Logistics-on-System (LoS) Automation: Haitham Al-Beik’s Big Idea that Might Change the World
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Slow down. We all need to slow down. The concept of “first-to-market” and “prototype something quickly” for revenues’ sake hinders progress for innovative processes. This is a fear-based survival mindset that embedded itself at the organizational level as a strategy. The consequence will always result in sacrifices and settling of the original mission. In reality, the need to be first-to-market presents itself as a small evolutionary step product as a feature rather than genuinely a revolutionary idea.
As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Haitham Al-Beik.
Haitham Al-Beik is the CEO and founder of a research lab called Wings, developing next-generation autonomous and pandemic-proof businesses. Haitham is driven to liberate creators by introducing new technologies, such as robotics and A.I., to people’s daily lives.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
As I started to approach the food industry, I decided to take it upon myself to manage a health-focused fast-casual restaurant that was considering closing down due to COVID. I saw this as an opportunity to throw myself into the fire while attempting to keep it afloat. I wanted to experience the pain points beyond any mathematical models observed from the outside. The experience taught me a lot about the industry and its sectors and the people involved in all aspects of the ecosystem — the managers, chefs, cooks, staff, partners, customers, etc.
Along the way, we took the opportunity to prototype many technologies to enhance our internal and external logistics while optimizing for healthier and cleaner operations.
Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?
We have only one life to express ourselves with our creative energies. Embrace every day as it’s your last and use it to express yourself the best way possible. Whether it’s through art or your career, your expression begins and ends with you.
Find the devotion within yourself that drives your creativity to new heights. The only expectation one can have is that your creativity is unique and will find friction and struggle in a world of many saturated ideas.
Brave through.
Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?
Human evolution has been for the most part bringing the world closer together. Transportation and telephony technologies played a huge part in making that bridge and closing the gap. As much as it is with human connection it also played a large role in bringing material objects closer to us and sooner.
Amazon and DoorDash work tirelessly to manifest your wants and needs in moments notice by pushing the envelope for delivery. We are seeing the next-phase of how external logistics evolved and finding its place in internal logistics and infrastructure.
Imagine if you will, smart buildings with short term storage and transportation built into it. Just as power and USB terminals are now part of every infrastructure, we will start seeing deposit and receptacle terminals within a building, offices, apartment complexes, hospitals, hotels, universities, and more. An intelligent smart building where it can store and deliver items (food or dry goods) to you whether you are home or not.
How do you think this will change the world?
Such a system removes non-value add labor from the workforce, bringing in more opportunities for a creative workforce. Increasing the creative force will bring in more entrepreneurs to any industry and further enhance the operations by simplifying our lives.
Shopping is a chore for the most part. The act of “shopping” will dwindle to your needs appearing at your home without you having to move from your place or while you are in the middle of creating your next masterpiece.
The world will change, because people will get more time back, and time is of the essence.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?
From my perspective, technology should never be considered as the answer to a joyful and blissful life. Nor should technology be applied for the purpose of taking advantage of people. Let’s be fair; many new technologies in the market are being used in a way that is not congruent to people’s desires or their environments — knowingly or not.
In essence, we gave away our self-responsibility to technology. Giving it that responsibility will (for the most part) lead to chaos. Nonetheless, it is a powerful tool for computations, exploration, convenience, and abundance — liberating us from having to survive.
The consistent theme in Black Mirror is how we still work to appease the technology as part of a reward system. In a way, that future is already here, today! Any system that is based on a reward-based practice is a survival one.
People should think deeply about how to transition from this survival and reward mindset by building relevant solutions and technologies. These technologies intend to upgrade humans to move beyond their intellectual limitations and regain the time for a more conscious living.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?
The breakthrough was realizing we can manufacture and produce autonomous end-to-end businesses for anyone to operate without a business experience by removing the need for labor.
Initially, we attempted to introduce many of our technologies to current businesses that needed the most assistance and guidance during such difficult times. We started with the software. However, we quickly learned that we were so far ahead that the existing infrastructure was preventing us from easily integrating it and effectively moving the needle forward. This resulted in a complete rethinking from the ground up of how we needed to introduce our technology.
We started to look into how we can enable more creative energies within the businesses while the operations continue to be reliable, dependable and seamless. The most friction was in the workflow operations that, till today, has been heavily labor intensive making it difficult to rely on. More importantly, the operation was analog that prevented any type of potential enhancement or integration with other systems. This had to be elevated and it had to be done in a way that empowers the business.
What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?
First, we need to continue having conversations about how such technologies will change how we look at and participate in life. Partaking in conferences, podcasts, and other media channels will help spread the message far and wide. Secondly, we will start applying these technologies in business with high-volume production before it becomes mainstream.
We are also contacting local universities and research labs to bring about the idea of HiveRobotics and what can be done to elevate the services industry for the future.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.
These are few things that I have discovered within me through this life journey so far. It guided me in offering clarity to the process of and the symbiotic nature of people and everything else around us. Any clarity I gained around that framework naturally brought about a higher probability of manifesting a vision bigger than myself.
1.) We are here to create, not work.
All I ever wanted to do is create things driven by desires within me. The idea of work is creating for someone else’s desires and wishes. When one is creating from and for themselves, then they are playing. The consequence of such “plays” are guiding tools incidentally beneficial to others in their creative process. It is this framework of indirect helping that is most inventive and effective for collective enlightenment.
The idea of starting a company is essentially a research container to birth ideas for enhancing humanity. The only reason I’m creating a company the way it is today, in the first place, is simply due to the systems’ established language that was developed to facilitate and bring about new ideas. Inherently, bringing about any revolutionary idea to that language will always go against the grain.
