Today, almost everyone in the United Kingdom has experience shopping online. According to the Office for National Statistics (UK), the share of individuals who made purchases online in Great Britain in 2020 reached 87%. Both the convenience of online shopping and the impact of COVID-19 account for the boom in eCommerce. Customers currently place a high value on the speed and accuracy of merchants’ delivery service; incorrect and slow fulfilment is no longer acceptable and will have an impact on the business. Rising demand, as well as the growth in consumer expectations for timely delivery, is putting pressure on business owners.
The global push for fast delivery is causing businesses to begin their automation journey in order to shorten order processing times and the distance of delivery. Cutting-edge technologies, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) streamline warehouse operations with flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy. To solve last-mile delivery challenges, micro-fulfilment centres (MFCs), which are small, highly automated storage facilities close to the end consumer are set up to reduce the cost and time it takes to deliver goods.
Last year, ASDA, a UK retail pioneer, improved their distribution centre operation by introducing Geek+’s robotic sorting solutions. Due to the global move towards eCommerce, ASDA has witnessed a tremendous increase in parcel collection and returns services. As a result of seeing the benefit provided by the Geek+ robotic solution, the team at ASDA decided to adopt Sixty robots into its National Sortation Centre in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire.
Geek and AMH Material Handling, a top provider of material handling solutions worked together for this project implementation. By letting a network of AMRs transfer incoming parcels from workstations to cages of corresponding destinations, ASDA has been able to improve accuracy and efficiency, while also making the process more ergonomic for warehouse employees.
With no need for fixed equipment, it is easy for Asda to scale operations in line with business growth and adapt to quick fluctuations in order volume while continuing to deliver top-notch service during peak demand periods. All they have to do is adjust the number of robots and destination chutes.
With these sorting robots, ASDA has been able to boost the number of parcels to be sorted for the Asda toyou service This sorting solution was also just awarded the Supply Chain Excellence Innovation Award 2021, which celebrates excellence and outstanding achievements of Geek+ in the AMR sector.
In addition to this award-winning sorting solution, Geek+ also introduced the RoboShuttle® picking solution to the United Kingdom. This double-deep tote-to-person system can work in narrow aisles, which could help warehouse owners reach new heights and achieve high-density storage. When compared to typical shelf storage, this solution can boost warehouse storage capacity by 2.5 times. The newest member of Geek+’s award-winning RoboShuttle family, the RS8-DA robot, is able to reach a maximum height of 8145mm. With its fork arms, the robot can access the inventory rows of varying depths placed as low as 285mm and as high as 7820mm, fully utilising the horizontal, as well as vertical, warehouse space. These high-performing AMRs bring warehousing storage density to another level.
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