Report: Automation's Impact on Unilever's Networks and Partnerships

This report evaluates the megatrend of automation and its influence on Unilever's operations within the consumer goods industry. It examines how Unilever utilizes automation and robotics to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve product manufacturing and packaging. The analysis covers the benefits of automation, such as increased precision and productivity, and also identifies limitations, including the inability to handle tasks requiring human decision-making or strategic thinking. The report assesses Unilever's performance in adapting to digitalisation and automation, providing recommendations for further improvement, such as integrating automation with human assistance and evaluating current processes for optimal application. The report also highlights the impact of automation on the workforce and the need for Unilever to consider its employees during the transition. The report emphasizes the importance of automation in market research and targeting consumer needs.

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Networks and Partnerships

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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to evaluate a megatrend which supports and hinders the operations
of Unilever. Automation is selected as the megatrend which has affected the operations and
processes of Unilever. Unilever operates in the consumer goods industry, and it offers its
services across the globe. Automation technology uses computers and robotics to automate
the processes of corporations in order to avoid the requirement of human assistance to
perform repetitive tasks. The company has reduced its operating costs and improved the
efficiency of its operations by using automation technology to change its processes. The
company uses this technology to manufacture and package its products with precisions.
Various limitations of this technology have identified in this report as well which limits its
application on the processes and operations of Unilever. The technology cannot be used in
those processes where human assistance in require because the machine cannot make
decisions on its own. Unilever cannot use this technology to design and manufacture new
products which limit its application. Various recommendations are included in this report
which can assist Unilever in improving the application of this technology in its operations.
The company should evaluate its current processes to evaluate how this technology change
can be used to change them. The company should consider about its employees to avoiding
firing them. Lastly, the company should mix automation with human assistance to perform
complicated tasks as well.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................3
Megatrend (Digitalisation).........................................................................................................4
Operations and process concepts..............................................................................................5
Performance of the organisation...............................................................................................5
Limitations of operations concepts............................................................................................7
Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Due to rapid changes in technologies, it has become difficult for companies to keep up their
operations and processes with them. However, the companies which can implement these
technologies into their procedures are able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
their operations. It enables them to generate a competitive advantage in their respective
industry by ensuring that their operations are not affected by future trends. The
corporations which are not able to adapt as per these changes are likely to face challenges
in the future. Digitalisation is a major megatrend which is affected companies in almost all
industries by disrupting the way they carry out their operations (Leviakangas, 2016). This
megatrend has a significant impact on the operations and processes of companies which
have resulted in opening new business opportunities for corporations by allowing them to
reduce their operations costs and reach a wider audience.
However, corporations which did not adapt their operations and processes as per this
megatrend were destroyed by the rapid changes in the industry (Konttinen and Moilanen,
2015). In this report, the example of Unilever will be evaluated to understand how this
megatrend has affected the operations and processes of the company. Firstly, this report
will analyse the megatrend of digitalisation and understand the impact of automation on
operations and processes of company. Secondly, this report will evaluate the performance
of Unilever based on this megatrend to understand how it helped or created challenges for
the organisation along with limitations of operations concept used. Lastly, a conclusion will
be drawn, and recommendations will be given for Unilever which can assist the corporation
in sustaining its growth while facing challenges relating to automation.

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Megatrend (Digitalisation)
The digitalisation megatrend is not a recent trend; in fact, this trend has been affecting the
operations of businesses for many decades. Yet, it is one of the hottest topics in business
today due to continuous changes and improvements in technologies which keep this trend
fresh. It is referred to a process of converting information or materials into digital form to
improve the operations of a company (PwC, 2016). A large number of businesses are
transforming their traditional ways to manage their day to day operations into digital
structures. A new wave of technology resulted in disrupting industries in the matter of few
years and it also the corporations to change their shape and sizes in order to become more
strategic and efficient. Effective understanding of digitalisation assists companies in using
the technologies to generate and sustain a competitive advantage in the business.
Automation is a key digitalisation trend which is affecting the business of corporations
across the globe. It is referred to the creation of technology and its application in controlling
and monitoring production and delivery of various goods and services by companies (PwC,
2016). The technology was first used in 1913 by Ford, and it was later developed during the
1930s (Altintas, 2012).
Since then, the advancement of computer systems has changed the automation technology,
and it has become easier for companies to use it in their operations. Organisations rely on
automation technology in order to perform various tasks relating to operations and
processes which were previously performed by humans (David, 2015). There are a number
of areas where automation technology has changed the procedures for companies such as
transport, defence, manufacturing, operations and information technology. The use of
automation has allowed companies to reduce their operating costs because it allows them
to perform the job of many employees by using machines and computers without
employing workers. Unemployment is a key negative impact of this megatrend which is
affected people all across the globe. Previously, the tasks which were completed by
employing hundreds of employees in factories are completed by just a few machines.
Although this saves the operating costs of companies, however, it resulted in layoffs of a
large number of employees who suffers the consequences of this technology (Nica, 2016).

