past few years have served as something of a perfect storm for automated systems growth in distribution centers. The rise of e-commerce and far more eaches picking kicked things off, and then the pandemic hitdemand for e-commerce exploded, while the nation began what continues to be one of the largest labor shortages in history. All the while, customer expectations for rapid, on-time delivery done right never slowed. Most distribution centers found themselves struggling to keep up.

Automation is one of the few paths for doing so, and conveyors, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) and robots have all become essential parts of doing business. In spite of all the progress automation can provide in DC product movement, however, none of it would be possible without totes and containers built to withstand the ride.

Automated containers are an area of growth in materials handling, especially with the growth of automated DCs and warehouses, says Bob Petersen, vice president of marketing at ORBIS Corp. The surge in e-commerce has pushed companies with DC operations to add in more automation to keep up with the high volume of orders with tight cycle times.

Only a few industries do not need this high-level automation and accompanying totes. Were in more than 70% of Fortune 500 company operations, says Ken Beckerman, president of Flexcon. Our customers include the medical, manufacturing and dot.com industriesreally any type of industry today.

Today, those totes are often customized to the DCs operations, the tote manufacturers partner closely with their clients to design just the right sizes, dimensions, materials and more.

Automated containers are an area of growth in materials handling.

Such was the case a couple of years ago when Rochester Drug Cooperative (RDC) reached out to Flexcon. When experiencing lost time and profits due to an unexpected change in tote sizes brought one of the companys DCs to a grinding halt, RDC looked for a solution. With plans to open a new DC in the near future, RDC asked Flexcon to design totes specific to the drug companys operations, ensuring the totes could work seamlessly in the DCs automated systems.

In this fashion, RDC could depend on the fact that its robotics systems could always handle the DCs totes. Additionally, with the mold in hand, RDC could ensure a surplus of totes was always available to handle extra volume or future expansion of operations.

Totes are often customized to the DCs operations.

Beckerman says that increasingly, automated totes are the most important piece in automated systems. Were seeing more demand for totes that can do their own thing, without human contact, he says. The specs for customized totes are getting tighter and tighter.

The objective, he says, is to have the tote adapt to the system. If you make the tote do the work, you get a greater ROI, he says. It takes into account the product its storing, rather than having the automated systems change. We try to serve as the chameleons in the room.

Tote maker Akro-Mils implemented this when it partnered with an industrial goods customer designing and building a 1-million-square-foot DC. Using an AS/RS to move thousands of items throughout the DC, the client needed a specially designed tote that would afford them consistency and utility.

With several hundred thousand individual storage tote locations and more than 1 million storage compartments, the task was more than what an off-the-shelf tote could handle. Akro-Mils engineering team designed several tote options for the customer to consider using 3D printing technology.

After testing prototypes, the partners selected a design and then moved onto selecting the type of raw materials needed. The final productknown as the multi-lode totefeatures cups and dividers that DC employees can attach and remove quickly, as needed. This affords the client the flexibility it needs, along with reliability to move products quickly and securely throughout the massive AS/RS. The collaboration was successful enough that Akro-Mils will produce more for future expansion.

In another example, Flexcon had a customer looking to lower the cost of meeting stringent fire suppression requirements. We were able to use materials that lowered their fire risks and met their fire rating specs, says Beckerman. They still needed suppression equipment, but this extra design element saved them millions of dollars.

Some aspects of customization are universally important, says Ed Granger, director of sales for Quantum Storage Solutions, including designing totes that are flat on the bottom and are proportionate in length, width and height. This ensures that theyre stable as they move through the systems around corners and in loops, he explains. The length must be at least equal to the height.

Dimensional consistency ensures reliable performance, says Petersen. This reduces system downtime associated with inconsistent packaging design, he says. Unlike fiber corrugated boxes, reusable plastic containers are precisely molded to interface seamlessly with all types of automation, from mini-load systems to conveyors, robotics and full automation.

Durability is another hallmark of totes designed with automation in mind, adds Granger. These can be rough handling environments, he explains. They sometimes come down chutes and have a rough landing, bins can crash into each other, and sometimes they fall. They must be tough enough to withstand all that.

