Bridging the gap between Chinese innovation and Australian operations
MHD Magazine (March 2026)
MHD sits down with Malcolm Druce, Managing Partner at BPS Global Australia, to discuss how 30 years of Asian manufacturing connections combined with deep local expertise is demystifying Chinese automation purchases and de-risking implementation for Australian businesses.
Supply chain operators are looking directly to Chinese manufacturers for innovative, cost-effective solutions. But this route requires expert knowledge in sourcing, installing, and maintaining equipment to Australian standards.
BPS Global Australia is stepping forward as a leader in this area. Malcolm Druce, Managing Partner at BPS Global Australia, says their connections to Asian manufacturing markets and local Australian expertise positions them to solve this challenge.
“We want to be able to demystify purchasing robotics and automation out of China," says Malcolm. "We don't want companies to miss out on the opportunity to buy really good quality,cost-effective equipment. But we also want to make sure that they go in with their eyes completely open, and there are no hidden surprises."
The Hong Kong advantage
BPS Global Hong Kong has been operating for over 30 years, turning over more than $35 million annually and serving over 1,000 clients across engineering and construction, logistics technology, investment and real estate,and robotics solutions. This gives BPS Australia immediate access to Asian manufacturing markets.
“They are connected to just about every single manufacturing organisation in China of any significance," Malcolm explains. This infrastructure provides BPS Australia with an edge: expertise on Chinese manufacturing capability, quality standards, and emerging technologies. The organisation can assess factories, understand equipment capabilities, and identify which manufacturers deliver on their promises.
“If necessary, we'll bring people out of BPS Hong Kong who know the equipment to assist with installations,” Malcolm notes. “We can tap into our factory knowledge, understand market trends, and help clients get the best value from Chinese manufacturers.”
Addressing the need in Australia’s market
Australian businesses looking at innovative, cost-effective equipment at trade shows or through online research face hurdles when trying to bring that technology into local operations. Often there are language barriers, different compliance requirements, installation challenges and warranty concerns. Malcolm says these roadblocks have the potential to derail promising automation projects before they have the chance to hit the ground running.
Malcolm emphasises BPS will still maintain an ‘equipment agnostic’ approach, keeping a strong pulse in analytics and operational understanding. Instaying neutral, BPS recommends the right equipment for each application rather than pushing specific brands or suppliers.
The full-service offering covers equipment selection, factory quality assessments, design and CAD drawings, Australian compliance management, installation, warranty support, and integration with warehouse management systems. BPS also has deep connections with local suppliers for complementary requirements like racking systems.
BPS can work in multiple capacities depending on client needs: as a consultant providing advice and facilitating connections, as a broker, or as a full-service integrator managing the entire process.
"Some businesses out there know automation really well, and we can support them to make their own decisions. Some don't know automation very well, and we can offer more guidance in those cases," Malcolm says.
Essentially, BPS supports businesses through two pathways: purchasing equipment through BPS as part of a full-service engagement, or buying direct from a Chinese manufacturer. In cases where the buyer chooses to purchase direct, BPS can act on the customer’s side – supporting negotiations, duediligence and freight coordination if required, while ensuring the buyer understands responsibilities such as warranty and importer-of-record requirements.
Understanding the local landscape
BPS has a deep understanding of Australian business requirements,including the compliance, safety, and physical specifications that can catch overseas manufacturers unaware.
BPS has a deep understanding of Australian business requirements,including compliance, safety, and the physical infrastructure needed to support automation.
Malcolm says the biggest mistakes that derail projects are often basic butcostly – overlooking infrastructure requirements such as fire regulations,floor quality and site connectivity.
He also emphasises the importance of safety and compliance duringinstallation. “You need to make sure that whatever you’re buying is manufactured to Australian standards, and that your installation contractors are properly covered with insurance, licences and permits,” he says.
For BPS, de-risking the purchase means ensuring warehouse infrastructure is fit for purpose, verifying factory quality and processes, and putting the right controls in place for installation – whether BPS delivers the installation directly or takes a project management role with customer-selected contractors.
This is what he describes as de-risking the purchase, ensuring businesses understand and meet all Australian requirements from day one.
Getting businesses automation-ready
Ensuring businesses are prepared for automation means assessing operational processes, IT capability, and physical infrastructure before any equipment arrives.
"When you automate, particularly with robotics, you have to change your operational processes," Malcolm emphasises. "You can't do what you've always done, throw in equipment and expect to be able to do that into the future. It won't work and you will fail."
Part of BPS's initial assessment involves analysing whether a client's warehouse management system or ERP could handle the messaging requirements ofautomated equipment. “You need to be able to send and receive the messages thatthe robotics and automation require in order to function," Malcolm explains. "If you've got a very basic ERP or an accounting system with no operational capability, you're going to struggle.”
