Fast Moving Consumer Goods

It was back in 2011 that Harvard Business Review declared adaptability the new competitive advantage. Today, in the ever-evolving FMCG industry, where production must remain high and costs low, while consumer behavior and market conditions shift rapidly, adaptability is no longer a benefit — it's essential for survival.

The FMCG sector is under immense pressure to stay lean and agile. By implementing the latest automation technologies, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), FMCG companies can significantly reduce the reliance on costly and time-consuming manual transportation. This shift supports a lean manufacturing approach and boosts adaptability — a key metric in modern FMCG manufacturing.

Unlike traditional AGVs, all MiR AMRs use an advanced combination of sensors, cameras, and real-time data to autonomously calculate the most efficient routes and avoid obstacles. In a dynamic FMCG market, where speed and flexibility determine success, this level of automation helps manufacturers respond swiftly to change while improving safety and efficiency.

The pressure to keep costs low while maintaining high quality remains relentless. Add increasing foreign competition, tariff uncertainty, and widening labor skill gaps, and the FMCG industry finds itself in a challenging position. But automation offers a powerful solution. By replacing inefficient manual tasks with efficient, autonomous workflows, AMRs help reduce bottlenecks, minimize delays caused by human error, and ultimately support scalable cost optimization.

In today's FMCG manufacturing environment, where every second and every resource counts, mobile robots allow skilled workers to focus on value-adding, complex tasks rather than repetitive transportation. This not only improves efficiency but also addresses ongoing labor shortages — a persistent issue across the FMCG sector.

Moreover, by creating a safer working environment through the use of world-class MiR AMRs, companies can avoid lost workdays and regulatory fines related to workplace injuries. For any forward-looking FMCG company, combining human expertise with robotic autonomy offers a resilient model for long-term success in a volatile FMCG market.

Unlike traditional AGVs, AMRs rely on onboard sensors and cameras rather than wires or magnetic tape. This means there's no need to refit the factory floor, significantly limiting downtime during implementation — a crucial factor in the fast-paced FMCG industry. With their intuitive interfaces, MiR AMRs are easy to set up and operate, allowing for rapid deployment with minimal disruption.

But the time savings don’t stop there. A fleet of autonomous mobile robots can operate 24/7, maintaining a consistent material flow. Rather than halting in front of an obstacle — as an AGV might — MiR robots autonomously calculate alternate routes, ensuring uninterrupted operations. They can also be reconfigured to handle new tasks quickly, increasing uptime and agility across the entire FMCG manufacturing process.

FMCG companies—whether focused on food, personal care, or homecare products—are increasingly automating warehousing and material handling workflows with adaptable, safe, and scalable AMRs. In doing so, these businesses gain the flexibility to respond swiftly to market changes, which is critical in the ever-evolving FMCG sector.

As FMCG businesses experience shorter lead times, reduced bottlenecks, and improved workplace safety—even with a single robot deployment—they’re assessing ROI with an eye toward scaling across multiple sites and workflows. This trend reflects how automation is reshaping the future of the FMCG market, where speed, reliability, and adaptability are essential.

Three workflows that are proving most successful at meeting FMCG company objectives for deploying AMRs today.

Inbound/Outbound Components Delivery to Production:

In the FMCG industry, components are often stored in intermediary warehouses or preparation zones before reaching production lines. Traditionally, fork trucks or AGVs were used to move materials — but due to safety risks and the spatial limitations of AGVs, many FMCG companies are searching for safer, more agile alternatives.

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) with integrated pallet lifts or tailored cart solutions can transport pallets or smaller loads directly to the production line. These solutions are particularly effective in highly dynamic environments where personnel, stacked goods, and other machinery must be navigated safely.

In addition to supporting lean operations by enabling employee redeployment to value-adding tasks, AMRs increase throughput. They help reduce change-over cycles between the production of different SKUs — an essential factor in FMCG manufacturing, where customization is driven by consumer demand, retail preferences, and sustainability goals.

Automating the transport of primary and secondary packaging components, whether on pallets or in bins, has historically been a challenge due to tight spaces and high foot traffic. But agile, collaborative AMR solutions now make it feasible. These robots operate 24/7, helping FMCG businesses approach the vision of “lights-off” production — a long-held goal in advanced FMCG manufacturing.

Many FMCG sector leaders have already deployed fleets of AMRs — both high and low payload — to transport components to production lines and remove unused materials. These fleets serve multiple lines simultaneously, delivering clear productivity gains and cost savings across human labor and operational capacity.

Quality sample handling during production runs:

Traceability is paramount — especially in food-related FMCG goods. With FDA regulations requiring visibility throughout the supply chain, and increasing demands from retailers on private-label quality assurance, FMCG companies must continuously improve their internal processes.

Today, the volume and frequency of sample retention is growing rapidly, driven by market trends and heightened post-pandemic safety expectations. Engineering teams are responding by deploying collaborative robots (cobots) for pick-and-place tasks and AMRs for transport. Some systems use AMRs alone to shuttle samples to storage, while others integrate cobots on top of AMRs to pick directly from the live line and move samples to labs or archives.

This approach enhances quality control while reducing strain on human workers, allowing FMCG manufacturing teams to scale processes without sacrificing compliance or safety.

Integrating AMRs into end-of-line palletizing:

As automation expands within FMCG companies, many are extending AMR applications from material delivery to pallet transport at end-of-line (EOL) or warehouse stages.

At the palletizer, space constraints and human traffic remain a challenge. Some firms have attempted to solve this with AGVs using magnetic tape or laser navigation — but these require significant infrastructure investments and offer limited flexibility.

AMRs, by contrast, are infrastructure-free and much more adaptable. With open-source integration capabilities, they can easily be connected to modern palletizing systems. Not only are they more affordable than AGVs, but they also offer faster deployment and flexibility to adapt workflows over time.

This is driving a shift in the FMCG market: companies are not only integrating AMRs into existing palletizing systems, but also partnering with palletizer manufacturers to co-develop turnkey AMR-ready solutions from day one. As more material-handling companies view AMRs as “game changers,” many are phasing out traditional conveyor systems in favor of agile robotic fleets — helping reshape the FMCG industry with more resilient and scalable logistics infrastructure.