Picking and packing is a crucial step in the order fulfilment process. Picking errors in the warehouse can wreak havoc on the profitability of an otherwise efficient order fulfilment operation. Ultralight Outdoor Gear has experienced a 90% decrease in returns caused by incorrect orders being received and an immeasurable increase in customer satisfaction since implementing Mintsoft’s WMS.
This article was first published in the September 15th 2023 issue of Warehouse & Logistics News, subscribe to the magazine by clicking here.
Working closely with Hachette UK Distribution (HUKD) – a prominent book distributor – L.A.C. designed and implemented a manual loose pick solution which would integrate with existing operations across stock receipt, storage of long stocks, case & loose picking for replenishment, and customer orders across a multi-tier mezzanine structure. The system included a network of around 500m of conveyors with mergers, diverts, pop-up transfers and scanning systems across the ground floor and four mezzanine levels. Two 18-metre spiral conveyors facilitated the vertical conveying between these multi-level zones.
Locus Robotics, a global leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for warehouse automation, has announced that its AMR solutions have now picked more than two billion units, reinforcing the company’s position as the premier robotics provider for the warehouse and logistics industry. This new milestone comes just 11 months after reaching the industry-first landmark of 1 billion picks in 2022. Reaching this milestone took just 358 days, with the last 100 million picks taking just 27 days – an average of 3.7 million picks per day.
Newegg Commerce, Inc, a global e-commerce leader for technology products, announced it has recently deployed Geek+’s shelf-to-person mobile picking system that uses autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in its Ontario, California, warehouse. The AMR system features dozens of robots that operate within a designated area before lifting and carrying mobile shelves to workstations where employees pick and scan products to prepare them for shipping to customers. The Geek+ system includes 24,360 storage locations for products within hundreds of shelves.
Machine vision represents one of the most exciting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and industry 4.0 technologies to emerge and revolutionise supply chain operations with experts predicting the machine vision market to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% over the forecast period (2023–2030). Integrating machine learning with robotics solutions can provide additional data that allows for streamlining of the process. For example, using machine vision with a robotic arm picking solution gives the robot the data it needs to pick individual items from a tote containing multiple items, according to Renovotec.
It is exciting to witness the innovations in order picking, helping make logistics faster and more efficient.
George Simpson
Features Editor
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