Petersen concurs. These all-plastic totes are designed to replace single-use boxes that can easily get crushed, damaging valuable product, he says.

When the environments are particularly demanding on the totes, makers can work with the materials to come up with heavy-duty options. In these cases, we can enhance the strength of the bins by adding special components to the resin, says Granger. This is key to protecting products.

Collaboration between operations and suppliers ensures the right tote is selected and integrates well into the system.

Granger mentioned one particular customer who was experiencing a good deal of product damage. We visited their operations to observe what was happening, he explains. Their bins were taking a lot of punishment. We designed resin that made them stronger and less brittle so they could withstand the impact of their operations.

Flexcon is working with a new moldable resin that is five times more durable than standard resin, says Beckerman. For heavy weight or heavy use situations, the totes prevent cracking and damage, he says. These are ideal for those with a need for high capacity.

Additional features you can find in automated tote design, according to Petersen, include generous internal value, smooth walls that ensure accurate reads from sensor and vision systems, drain holes and reinforced container bottoms.

Granger says he sees a good deal of demand for lids, too. This keep products from moving around, he says. It also helps when bins reach their destination, so employees can stack them up. By having the ability to go up, companies can save a good deal of space on the DC floor.

With expensive, high-tech automation that requires such customized designs, all of the automated tote makers agree that testing before investing in new totes is critical. We always advise our customers to send us samples of their products to put the potential bins through a trial, says Granger. We want to make sure the bins can withstand their unique processes.

If the test bins dont hold up on the durability scale, for instance, Quantum can add to the resin and shore them up. This adds to the cost, so we want to make sure its necessary, he says.

While customers might be impatient to get new totes into their systems, taking this extra testing step can lead to a big cost savings. Were very liberal with our samples because when you get the design right, the ROI is high, Granger points out. We dont want to put the wrong totes into the field and then have to take it back and start over again.

Petersen agrees with the wisdom of testing. Its critical for integrators and packaging providers to collaborate early in the process, as the system is being designed and planned, he says. Every automated system is unique and has different container requirements. This collaboration ensures the right tote is selected and integrates well into the system. It can be costly and time-consuming to retrofit your packaging after implementation.

When testing is not part of the equation, the costs can rack up quickly due to myriad issues. These include damaged products, wasted DC space, increased distribution costs, robotics malfunctions, injured workers due to tote splintering, and more, according to Flexcon.

Theres a lot of responsibility riding on your totes, says Beckerman. The automated systems dont have much tolerance for the wrong containers, so its critical to design and implement the right container for the right job.

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Automation Totes: Chameleons in the warehouse - Modern Materials Handling

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The Worldwide Modular Laboratory Automation Industry is Expected to Reach $4.9 Billion by 2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Galveston County Daily News

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenEnvoy, the Bay Area fintech company that created the first real-time AP automation solution, is helping rail shippers streamline rail freight invoices to increase cost transparency and boost profitability.

As capabilities in the logistics space have evolved, rail has continued to prove itself as the most cost-effective option for companies that ship massive freight. Though it also presents a variety of challenges for finance teams.

Railroad shippers can minimize the complexity of Rule 11 by using OpenEnvoy to ensure shipping invoices are paid on time, every time. "A single solution to automate accounts payable processes, manage invoice matching, and accurately audit unlocks the opportunity for early payment discounts and creates immediate cash flow," says Matthew Tillman, CEO of OpenEnvoy.

With the ability to perform a full forensic audit of high-volume invoices within minutes, OpenEnvoy's AP automation technology supports finance teams using Rule 11 by ensuring accuracy, expediting invoice payments, and eliminating wasted spending.

By applying OpenEnvoy's real-time AP automation technology to Rule 11, rail shippers can:

Finance leaders and teams can use OpenEnvoy to simplify Rule 11 by streamlining invoice processing and leveraging automated workflows to improve supplier relationships and capture cost-effective shipment rates.

Unlock all of the benefits of Rule 11 shipping rates with real-time AP automation by scheduling a demowith an OpenEnvoy expert today.

