DC Velocity - April 2018

Te c hn o l o gy

RO B OT I C S

32 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2018 www.dcvelocity.com units, which were supplied by Wilmington, Mass.-based warehouse automation specialist Locus Robotics, have been deployed at a 139,000-square-foot warehouse in Indianapolis. Geodis said it launched the program in an effort to address a warehouse labor shortage in the region.

At the Indianapolis facility, the 3PL is using the robots to help fill orders for one of its clients, an online vendor of women’s apparel that requires error-free manual picking from an inventory of more than 30,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs). The robots work in collaboration with human pickers, ferrying order bins around the facility to collect items selected by the workers.

The Locus robots go about their daily work with little to
no human intervention. To initiate the fulfillment process,
a robot automatically rolls up to the aisle and rack where
the desired item is stored, then “communicates” with the
worker at that station via tablet computer, displaying an
image of the needed item along with instructions on its
location and the quantity to be picked. After the worker
selects the products and places them in the robot’s bin, the
bot drives itself over to the next location. Once the order is
complete, it delivers the bin to the packing station, where
other workers prepare the order for shipment.

The new system expedites picking because workers no longer have to roam the aisles in search of items or push carts full of inventory back to the packing station, Geodis says. To further accelerate the workflow, the system uses software to calculate the shortest route for each bot to follow.

EVERYTHING’S BETTER WITH BOTS

In a market where good warehouse labor is hard to find, the robots foster a better work environment for employees, according to Eric Douglas, executive vice president of technology and engineering at Geodis. Picking units to the robots has reduced physical demands on workers by eliminating the need to trudge through the aisles pulling pick carts and by minimizing travel overall.

The robots have also proved to be a good fit with the site’s multicultural work force. The messaging on their screens

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