For years, we’ve been hearing about the dangers of Bisphenol-A (BPA). “Ditch any products with BPA in them,” we’ve repeatedly been told. So, we diligently check the labels of our canned goods, plastic food storage containers, and water bottles. We may even check our cookware, beauty products and other items that touch consumables. But that’s not enough. Though some governments have banned the use of BPA in recent years, not all do.

Many people I’ve worked with have found on-device voice technology far faster and easier to deploy and scale as well since it typically doesn’t require the same outdated code or infrastructure as older voice technology platforms. (I’m talking specifically about the voice technology used to automate mobile workflows, not just direct picking.)

How do you know what you need from a machine vision system? Or if machine vision is even the right imaging technology for what you need to see? Do you need deep learning optical character recognition (OCR) or some other AI-centric vision tools? How do you ensure your machine vision system will work well with your robotics components or RFID or any other connected technologies on the line? And how do you get the lighting right?

Editor's Note: This post first published January 2024. It was updated August 2024. Ever since retailers started reporting record losses on quarterly earnings calls in early 2023, my phone has been ringing off the hook. Everyone from asset protection professionals to reporters to my next-door neighbors want to know where things are going wrong. How is so much inventory walking out the door in these stores? Why aren’t thieves being stopped?

During the pandemic, we were inundated with news stories about healthcare providers who had to get creative when treating patients because they couldn’t get the necessary medicine, supplies and equipment. Demand outweighed supply. But, for the most part, the supply chain has now stabilised, and nurses and doctors can source what they need to resume treatments and surgeries as normal. So, I was shocked when nearly three-quarters of hospital leaders in the UK and U.S.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2019. It was updated with new insights and perspectives in August 2024. Five years ago, my then-colleague and retail pundit Peter Ward explained why he was such an advocate of self-service technologies at a time when scan-and-go and self-checkout (SCO) were really starting to capture retailers’ attention (and shoppers’ interest) around the world.