Switching your industrial warehouse from a manual operation to an automated environment isn't a smooth, overnight operation for team members. It's a process often marked by enthusiasm, skepticism, learning curves and moments of discomfort. As a customer success manager at CareGo, I see it every day. Although teams soon see massive improvements in their efficiency, safety and storage capacity in a TELIA-managed environment, the growing pains can be discouraging.
These are the biggest hurdles I hear from our customers on their automation journey and the ways we help them move through the difficulties.
Hurdle #1: Employee Resistance
Employee resistance is one of the most common challenges we see when automation enters the warehouse. Manual processes are familiar to employees who have been in the business for a long time. They've been doing their jobs a certain way for decades, then one day, they show up and cranes are moving autonomously. When automation changes up their daily tasks, they can go through a lot of turmoil.
Resistance often shows up differently across generations:
- Tenured workers tend to prefer manual methods because they've been doing it this way for years (sometimes decades) and may resist change outright. If so, these individuals can be vocally skeptical and spread negativity around the floor.
- The younger generation grew up on video games, so TELIA can feel familiar. They tend to be very receptive and adaptable.
- In the middle, there's a group that will follow directions but needs time and proof that the automation actually works. They're not opposed, but certainly not convinced yet.
In some cases, resistance can lead to real consequences. Employees may leave or organisations might decide to part ways with team members who refuse to adapt. The transition to automation can take longer when your employees aren't onboard.
That said, some resistance is normal, and it doesn't always last forever. The benefits of automation will become clear over a period of months and the team will grow confident in the system.
In one of our client facilities, the team was pretty resistant to the TELIA implementation. They even turned the system off after awhile because they thought they could run faster in manual mode than TELIA.
But they weren't able to increase or even maintain what TELIA was able to do. Plus, it turns out that TELIA had significantly reduced the physical burden on workers. So much so that after the system was turned off, employees stopped showing up to work. They said they wouldn't come in for their shift if they had to walk all over the plant floor.
This client turned TELIA back on. They haven't turned it off since.
(Plus, we're working with them to improve the experience even further!)
How We've Overcome This Hurdle
My advice to teams? Counter negativity with strong leadership.
Identify a super user — usually a supervisor or manager — who is enthusiastic, open-minded and trained more deeply. We've found that super users are employees who naturally take TELIA on as their own. They are fully committed to the system and help foster trust and adoption among the team.
In some cases, adaptation is easier with new hires. One of our clients reflected that if they were to implement TELIA over again, they would have hired new team members for the automated bay rather than trying to retrain everyone. The team they had was just too stuck in operating in manual methods and weren't willing to trust the cranes to run themselves, which made the integration more difficult than it needed to be.
Hurdle #2: Job Security Fears
One of the most common questions supervisors hear when transitioning to automation is: "Are you trying to eliminate me?"
While this fear has eased somewhat in recent years due to labour shortages, it still surfaces — along with related concerns like bonuses, incentives and role relevance.
In some facilities, we've even seen production and shipping incentivized against each other. Automation can further disrupt those systems, raising worries like, "Will I still get my bonus if the process changes?"
We're always reminding our customers that automation doesn't remove the need for people. It just changes the kind of work they do.
Automated environments offer career growth opportunities for employees who are adaptable and interested in growing their skill set.
We've had people move up into supervisory positions. Others went into maintenance because they got interested in the electrical side of the cranes. Rather than seeing a threat, they embraced an opportunity.
How We've Overcome This Hurdle
Automation eliminates moves, not jobs. Humans are still essential for loading, unloading and other physical tasks. Remind your team of this and lay out how they can expect their role to change and what will stay the same.
Be prepared for some turnover — it's normal when there's such a big change. At the same time, companies that restructure incentive programs and clearly communicate new opportunities often see stronger retention.
We encourage our clients to keep an eye on what other functions employees are interested in. We've seen former crane operators become interested in maintenance or supervisory roles and get moved into new roles that support these interests. Automation creates paths forward for those willing to take them.
Hurdle #3: Trusting Invisible Technology
One of the most unique challenges with TELIA is that it exists "in a box." It's a software application — it's not tangible like manual operations. Employees can't see, feel or touch it. Workers are told to trust that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing, which can feel threatening when it used to be their job to do those same moves. All of a sudden, their cranes and resources start moving stuff automatically.
TELIA is a new technology for most workers. They'll have never seen anything like it. Adding to the challenge, only a small group needs to be trained on how TELIA operates. There are many that get no exposure to the inner workings of TELIA before it's switched on.
This creates a trust gap.
Most workers will have to lead with a sort of blind faith in the system. They can see the cranes working in real-time, analyze reports to understand performance, and receive additional training on the system, but they're still going on faith in many ways.
And that's not something we take lightly.
How We've Overcome This Hurdle
The solution to the trust gap is making the invisible visible.
At CareGo, we've developed dashboards that allow users to monitor system activity in real time, tracking jobs, floor plans and resource status. We built the interface to give our customers more insight and help them trust the system.
Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) also tell you what TELIA is doing. Operators are better equipped to understand what the cranes are doing and why.
Over time, as teams begin to see tangible improvements and gain confidence in the system's stability, their attitudes change. And eventually, the questions change. Instead of asking, "Why are you doing that?" teams begin asking "What can we do now?"
That's the moment that gets me most excited as a customer success manager. Teams start seeing possibilities bloom before them when their throughput increases. They have more time, more facility space, and more profit to work with. And as priorities and needs change down the road, TELIA customers are now part of the input and decisions of their system to change things if required.
Hurdle #4: Misconceptions About Productivity
Early on, workers often believe they're faster than the system.
A manual operator can move three bundles while TELIA moves one, so they think they're more efficient. They may complain that TELIA is going too slow.
But the reality is that the crane never stops. It doesn't need to take a lunch or a smoke break. It doesn't stop during shift change.
The crane keeps going consistently, continuously and without human error.
I like to say that TELIA is always manic and has a "let's get her done" attitude. But our system isn't perfect — the customer success team is monitoring and analyzing what is happening in the warehouse to make sure the system is doing what it's supposed to be doing and to spot any room for improvement. We also get support requests sometimes that challenge us to see how we can improve our software and our operations.
For example, one of our customers noticed inefficiencies with the transfer car and TELIA system interactions. Since TELIA environments allow for coil stacking, the crane will dig (move material) to get to the target coil. Once the target is exposed, the system calls the transfer car. Their team asked if it was possible to have the transfer car automatically move in when the digging begins instead of after the target is found. We loved the idea, and are updating the code for all customers with transfer car facilities so their process is even more streamlined.
How We've Overcome This Hurdle
The way we help workers understand TELIA's productivity powers is simple. We tell teams: Go on your break. Go have lunch. Go chat with your coworkers. The crane will keep going.
Over time, uninterrupted productivity speaks for itself. We see increased throughput numbers of 50% on average. And if productivity is ever stalling, the CareGo team uses feedback from our support requests to drive our product development and customize solutions for specific customer needs.
Growing Pains Are Part of the Process
Automation is a journey. Resistance, fear, skepticism and misunderstanding are normal. What matters is how you respond.
With the right leadership, transparency and patience, automation changes what teams believe is possible. The conversation soon shifts from survival to innovation, and we can't wait to support your team on this journey.