The business also looks at extracting operational knowledge before automation implementation. "The worst cases are where knowledge sits inthe heads of the operators and no one documents the process flows,” Malcolm says.
“Automation gets installed, you realise you missed part of the workflow and all of a sudden you've got to rework it or throw it all out and start again."
The BPS approach
BPS's strength comes from the combined operational experience of its Australian team, many of whom – Malcolm included – have worked their way up through manual and automated warehouses.
This, combined with strong data analytics and design capability, allows BPS to create solutions that work for operational staff, not just procurement teams or supply chain directors. In one of its most recent major projects, feedback highlighted BPS's innovation, flexibility, quick understanding of operations, and ability to design solutions that support ground-level workers.
For BPS, success means changing how Australian businesses approach Chinese automation purchases - moving from hesitation to confidence.
"With all our experience, we are best placed to be the Australian face of Chinese equipment manufacturers," Malcolm says.
With Chinese manufacturers producing innovative equipment at competitive prices and Australian demand growing, Malcolm sees BPS's role as essential -not just facilitating sales, but ensuring successful implementations that deliver long-term value.
Malcolm references a colleague from the military’s wisdom. “Time spent in reconnaissance is time seldom wasted.” For BPS, this means thorough understanding of cross-cultural regulations, risk mitigation strategies, and business continuity processes built into every project from the start.
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Smarter Pharmaceutical Fulfilment: Where Accuracy Meets Scale
In pharmaceutical logistics, a delayed order is inconvenient. An inaccurate one can be far more serious. That is why pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacy chains, and healthcare e-commerce businesses need fulfilment operations built around precision, visibility, and control — not speed alone.
BPS Global Australia helps these businesses modernise their warehouses with intelligent automation that supports high-volume fulfilment while protecting the standards the industry demands.
The Real Pressure on Pharma Warehouses
Pharmaceutical fulfilment is rarely straightforward. A single operation may handle prescription medicines, wellness products, medical devices, personal-care items, and temperature-sensitive stock—all with different handling rules and customer expectations.
Meanwhile, the way patients and consumers purchase healthcare products is changing. More orders now originate online, with expectations for rapid dispatch, accurate delivery updates, and convenient collection options. Traditional manual warehouses can meet these needs at low volume, but they become harder to manage as order volumes, SKU counts, and channel complexity increase.
The challenge is not simply to move more goods. It is to move the right goods, in the right condition, with complete operational confidence.
Automation That Supports Compliance and Control
For pharmaceutical businesses, automation must do more than increase throughput. It should strengthen the controls that keep operations safe and accountable.
BPS Global Australia focuses on connecting robotics with intelligent workflow management, so that every task—from replenishment to picking and dispatch—can be coordinated consistently across the warehouse.
This enables operations to better manage:
• Product traceability throughout the fulfilment journey
• Stock rotation and expiry-related handling requirements
• Batch-level visibility across inventory and order workflows
• Controlled picking processes that reduce the risk of human error
• Clear operational data for planning, auditing, and continuous improvement
By bringing goods to operators rather than requiring staff to search for them, goods-to-person automation also creates a more structured and repeatable picking environment.
Designed Around Pharmaceutical Order Profiles
No two pharmaceutical warehouses operate in exactly the same way. Some prioritise rapid single-item e-commerce fulfilment; others focus on replenishing pharmacy branches, managing bulky stock, or supporting urgent orders alongside routine demand.
BPS Global Australia takes an operation-first approach. We assess how products flow through the facility, where bottlenecks occur, and which order types drive the greatest operational pressure. The resulting solution is designed around those realities.
Typical applications include:
• E-commerce fulfilment for direct-to-consumer healthcare orders
• Pharmacy replenishment across retail and clinic networks
• High-density storage for growing SKU ranges
• Multi-channel fulfilment combining online, retail, and wholesale demand
• Returns handling to recover value and maintain inventory accuracy
Growth Without Disruption
One of the biggest concerns for pharmaceutical businesses considering automation is scalability. A solution that works today may not support tomorrow’s volumes, new product categories, or additional fulfilment channels.
Modular robotics offers a practical answer. Businesses can automate a defined area first—such as e-commerce picking or high-density storage—then expand robot fleets, workstations, and storage capacity as demand evolves.
This phased approach reduces upfront risk and allows automation investment to keep pace with business growth.
From Efficiency to Competitive Advantage
Automation should not be viewed simply as a cost-saving exercise. For pharmaceutical businesses, it can become a foundation for better customer service, stronger inventory control, and greater resilience during demand peaks.
With BPS Global Australia, pharmaceutical operators can build fulfilment operations that are accurate by design, adaptable by nature, and ready to scale with the future of healthcare commerce.
How Can AMRs Be Applied in Warehouses?