About OpenEnvoyOpenEnvoy enables finance teams of all sizes with visibility, automation, and cash flow solutions. To learn more about how OpenEnvoy can help you prevent wasted spend, visit https://www.openenvoy.com. Read more at Future FinOpsor follow @OpenEnvoy on Twitterand LinkedIn.

For Press inquiries please contact Jessica Brown at [emailprotected].

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OpenEnvoy's State-Of-The-Art AP Automation Technology Enables Shippers to Capture Rule 11 Rail Rates - PRNewswire

LEHI, Utah, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aragon Research today officially recognized Demo Automation as a SaaS category and projected a potential market of $2.1 Billion by 2026. As demand for presales across the entire funnel continues to surgeand with it an expectation from customers for better buying experiencesteams require intelligent solutions to scale. Aragon predicts an acceleration in the adoption of Demo Automation Platforms (DAPs), like Consensus, to shorten sales cycles and improve overall sales effectiveness.

"Product demonstrations, which are critical to sales, have always been a manual and time-consuming process," says Aragon Research CEO, Jim Lundy. "With the rise of Demo Automation Platforms, or DAPs, sales organizations will make this new category a priority to scale presales and to streamline the sales process."

Validating a solution's capabilities is critical for customers to make decisions with confidence, and that was traditionally done by having Sales Engineers (SEs) deliver live demonstrations. But today's buyers expect more digital, interactive and guided experiences earlier in the funnel and throughout their customer journey. And with almost double the number of stakeholders in buying groups compared to just five years ago, it's no wonder that both buyers and presales teams are struggling.

Demo automation solves these constraints by scaling presales instantly, and by giving buyers an experience they can share intra-virally with colleagues to make the process of closing deals easier and faster.

Garin Hess, Founder and CEO of Consensus, said of the Aragon category note, "This is a huge milestone for all presales and technical sales teams. Our customers are the early adopters of Demo Automation and the kinds of results they're seeing is staggering. To have this category officially recognized by Aragon speaks to the huge opportunity presales, and more broadly sales, is entering."

Consensus, the Intelligent Demo Automation Platform, scales presales instantly with interactive video demos. Presales and technical sales teams automate repetitive product demos which allows them to reallocate that time to higher value activities. Buyers get a better experienceone that guides them with digital, interactive and on-demand video demos. This uncovers stakeholders automatically and eliminates unqualified demos, which in turn dramatically shortens sales cycles by 29% up to 68% and improves close rates by up to 44%. Market leaders like Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, Autodesk, Sage, Trintech, Coupa and many others trust Consensus to scale. For more information, visit http://www.goconsensus.comor follow us on LinkedIn.

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Aragon Unveils the Demo Automation Category with a Projected Market of $2.1 Billion by 2026 - KPVI News 6

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Electronic Design Automation Market 2021-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The electronic design automation market is poised to grow by $ 5.68 bn during 2021-2025, decelerating at a CAGR of 9.03%.

This study identifies the increasing relevance of EDA as one of the prime reasons driving the electronic design automation market growth during the next few years. The market is driven by the growing significance of EDA in electronic design process and the rising adoption of ICs across various applications.

The report on the electronic design automation market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The electronic design automation market analysis includes product and deployment segments and geographic landscape.

The publisher's robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading electronic design automation market vendors that include Agnisys Inc., Aldec Inc., ANSYS Inc., Autodesk Inc., Cadence Design Systems Inc., Keysight Technologies Inc., Siemens AG, Sigasi NV, Synopsys Inc, and Xilinx Inc.

Also, the electronic design automation market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Product

Market Segmentation by Deployment

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Vendor Landscape

Vendor Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/si54og

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Global Electronic Design Automation Market 2021-2025: Market is Poised to Grow by $ 5.68 Billion - Rising Adoption of ICs Across Various Applications...

Pushing forward with the buildout of its distribution network, Walmart next year plans to open a new high-tech fulfillment center in Lebanon, Tenn.

The 925,000-square-foot automated facility will represent Walmarts first fulfillment center in Tennessee, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant said yesterday. Located at 1015 Hixson Blvd. in Lebanon, the center is slated to open in the fall of 2022 and will support the companys expanding supply chain network and e-commerce business.

