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What Real Estate Investors Get Wrong About Robotics With A.K. Schultz
Manage episode 498703032 series 3518048
In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes AK Schultz, co-founder of SVT Robotics, to explore the early innings of warehouse automation and robotics integration and why most real estate investors and operators still don't understand the scope (or risks) of what’s coming.
AK’s career arc is anything but traditional: former Army tank and reconnaissance officer, nuclear engineer, and now a leading voice in modular robotics and systems interoperability. As the co-founder of SVT Robotics, AK has spent the past two decades building solutions that simplify the orchestration of automation across complex supply chains. His writing on the SVT blog and deep expertise in abstraction, data normalization, and brownfield automation have made him a key thought leader in the field.
Together, Gordon and AK get into the gritty, high-stakes reality of deploying robotics at scale from reducing walking time in warehouses to avoiding the integration deadlock of overly complex systems.
🔍 Key Topics Covered:
- Why warehouse automation is still in its infancy
- How brownfield automation offers the biggest ROI and why it’s so hard
- The hidden cybersecurity risks of tightly-coupled systems
- What abstraction really means (and why it's the future)
- The real-world impact of reducing “walking” in a fulfillment center
- What real estate developers, investors, and landlords are getting wrong about robotics
- Why data normalization is the key to unlocking multi-system optimization
- The challenge of “digital pollution” and how companies can clean up their data lakes
- How Amazon changed the game on SKU velocity and what that means for the rest of us
- Why the most effective automation systems are invisible, flexible, and modular
📘 AK’s Book Recs:
- The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt – The classic on throughput and constraint theory
- The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman – A masterclass in intuitive product design
- Brain Rules by John Medina – A digestible guide to how the brain really works
💡 If you’re a supply chain leader, warehouse operator, logistics investor, or real estate developer wondering how to future-proof your facility or your portfolio, this conversation is a must-listen.
🔗 Learn more about Van Vlissingen and Co.
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