A batch of goods often undergoes multiple transfers from receiving, putaway and picking to outbound shipping. If every stage relies on staff transporting goods back and forth with hand trucks, it not only consumes significant transport time but also slows down picking and shipping operations. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) can automatically deliver goods to designated locations according to task instructions, helping connect different warehouse operations, reducing repetitive handling and enabling smoother goods flow.
How Do AMRs Work?
Common AMR models combine laser sensors, cameras or other sensing devices to identify their surroundings, position themselves and plan routes. Some models can slow down, stop or reroute according to predefined rules when they detect people or obstacles.
Compared with material-handling equipment that relies on fixed guidance paths, AMRs can autonomously plan routes based on facility maps and sensor data. However, their actual performance still depends on equipment design, navigation configuration and site conditions.
Four Key Warehouse Applications of AMRs
1. Goods transportation: AMRs can transport goods from the receiving area to storage areas, as well as move picked goods to packing or outbound locations, reducing employees’ repetitive cross-zone trips with hand trucks.
2. Goods-to-person picking: In a goods-to-person picking process, AMRs can deliver totes or designated shelving units to picking workstations. Employees can then focus on picking, verification and packing without frequently entering and exiting storage areas. This approach is particularly suitable for operations with a wide range of SKUs, high order volumes and substantial transport needs between picking and storage locations.
3. Automated replenishment: When picking locations require stock replenishment, AMRs can transport backup inventory to designated locations based on tasks assigned by the system or staff. With inventory data and replenishment rules in place, this helps reduce conflicts between replenishment and picking activities.
4. Inter-process material transfer: AMRs can transport materials between workstations such as receiving, inspection, processing, and packing according to task assignments, reducing manual handling and waiting time during handovers. Processes with repetitive transport routes and clear material flows are particularly suitable for automation.
How Much Efficiency Can AMRs Deliver? What Should Be Assessed Before Implementation?
The benefits of AMRs should not be measured solely by travel speed. Businesses should also assess whether they can reduce handling labour hours, improve delivery consistency and allow employees to focus on picking, inspection, exception handling and other value-added tasks.
OMRON Robotics published a case study in 2025 involving its facility in Pleasanton, California. At the time, technicians had to manually transport parts between storage areas, assembly lines and workstations, with inefficient transport affecting assembly and testing operations. OMRON subsequently deployed OL-450S AMRs to automatically transport different types of goods and assign transport tasks through software, without modifying aisles or workstation layouts. The project completed hundreds of transport tasks per month, freed up more than 20 hours of technician time per week, and improved material-handling productivity by 30%*.
*The above reflects results from a specific facility. Improvements at other warehouses will depend on site conditions, handling requirements, and system configuration.
Before purchasing AMRs, businesses should record the number of daily transport tasks, time required for each transfer, and manpower involved. They should also confirm whether aisle widths, turning space, floor evenness, gradients, pedestrian-vehicle interaction, and the weight of racks, totes, and goods meet equipment requirements. In addition, AMRs should be connected to a Warehouse Management System (WMS), Warehouse Execution System (WES), or Warehouse Control System (WCS) to receive transport tasks, report status, and handle exceptions. The systems that need to be integrated will largely depend on the company’s existing infrastructure and workflows.
In general, businesses can begin with a pilot in areas with high transport frequency, repetitive routes, and easily measurable results, then compare efficiency and process performance before and after implementation.
Case Study: Automated Material-Handling Solution for a Hong Kong Government Engineering Department
To address the storage, picking and retrieval needs for spare parts, BPS Global Australia provided an automated material-handling solution for Hong Kong’s Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. The solution combines AI-powered AMRs, smart retrieval cabinets, and a Warehouse Control System (WCS), with the WCS integrated into the client’s IT systems.
When a relevant order is triggered, the system automatically generates storage and retrieval instructions. Users can retrieve the required spare parts from the smart retrieval cabinet simply by entering a password. Through this solution, spare-part storage and retrieval processes operate in a more systematic manner, reducing reliance on manual item-by-item handling while helping save labour costs and storage space.
This project also demonstrates that, for AMRs to deliver their full benefits, they must work in coordination with intelligent storage equipment and information systems rather than operating solely as transport robots.
From AMR Assessment to Warehouse Automation Solutions
AMRs can improve goods transportation, goods-to-person picking and inter-process material transfer. However, achieving genuine improvements in warehouse efficiency also requires alignment with facility layout, operational workflows and information systems.
With more than 20 years of experience in logistics technology, BPS Global Australia provides solution design, consultancy and logistics automation services. We can assess suitable AMR applications based on each company’s operational needs and combine storage equipment with system integration to develop automation solutions tailored to site conditions. From needs analysis and equipment configuration to implementation, we help businesses ensure that automation investments align with business objectives and deliver sustained improvements in operational efficiency.