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On the other hand, this technology has created new jobs in this field which benefits a large
number of people and enterprises.
Operations and process concepts
There are various benefits of automation technology in operations and process system in
companies. Automated computer operations were used by IBM 45 years ago in which
computers were used by the company to automate the operations of the company. Later
the technology was used to perform labour intensive tasks in which software developers
were developing automated operations software for companies (Cichocki et al., 2012). The
use of automated operations resulted in creating various benefits for companies such as
cost reduction, improvement in productivity, availability, reliability and improved
performance. Similarly, process automation resulted in changing the way companies use
their processes. The automation has removed the requirement of human assistance in the
production or manufacturing process. One person can easily perform the tasks of hundreds
of employees by using automation technology.
Generally, human assistance was required to manufacture or produce products to add or
subtract materials. However, the companies can automate these repetitive procedures by
writing a code in the computer system. Based on this code, a robot is built to perform the
tasks as per the algorithm of the computer. Though this computer and robot, the companies
can automate their procedure and reduce the requirement of employees. The use of robots
assist in reducing human errors, and corporations are able to expand their production which
promoted industrialisation (Bechar and Vigneault, 2016). This technology is able to perform
precise actions or tasks which companies cannot perform with the assistance of a computer.
Most leading corporations rely on automation process to perform their tasks which provides
them a competitive advantage in their respective industry.
Performance of the organisation
Unilever is a British-Dutch consumer goods company which was founded in 1929, and it
operates in the consumer goods industry (Unilever, 2018). The enterprise is a leading brand
which offers its services across the globe. Automation and robots assist businesses in

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keeping up with the demand of customers in the consumer goods industry. Unilever is a
giant in this industry, and it uses this technology to gain a competitive advantage in the
industry. This is a changing industry which is affected by emerging trends in the technology
industry and it affected by megatrends such as digitalisation. Currently, Unilever is the third
largest consumer goods company which uses robots and automation technology to fulfil the
demand of its customers. The company use automation to use robots in the manufacturing
process to boost the product variety in the company. The company is specialised in
producing millions of same products to offer its customers. The company manufactures
different shapes, sizes and forms of products which also include limited edition products
(Munna, Rahman and Roney, 2015). The packing of these products is also a major issue for
the company which requires labour intensive works.
Through automation, the company uses robots to perform all these tasks which assist in
increasing the efficiency and accuracy of these products which also reduces the costs of the
enterprise. The corporation also uses robots to inspect its products for ensuring that the
quality parameters are met by the company in order to remove defected products (RBR,
2012). The company also use this technology to combine different product lines with each
other to improve collaboration and efficiency of the operations. For instance, Unilever uses
this technology to package its products in large numbers, and it also loads these packages
into distribution vehicles. Generally, these procedures are boring, and they required
companies to hire a large number of workers. However, the use of automation technology
enables the company in saving its capital, and it also increases the efficiency of procedures.
Stan Sthanunathan, Unilever's senior VP-consumer and market insights officer, provided
information regarding Aldebaran Nao which is an application relating to automation
technology which is used by the company in its operations (Neff, 2015). This technology
recognises the facial expression of customers when they look at marketing or advertisement
of customers to solve a major problem in marketing which is measuring how people
respond to the message in the advertisement.
Currently, the application of Nao is not possible on a wider scale; however, with the
advancement of technology, it is more likely to disrupt the marketing sector. This
application is also based on automation as well in which the requirement of humans has
eliminated. Moreover, Unilever uses automation technology in order to conduct market

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research. This technology assists the company in collecting relevant data for the research
process and maintains collaboration between data management technologies which allow
the company in improving its research abilities (Joshi and Chaudhari, 2013). This market
research assists consumer goods corporations such as Unilever in collecting data regarding
their customers to understand their demands and produce products to meet such demands.
Along with the research on consumer goods, the corporation also uses automation
technology to research new markets in order to expand its customer base. For example,
Hindustan Lever Ltd is a subsidiary of Unilever which operates in the Indian market. Based
on the automation technology, the company target poorer consumers in India by proving
them affordable consumer products (Mahajan, 2016). For targeting these consumers, the
company has adopted a completely different approach for marketing, production and
distribution networks. The data regarding this market is collected by the company through
automation process which provides various advantages to the company.
Limitations of operations concepts
Along with a wide range of advantages, there are various limitations relating to automation
technology as well. Due to these limitations, Unilever is unable to use this technology to
completely make it production, manufacturing and distribution operations human
assistance free. Currently, automation is unable to perform all the desired tasks of the
company for which are required to hire human assistance in the company. There is a wide
range of processes and operations in corporations which are beyond the scope of
automation technology which makes it impossible for Unilever to rely on this technology to
generate competitive advantage (Leitao, Colombo and Karnouskos, 2016). For example,
operations and processes which require human-level pattern recognition, language
production ability, language comprehension and others are well beyond the capabilities of
automation technologies. Moreover, tasks which require strategic thinking and planning
cannot be performed by automation technology because they required human expertise. In
many cases, choosing humans for performing operations is a more cost-effective way than
compared to mechanical approaches which limit the automation technology
implementation. Automation technology is limited to perform repetitive tasks which did not
require human intelligence (Sardroud, 2012). The corporations such as Unilever is known for