I quickly realized that only a few are willing to change for a highly pivotal future when the right amount of energy, time, and space is invested. Hence, the first few who rallied in revolutionary ideas initially tend to be close by and stealthy (like a cocoon) due to today’s natural resistance. This can be observed by the close proximity of early advisors and investors to where I am.
I was surprised how deep topics about humanity and social infrastructure were not given the respected time to be discussed with many VCs until you have a working business model or a technology that excites the mind.
The platform is mainly designed (it seems) to invest in technology, not humanity. Where is the platform for the heart? We are all here to contribute to a singular mission to transition the “human condition” to “human being.”
2.) Never conclude, always realign.
Whatever idea one begins with will always yield to become something more significant than itself. In essence, the devotion behind the creation of that idea is alive, while the idea itself is guidance — a clue.
One of the major struggles for any entrepreneur is holding onto old ideas that are presumed to be the answer preventing them from taking a few steps back or starting over. When in reality, it is never a step back; it’s only so when compared to the previous idea.
This was significant in keeping the ideation and creative process ongoing while unraveling what Wings is. Technology became something we had to invent along the way. The idea of marrying hardware and software resulted from these processes and is now fundamental to Wings.
If we labeled or defined Wings early on as a software company, it would never have had the opportunity to unravel its hardware aspects. It’s not that the idea of starting out as a software company was wrong, but a necessity at the time to prepare and wise up for the hardware later.
Wings was guiding us to itself.
3.) Everyone is extraordinary.
Like any startup in its early stages, funds are scarce to acquire the necessary skills and resources. Believing that only investing in intellectual and most skillful people to bring about a solution will only lay down a path where the focus is on the skill rather than the solution.
We have people contributing their heart and intelligence from all aspects of life and industries — most have never written any software and are reluctant to technology and robotics since they have not served them well. These are the creative energies that can dream and imagine beyond any skill to start laying a path and a platform where technology is always second.
As such, people, given their time and opportunity to express themselves, become the process of invention — extraordinary!
4.) Too much noise — get to the point.
In ideation and creation, one is constantly faced with forming little conclusions on the way. These are based from third parties, research companies, news, customers, investors, etc. However, most acquired data is designed as a guide that has gone through many computational filters to create normalization — for the sake of simplicity. This is where humanity has been lost in that noise. Simply put, no matter how much data one obtains, it will only bring you a little closer to understanding the average of human input/output kinematics and mannerisms, but never really know anyone.
For example, one can use all the tech to understand the moon, but it takes one to ultimately go through training, traveling, landing, and experiencing it to get to know it — by that one astronaut.
Everyone in the company is here to throw themselves into the “fire” — truly experience what really is going on that may be difficult to capture with data.
Data — if not respected as what it is, a history, a memory of what has been done — will only mirror ourselves to it, and technology will keep us in that memory cycle, preventing us from seeing ourselves from all that noise.
5.) Slow down.
We all need to slow down. The concept of “first-to-market” and “prototype something quickly” for revenues’ sake hinders progress for innovative processes. This is a fear-based survival mindset that embedded itself at the organizational level as a strategy. The consequence will always result in sacrifices and settling of the original mission. In reality, the need to be first-to-market presents itself as a small evolutionary step product as a feature rather than genuinely a revolutionary idea.
It has become prudent for the entrepreneur today to consciously remove themselves from any survival mindset or dependence; otherwise, they’ll find themselves continuously balancing their heart and mind. This continuous balancing is like a tire stuck on mud — stress will eventually reveal itself, discouraging the self. Today, the population is stuck in a system that rewards “survivors” over creatives merely because there is an established and highly invested platform for them.
I wanted to minimize all that I had physically related to material things and mentally related to impressions from this life. I sold all I had — even today, I don’t own a car. I put myself first to focus on all aspects of my mind, body, and soul, so I can manifest what I need. I questioned everything and took no truths but as perspective words of guidance and wisdom. I surround myself with things that can and will only enhance what I can create at any moment.
We need to realize that anything that has ever influenced and changed the world came entirely from a devoted human being. Devotion requires time and energy in a loving-based environment. Companies, as such, will need to be devoted and take their time to seek it.
As much as we can plan things, the mind cannot fathom all possibilities. It’s only through slowing down that we can transcend our own intellectual limitations and become part of something larger than us.
Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?
Clarity and focus is key to taking small steps and moving mountains in the process. Everyday is an opportunity to move the needle ever-so-slightly that is new to you and the company you are building.
I personally do not see success as an important aspect of why I do what I do, since it’s just a mindset and unrelated to a joyful and fulfilled heart. There is a process to have milestones to reach your desired goals, but as I noted in the “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started”, success would then be based on what you have accomplished on that day.
We don’t have control over what will happen tomorrow, nor can we change what happened in the past, so focusing on the moment with all your energy is the only thing we can do, and as such can only be successful.
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
The future of automation is in the digitization of the last-mile delivery value-chain. There are clearly segments of the chain that are not digitized and are creating a $1T bottleneck, which is the on-premise fulfillment and distribution supply chain.
Traditional logistics uses multiple systems to deliver orders that employ runners, sorting, storage, delivery, etc. With Wings’ LoS, these logistical systems are combined into a single system for an outstanding delivery bandwidth that is scalable and versatile, eliminating the need for labor and its error-prone operations.
We are developing the first hardware platform automating on-premise logistics to deliver online orders without human intervention. It’s the first Logistics-on-System (LoS) automation architecture integrating multi-channel deposits and receptors, storage, bidirectional workflows, and machine learning onto a single lightweight system.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram under the alias “albeik.” Readers can also visit my personal site for updates at albeik.com.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