Which Warehouse Processes Can AMRs Improve? What Conditions Should Be Confirmed Before Implementation?
The main purpose for enterprises to introduce Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) is to reduce the time employees spend moving goods back and forth, while improving the efficiency of processes such as receiving, replenishment, and picking. However, once an AMR is put into operation, will it necessarily deliver the expected benefits? The answer is clearly no. If the aisles are unsuitable for robot navigation, workstations are poorly positioned, or the existing systems cannot support integration, the AMR may operate smoothly yet fail to improve overall efficiency. Therefore, the key to AMR implementation lies not only in selecting the right equipment, but also in identifying processes suitable for automation and confirming that the existing facility and systems are ready.
How AMRs Improve Warehouse Efficiency
AMRs are particularly suitable for high-frequency material handling tasks and warehouse environments where destinations frequently change. During receiving and put-away, AMRs can automatically transport goods to designated locations. In replenishment and picking processes, they can support a “goods-to-person” model by delivering racks or totes to workstations, reducing the need for staff to walk between racks.
For packing and dispatch, AMRs can also handle material transportation between workstations, reducing manual cart pushing and waiting time. For warehouses with high order volumes, these improvements not only reduce repetitive handling but also allow employees to focus on higher-value tasks such as picking, verification, and quality inspection. As a result, warehouse automation extends beyond a single process to cover the entire logistics workflow.
Benefits of AMR Implementation
When evaluating logistics automation, enterprises are usually most concerned with whether manpower can be redeployed to higher-value work, whether orders can be completed faster, and whether operational errors can be reduced. In addition to equipment operating speed, companies should also assess picking accuracy, order processing time, staff walking distance, and throughput during peak periods.
According to relevant data, automation solutions can potentially deliver the following benefits:
- 40% improvement in fulfilment speed: Faster order processing and dispatch
- 80% reduction in errors: Lower error rates, reducing replenishment and order-correction costs
- 70% reduction in labour costs: Less repetitive handling and manual work
*The above are indicative figures from relevant sources. Actual results will vary depending on warehouse layout, order profile, existing workflows, and the level of system integration. They should not be regarded as guaranteed outcomes for every AMR project.
Integrating AMRs with a warehouse management system enables them to automatically receive and execute transport tasks, reducing manual task assignment and repetitive operations. Enterprises should use pre-implementation operational data as a baseline to objectively assess return on investment.
Four Conditions to Confirm Before AMR Implementation
- Identify efficiency bottlenecks and address the root cause: Understand employees’ daily handling time, busy routes, and processing volumes across each process to determine whether the issue lies in put-away, replenishment, picking, or dispatch.
- Assess the warehouse environment: Aisle width, floor evenness, thresholds, turning points, and intersections between staff and forklifts all affect AMR operation. Adequate parking and charging areas should also be reserved.
- Confirm system compatibility: AMRs need to receive transport tasks and destination information. Integration with systems such as WMS and WCS can reduce manual task assignment and make workflows smoother.
- Calculate return on investment: Beyond equipment costs, companies should consider system integration, facility modifications, maintenance, and training costs. A pilot implementation in a suitable area is recommended before expanding deployment based on actual data.
Case Study: Hong Kong E-commerce Warehouse Automation Achieves 3x Order Processing Efficiency
BPS Logistics Technology designed an integrated automation solution for an approximately 40,000 sq ft e-commerce warehouse in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. During peak periods, the client needed to process more than 10,000 orders per day. The original picking method was prone to errors, and staff had to work long hours to cope with continuously increasing order volumes.
The BPS team combined mezzanine racking, an AMR-based “goods-to-person” picking model, and automated conveyor systems to redesign the storage, picking, packing, and dispatch processes. This reduced staff movement between racks and improved the connection between different operations.
The overall results after project completion included:
- Picking accuracy of 99.9%
- Order processing efficiency increased to three times the original level
- A 40% reduction in manpower requirements
*The above figures are based on the complete warehouse automation solution.
This case demonstrates that effective warehouse automation requires the coordinated planning of equipment, storage layout, and operational processes to translate automation capabilities into tangible operational benefits.
More AMRs Do Not Necessarily Mean Better Results — Overall Planning Is Key
AMRs can improve multiple processes, including receiving, put-away, replenishment, picking, and dispatch. However, the ultimate benefits still depend on whether facility conditions, system integration, and process design are properly aligned.
BPS Global has long focused on logistics automation and warehouse system integration, with extensive experience spanning process analysis, solution design, equipment selection, system integration, and project implementation. Our team assesses the most suitable AMR applications based on each enterprise’s order volume, operating model, facility constraints, and investment objectives — helping businesses reduce repetitive handling, improve order processing efficiency, and build more flexible, stable, and scalable warehouse automation solutions.
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