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Should a warehouse near Rotterdam automate its picking?
The prompt
An online retailer's warehouse near Rotterdam, the Netherlands, employs 50 pickers, each costing EUR 50,000 a year including taxes and benefits. A system that brings shelves to the pickers costs EUR 3 million installed, lasts about 10 years, and costs EUR 200,000 a year to run (maintenance, software, energy). At the planned volume it does the work of 16 pickers. Staff turnover is 20 percent a year. Should the retailer buy it? (Fictional company, illustrative figures.)
Your interviewer will share data as you ask for it. Ask clarifying questions, state a hypothesis, then lay out your structure out loud before you calculate.
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