Related: Walmart targets Dallas-Fort Worth for new high-tech supply facilities

Walmart noted that the high-tech fulfillment center will create up to 300 full-time jobs and include a combination of associates, artificial intelligence software and robots that work together to speed up shipping of orders to customers. The facility will store millions of items from Walmarts everyday-low-price merchandise to be delivered directly to customers as soon as the next day, according to the company. Once an online order is placed, a fleet of robots navigates a compact storage system to retrieve products and ferry them to associates for packing. The order then is shipped directly to the customer.

Were thrilled to be bringing a new high-tech fulfillment center to the community of Lebanon, David Guggina, senior vice president of automation and innovation at Walmart U.S., said in a statement. This facility will include game-changing automation technology thats radically disrupting the supply chain, improving the customer experience and saving time for associates.

Related: Walmart plans new high-tech perishables distribution center in South Carolina

In Tennessee, Walmart operates three distribution centers and 150 retail stores and employs more than 42,500 associates.

Walmarts fulfillment center in Wilson County will play an important role in our broader supply-chain network, focused on fulfilling Walmart.com orders and supporting our promise of free next-day and two-day shipping, commented Steve Miller, senior vice president of supply chain operations for Walmart U.S. Were thrilled to be opening our newest fulfillment center in the great state of Tennessee and look forward to a long relationship with the community of Lebanon.

The Lebanon high-tech fulfillment center reflects Walmarts efforts to boost supply chain capacity by using automation to stay ahead of demand, improve the customer experience and raise productivity. In July, the company unveiled plans to automate 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers (RDCs) with robotics and other automation technology.

More recently, Walmart in October said it aims to build a high-tech distribution center for fresh and frozen food in Lyman, S.C., which will be the retailers biggest grocery DC to date. Due to open in 2024, the more than 720,000-square-foot facility will move twice as much grocery product including perishables such as produce, eggs, dairy, flowers and frozen goods in supplying area stores via a combination of manual labor and automation, robotics and machine learning technology, the retailer noted.

And about two weeks later, in November, Walmart announced plans to build two high-tech DCs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The project in Lancaster, Texas, includes a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center expected to open in 2023 and a 730,000-square-foot automated grocery DC slated to open in 2024. Walmart said the facilities will be among the largest automated fulfillment and distribution centers in its network.

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Walmart to open automated fulfillment center in Tennessee - Supermarket News

Global Robotic Process Automation Market 2021-2025 The analyst has been monitoring the robotic process automation market and it is poised to grow by $ 12. 75 bn during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of 45.

New York, Dec. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Robotic Process Automation Market 2021-2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05166330/?utm_source=GNW 53% during the forecast period. Our report on the robotic process automation market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by improved cost savings for businesses and better service delivery. In addition, improved cost savings for businesses is anticipated to boost the growth of the market as well.The robotic process automation market analysis includes the end-user segment and geographic landscape.

The robotic process automation market is segmented as below:By End-user BFSI IT/ITES telecom logistics others

By Geographical Landscape North America Europe APAC South America MEA

This study identifies the non-availability of low-cost industrial laboras one of the prime reasons driving the robotic process automation market growth during the next few years.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on robotic process automation market covers the following areas: Robotic process automation market sizing Robotic process automation market forecast Robotic process automation market industry analysis

This robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading robotic process automation market vendors that include Accenture Plc, Amelia US LLC, Atos SE, Blue Prism Group plc, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., NICE Ltd., and UiPath Inc. Also, the robotic process automation market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. Technavios market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast the accurate market growth.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05166330/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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The Global Robotic Process Automation Market is expected to grow by $ 12.75 bn during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of 45.53% during the forecast...

The road to network resilience is a thorny one, with networks becoming ever-more complex and harder to manage

One way organisations can enhance resilience is by adopting NetOps: an approach, which embeds a growing amount of automation, virtualisation and orchestration, to make networking operations and functions faster and more accessible.

