ADVERTORIAL
VELOCITY VIDEO CASE HISTORY
A DC VELOCITY SPEED CHALLENGE
Sponsored by Kiva Systems
Zipping through Zappos
Mobile fulfillment robots from Kiva Systems provide flexibility, scalability and
increased productivity in filling direct-to-consumer orders at Zappos.
ONLINE RETAILER ZAPPOS.COM HAS A CORporate philosophy called WOW. The name
reflects how Zappos believes in WOWing its customers through an exceptional online experience and
superior customer service. The WOW philosophy is also
very evident at the Zappos distribution center in
Shepherdsville, Ky. The facility performs direct-to-customer
distribution of footwear, handbags and accessories, as well as
the newer product lines that
Zappos has begun to offer,
including apparel, housewares,
electronics, and camping and out-
door equipment.
“Service is very important to us,
and we wanted to make sure that
as we expanded into these new
product lines, we could maintain
our high level of service to our
customers,” says Anthony Vicars,
director of fulfillment at Zappos.
Considering its unique mix of
products and the company’s goal
of completing customer orders
within an hour of receipt, Zappos needed a material handling
solution that was unique in itself. That is why Zappos chose Kiva
Systems to provide a robotic mobile fulfillment solution for processing all of its non-footwear orders.
Pods and bots
Products in the Kiva system are stored on portable rack units called
pods. Each pod contains multiple shelving locations accessible
from all four sides of its square racking. Small transport robots are
used to gently pick up the storage pods and then carry them—rack,
product and all—to picking stations. Once the pods arrive, workers
select items from the pods for multiple orders. A laser light at the
workstation automatically sends a beam of light to each storage
position where an item needed for an order is held. Additional put
lights are also attached to an accumulation counter. These illuminate to represent each order and to tell the workers where to place
the picked items. Typically, three orders are picked at a time, with
items deposited directly into shipping cartons.
Once items are picked, the robot returns the pod to a floor storage position, while another robot right behind it brings another
pod for the next picks. As a result, the Kiva system provides fast,
continuous picking, as workers never have to leave their stations
to find products. This saves considerable time compared to the
former order-filling method of
walking and picking from static
racking.
The Kiva system is also extremely flexible, as nearly any size of
item can be placed into the easily
adaptable locations on the pods.
And as volumes grow, the system
can be expanded simply by adding
additional storage pods and
robots. There is no need for conveyors, lift trucks or other automation in this area, as the Kiva sys-
tem can hold, transport and manage everything.
The Kiva software that directs the system is also highly config-urable. “If our business rules change, we can easily modify our
operations within Kiva. This allows us to pick, pack and ship just
about anything with the system,” says Vicars.
Since implementing the system last year, Zappos has seen dramatic improvement in its overall customer experience.
“It is twice as fast compared to our former static rack picking
and sorting conveyor. Kiva never runs out of work,” says Vicars.
“Our employees love it too and love working in that area. They are
extremely proud of it.”
For more information on Kiva Systems, call 781-221-4640, or
visit www.kivasystems.com.
To watch a short video showing operations at the Zappos distribution center
in Shepherdsville, Ky., go to www.dcvelocity.com and click on this month’s Velocity Video.