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offering new products to its customers within small periods of time, however, new products
cannot be designed by automation technology.
The corporation is required to get human assistance in order to create, develop and design
new products which highlight the limitation of automation technology application in the
consumer goods industry. One of the major limitations associated with implementation of
automation technology is worker displacement. Despite various social advantages, the issue
of retraining displaced workers for other jobs is a major issued by corporation while using
automation technology (McClure, 2018). The workers who lost their jobs to a machine
undergo emotional stress, and they face difficulties in finding other jobs. Another limitation
of automation technology is that it requires companies to invest significant resources to
implement this technology in the business which makes it impossible for small and medium
enterprise to rely on this technology. In the case of Unilever, the company has resources to
adopt automation technologies; however, in countries where the operations of the
company are small, the implementation of automation technology is not a suitable option.
As the more processes are automated by corporations, it limits the job opportunities in the
countries, and it increases unemployment. A study reported that by 2030, more than 800
million jobs would be lost to automation across the globe (Vincent, 2017).

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Conclusion and Recommendations
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that megatrends such as automation
resulted in disrupting the operations and processes of companies in many industries which
require them to adopt as per these changes. By using automation technology, Unilever is
able to improve its processes by reducing labour intensive tasks and save its costs in
employee salaries. The corporation is also using this technology to perform precision-based
tasks and produce millions of different products on a daily basis. However, there are various
areas in which this technology is limited, and the corporation is unable to utilise it to
improve those areas. This technology cannot be used to perform those tasks which require
human assistance or intelligence because it can only complete repetitive tasks. The cost of
implementation of this technology is also considerably high which limits its applications in
areas where the labour is cheaper, and profits are limited. This technology increases
unemployment rates, and it leads to worker displacement. Based on these limitations, the
implementation of automation technology is limited to corporations such as Unilever.
Following are various recommendations which can be used by Unilever in order to improve
the effectiveness while using automation technology in the business operations and
processes.
 While implementing automation technology in the business, the corporations are
required to evaluate their current operations and processes to identify which of
them are repetitive in nature. The company is required to fully understand the
processes which are proposed to automate in order to identify the costs incurred in
implementing the technology and what benefits will company receive from the
same. If there are no long-term benefits and the corporation is able to easily find
cheap labours, then it should avoid use automation technology to improve its
current operations and processes.
 Unilever has sustained its sales due to its positive brand image in the market,
however, use of automation leads to job loss of employees which adversely affect
the market reputation of companies. Therefore, Unilever should adopt a different
process for its employees in order to avoid firing them from the company while

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implementing automation technology. The company should think about its
employees to understand how it can utilise them in other positions rather than firing
them from the company.
 The corporation should utilise human knowledge with automation to perform those
operations which are not possible for automation alone. Rather than solely relying
on automation technology, a combination of employees and computers will assist
the company in improving the efficiency of those tasks which usually require human
assistance to perform the operations. It will assist the corporation in avoiding the
limitation of automation technology and use it to sustain its future growth.

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References
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vibrations, and CNC design. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Bechar, A. and Vigneault, C. (2016) Agricultural robots for field operations: Concepts and
components. Biosystems Engineering, 149, pp.94-111.
Cichocki, A., Ansari, H.A., Rusinkiewicz, M. and Woelk, D. (2012) Workflow and process
automation: concepts and technology. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.
David, H. (2015) Why are there still so many jobs? The history and future of workplace
automation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3), pp.3-30.
Joshi, A. and Chaudhari, C. (2013) Sales Force Automation-An Imperative Tool in Sales
Function. PARIDNYA-The MIBM Research Journal, 1(1).
Konttinen, A. and Moilanen, N. (2015) Experiental Learning with Multisensory and Digital
Elements. Interdisciplinary Studies Journal, 4(1), p.28.
Leitao, P., Colombo, A.W. and Karnouskos, S. (2016) Industrial automation based on cyber-
physical systems technologies: Prototype implementations and challenges. Computers in
Industry, 81, pp.11-25.
Leviakangas, P. (2016) Digitalisation of Finland's transport sector. Technology in Society, 47,
pp.1-15.
Mahajan, V. (2016) How Unilever Reaches Rural Consumers in Emerging Markets. [Online]
Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-unilever-reaches-rural-consumers-in-emerging-
markets [Accessed 30/12/2018].
McClure, P.K. (2018) “You’re Fired,” Says the Robot: The Rise of Automation in the
Workplace, Technophobes, and Fears of Unemployment. Social Science Computer
Review, 36(2), pp.139-156.