Research commissioned by Opengear discovered 87% of businesses had increased investment in NetOps in the past two years, with a further 51% planning to implement this functionality in the next year. But as more businesses adopt a NetOps approach, particularly via automated processes, the traditional role of the network engineer has come under scrutiny.

With the increasing popularity of NetOps and the ability for automation to reduce human error, is there still a place for the engineer in the maintenance of a business network? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Rather than removing the need for the network engineer, the advance of NetOps and network automation enhances the value network engineers can bring to a business.

No more heroes?

Network engineers have historically been viewed as the saviours when something goes wrong. The culture around saving the day meant one professional was relied on to step in when a fault occurred. They were often seen as having a level of understanding about the network that others were unable to attain.Much of the work involved hard manual effort and following repetitive applications or routines.If a particular event had happened on the network, most companies would expect an engineer to log in, run through five or six routines to work out what was happening and then remediate the problem.

The advent of NetOps is changing that culture in a positive way.What NetOps does is automate that entire procedure so that when that event happens, the system automatically runs through those five or six steps. If that does not resolve the problem, the issue is escalated to the network engineer to handle the next level of troubleshooting. All thisremoves the dependency on a single hero to do the diagnostic and remediation work but also enables more engineers to be heroes by freeing them to apply their skills more proactively in managing the network at a higher operational level.

Need for reskilling

Through the capabilities it delivers, NetOps is helping overcome skills shortages for businesses.There are simply not enough engineers available to comprehensively staff every network location. Businesses can use NetOps tools to concentrate their network teams resource at a network operations centre effectively rather than having to find resources to staff each and every site.

So, the advent of NetOps will bring new opportunities to network engineers but will also require a level of reskilling.For years the badge of honour was being a certified engineer and CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) or a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) or JNCIE (Juniper).

That is still valuable but for NetOps, there is an additional skillset engineers will need to train for. They will need to program in Python, for example, and understand how docker containers work. They will need todeploy commonly-used toolsets like Chef, Puppet and Ansible. Network engineers need to understand how all this works and those businesses that understand all this are training them up in the required skillsets.

The success of this process will require commitment from engineers. Some will be wary of NetOps and automation, in part due to a lack of understanding of or familiarity with the approach. Overcoming this will, in part, come down to engineers being prepared to dip their toes in the water of the new approach. Simply using a Raspberry Pi at home, for example, will help them to gain experience in that environment.

For young network engineers entering the business, collaboration with more experienced employees will be crucial, and the onus will be on business leaders to ensure that new starters learn from every aspect of the organisation.The business may also need to invest more in training and support for their engineers. In the Opengear survey, just 32% of respondents said their network management/engineering team had undertaken industry training courses in order to transition to NetOps. More than half (53%) of the survey sample said they had personally learnt about it (NetOps) in their spare time.

Providing more flexibility, increasing speed and improving programmability,NetOps is a proactive approach to networking that uses automation and provisioning to modernise networks and increase their resilience. Yet, if enterprises are to make a success of it, they need to transition to a NetOps culture.Ultimately, that entails more than just integration of new solutions; it needs a mindset shift among the professionals that work within it. Enterprises and their engineers taking these considerations into account and focusing on achieving them will ensure effective integration of NetOps and enable a smoother journey on the road to resilience.

About the Author

Alan Stewart-Brown is VP of EMEA at Opengear, with responsibility for overseeing all Sales, Channel Development, Marketing events and SE activities across the EMEA region. Alans primary focus is the development and execution of sales strategies, talent development and channel initiatives that will ensure the accelerated growth of the Opengear business across the region. Alan brings 25 years of sales leadership experience gained across the technology sector, including Wireless LAN, Enterprise Software, BI Analytics and e-Commerce. Before joining Opengear Alan held Senior Pan-European Sales Management positions at Xirrus, Fiserv, AIM Technology, eColor and Phoenix Technologies. Alan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Imperial College, London.

Featured image: Nakharin

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Dispelling the myth that NetOps and automation replaces human expertise - TechNative - TechNative

The case-ready poultry weigh-price-label operations of tomorrow will rely on automation and robotics, Thomas Swovick, market development manager, Dematic, explained during thePoultry Tech Webinar Series.

