AMR Case Study: – Retail Company

 

 

Hi, all! I hope all of you are enjoying my blog posts & my web site, in general. I have tried to incorporate as much information as I possibly can in my posts with the expectation that people are actually reading my posts. Well, I guess I am probably doing something right because I am getting followers of my web site. These are people who might be in some way, shape or form associated with #SupplyChain & #SupplyChainTechnology. Its definitely a great sign. But unfortunately, I am not receiving any feedback from people about how my web site can be improved or what type of content should I post here to make it more interesting. So, come on, people… Drop me a line, provide me some feedback or just shower your praises on me. You know I am not perfect, right? 🙂

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With that said, let me move on to the actual content of this blog post. If you recall, I posted my article on #AutonomousMobileRobots or #AMRs about 5 months or so ago. Well, I thought it would be a terrific idea to present an actual case study related to how #AMRs are proving their importance in industry. I am specifically focusing here on #Retail industry. Please do watch this video to visually comprehend how #AMRs work side-by-side with humans in a typical Retail Industry warehouse. This would be like my #promo #video for you all, my blog followers and viewers. Do take a look and let me know what you think of the video..

Lets now get into the nitty – gritty of the blog post. How exactly did #AMRs from the company #BerkshireGrey (Company website) enable a #Fortune5 #Retailer to overcome resourcing issues in its #RegionalDistributionCenter (#RDC)? We will begin by talking about the challenges that were being faced by this #Fortune5 #Retailer. Alright then, the use case I am focusing on in the post is a #Store #Replenishment use case. As with all organizations, the #Fortune5 #Retailer was also facing some challenges for which an #AMR solution was required.

Here is what the retailer mentioned about the challenges being faced by the company for which a robust solution was required – “When COVID hit, demands on our Supply Chain surged as eCommerce sales almost doubled. We worked with Berkshire Grey to extend the robotic system operating hours. By doing this, we were able to avoid having to add another shift”. This was just a quote from the retailer. The organization was struggling to staff its #RDC. Furthermore, the #RDC had excessive of 3.5 million break bulk line items. These were being done manually & amounted to approximately 10,000 labor hours per month. You can understand the issues with that, right?
But, let me now break down the challenges into smaller parts. It will give you all a much better idea of what the exact challenges were. Here are some of the key operational aspects that needed to be managed by the retailer.

• Handling diverse categories: – Company had multiple product categories including health & beauty; electronics; pet care; packaged foods etc. These had to be picked & sent for store replenishment. Company raised a requirement to #automate it by utilizing #robots/#AMRs for more efficient picking.
•  Additional SKUs: – Converting full cases in terms of products to less-than-case as well as #inner – pack quantities for #store #replenishment.
• Automation of Item Handling: – If we consider some random #RDC, we observe that item handling is a task that requires the most manual handling. Furthermore, its the most monotonous activity in an #RDC. This is an opportunity for improvement for sure.
• Labor Dependency: –  If we consider an operation wherein a #break – pack store replenishment occupies a central role, we can observe that there will always be a lot of dependence on manpower & human tasks. This does not allow #Retailers to do #store #replenishment efficiently, especially during #peak #demand. This is another area ripe for #automation & utilization of #AMRs.
• On – Time In – Full (OTIF) deliveries: – Not possible especially during #peak #demand as well as during #market #changes. These phenomena severely impact an #RDC Operations as well as existing #distribution processes.

Benefits

STATISTICS_AMRs In Retail Industry

AI – Enabled Sortation Processes

• Reduction in number of operators required for sortation & picking into #outbound #containers.
• Increase in number of orders required for filling at the same time.
• In current market scenarios, #Retailers also perform #ECommerce #fulfillment from Stores.
• #AI-Enabled #Sortation processes ensure that #RDC #throughput increases 4 times with #existing #workforce.

Easily Scaleable & Integrated Technology

• Designed to #install #quickly.
• Easily operable as #standalone system or #easily #integrated legacy #ASRS (#Automated #Storage & #Retrieval #Systems).
• Equipment & underpinning framework is of very #slight #weight. Effortlessly assimilates into existing #fulfillment operations.
• #Interchangeable & #Adjustable. Part of what can be called an #innovation #pathway that grows, develops & adapts to the business of the company.

Optimization of Existing Labour

• Based upon tradition & the fact that “this is the way we have always done it”, #RDCs end up hiring additional #warehouse staff to meet peak demand periods or #seasonal #waves in sales. Impracticable in current global economic situation.
• #Robotic #Sortation systems/ #AMRs can handle huge volumes of products whilst at the same time optimizing current headcount.
• Scaling #AMRs can be done to handle increased volumes of products without necessitating increase in headcount.
• Very instinctual systems. Training time for operators virtually zero. No training is required.
• Reduces worker fatigue; follows #social #distancing #protocols. Also eases strain related to performing repetitive tasks due to utilization of #ergonomic #workstations.