How tech giants like Amazon continue to scale amidst workforce disruption, according to Program Manager Vatsal Mehta

The buying public is no longer confined to physical stores, as the e-commerce landscape expands with tech giants like Amazon at the forefront. According to Statista, e-commerce sales will increase by 50%, from $907.9 billion in 2022 to $1.4 trillion in 2025.

However, factors such as labor shortages are affecting e-commerce growth. According to Supply Chain Brain, 78% of shippers and 56% of third-party logistics firms report that labor shortages impact their supply chain operations. A 2021 Statista survey also cited the issue as the second-biggest challenge for supply chain professionals.

Vatsal Mehta, a seasoned Technical Program Management leader, says, “Enterprises can overcome workforce disruption and secure their growth by modernizing large-scale labor-intensive processes.”

Enhancing labor-intensive processes with robotics systems

Vatsal has led the design and development of advanced robotic systems at Amazon, including improvements in item sortation. He helped develop automated tray-handling systems capable of interacting with item sortation units and processing actual customer orders.

“The Amazon warehouses adopted the system and built two iterations to process customer orders better. This also led to the global implementation of automated storage and retrieval systems” he shares.                                                                                                                              

Amazon deploys an expensive fleet worldwide with over 250,000 robots. Vatsal’s innovative way of using conveyor belts as a multi-level, linear-driven mechanism has the potential to allow the company to expand its capabilities.

“The design I introduced can help automate the order processing area in the warehouses, allowing robots automated vehicles to carry five or more objects in a single trip. Previously, robots could only carry one item at a time. It would also make the system more adaptable and resilient, ensuring that staff can dedicate their time to more high-value tasks,” he expounds.

In addition, among his innovations was a novel transportation solution with Amazon’s warehouse sortation technology, enhancing the process of transporting packages to packing stations.

Having an expert in place

Vatsal, a Technical Program Manager, is famous for making the product development process for robotics much more efficient. He reduced the cycle from 36 months to just 14 months by using a unique approach focusing on product development and operations.

Instead of waiting until after the prototype phase to fix problems, Vatsal works on multiple tasks simultaneously and uses a unique matrix he created to get ahead of the process. This approach has helped Amazon design and improve its products faster and has kept them as a leader in warehouse automation.

Vatsal has a proven track record of success in leading global programs and bringing products from conception to market readiness. He was responsible for rolling out the Magic Leap 2 Early Access Program.

Currently, he works at Meta, researching the next generation of hardware devices for the Metaverse. He holds several patents for warehouse automation solutions and is credited with several high-impact deliverables.

An easy-to-deploy and scalable solution

With Vatsal’s technical expertise, he can design and develop solutions that are easy to scale. “A patented design he introduced allows automated systems to present customer orders at an appropriate height and velocity to provide ergonomic and performance benefits to the associates. And since it builds on top of existing solutions, it is easy to deploy and scale,” he concludes.

Vatsal currently works at Reality Labs, the research unit of Meta, and now leads the haptic glove program, which draws on soft robotics.