Growing interest in claims-based poultry products and transparency in food production, alongside demanding retail expectations, can strain the poultry supply chain. In addition, the e-commerce culture in combination with mass urbanization trends is leading to smaller orders being placed more frequently. The poultry industry is also dealing with a lowered availability of dependable labor.

The current process flow for case-ready poultry operations features a weekly inventory cycle and requires double-triple manual handling in a 28-storage room.

Poultry is one of those first protein areas that is getting a lot of e-commerce adoption, he said, noting that automation can help enable a successful move to online retail.

Advancements in automation and robotics can slash labor requirements, improve inventory management and support future requirements such as a migration to e-commerce.

Swovick previewed an automated case-ready poultry technology currently in use in Italy.

Robots can retrieve product from multiple levels located within each aisle in the 28-storage room. A combination of shelf positions, shuttles and lifts allows for the individual access of specific boxes, trays and pallets.

Now, instead of handling stacks, were handling these as individual entities, Swovick said. That gives you a lot of flexibility in your process.

In addition, production, weigh-price-label subsystems, shuttle aisles and palletizing robots are connected via a connector network, which enables the precise control of containers and eliminates the need for manual handling in an uncomfortable environment.

For more on the technologies set to advance the poultry industry, join industry-changing innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, technology experts, investors and leading poultry producers at the Poultry Tech Webinar Series, scheduled for November 2, 4, 10, 11, 17, 30 and December 2.

During the webinar series, industry experts will preview whats coming next from prospective solutions to developing technology for the poultry industry.

This webinar series is proudly sponsored by: Arm & Hammer, Aviagen, Baader, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cargill, Ceva, Chore-Time, Cobb, Evonik, Marel, Phibro Animal Health, Staubli and Zoetis.

Visit our website for more details on the webinar series, topics and speakers.

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Automation helps prepare case-ready poultry for the future - WATTAgNet Industry News & Trends

Ikigai, a startup based on research out of MIT, wants to make it simple to build workflows with humans involved. Whereas traditional robotic process automation (RPA) is about building bots for repetitive tasks, this company wants to make it easier to build workflows where humans have to make a decision as part of the process.

The company announced a $13 million seed round today from Foundation Capital, 8VC, Underscore VC and a variety of industry angels.

Company co-founder and CEO Vinayak Ramesh says that he found in his research at MIT, and at his previous startup, Wellframe, a digital healthcare startup acquired this month, that there were more complex workflows out there that RPA wasnt reaching.

What we saw is that there are use cases[that involve] manual processes in the organizations that were extremely difficult to automate because a fundamental step involved humans making judgments or decisions with data, and where both the data and rules theyre operating on would change very often, Ramesh explained to me.

Ikigai, which means your purpose in Japanese, wants to solve that problem with a tool that lets users create drag and drop workflows involving disparate data sources, while building in steps where humans make decisions, and then viewing the results in a dashboard/spreadsheet view. They describe this as an AI-charged spreadsheet.

Image Credits: Ikigai

But they believe that they differ from other supercharged spreadsheet approaches like Power BI and Airtable. [Those tools] require humans in the workflow, but theyre not decision- or data-based workflows, he said, and he says that ability to build in decision loops is a key differentiator for their product.

The company currently has 20 employees, mostly engineers, with plans to double that next year. The founders definitely seem to recognize the need to build a diverse and inclusive team as they scale the company.

Diversity helps make everything a much nicer place to work because you have different perspectives, different types of people coming into work every day, Ramesh said. He also points out that many of his early employees are immigrants, and the company has worked with these folks to help them navigate the difficult process of getting visas to work in the U.S.

The company idea grew out of research that Ramesh was doing as a student at MIT. In fact, CTO and co-founder Devavrat Shah is a professor of Computer Science at MIT and was Rameshs professor. Shah also started another company called Celect, which was acquired by Nike in 2019.

After helping to found Wellframe, Ramesh went back to grad school, where he connected with Shah. As the idea of a product like this only became more pronounced over time, they began to research it further and built the product last year.

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Ikigai gets $13M to build automated workflows with humans in the loop - TechCrunch