Radial Inc. has installed 12 Covariant Robotic Putwalls at its fulfillment center in Louisville, Ky. to sort health and beauty items. Each of the twelve robotic u-shaped putwalls average about one hundred thousand picks per month with a throughput of 425 pieces per hour (PPH) – a performance higher than their manual alternative, Covariant claimed.
While working side-by-side with Radial’s staff, the autonomous robots can successfully pick 100% of the stock-keeping units (SKUs) at the Louisville fulfillment center, according to the Berkeley, Calif.-based company.
The robots run on the company’s universal AI platform Covariant Brain, which has been pre-trained on millions of SKU models and enables the robots to learn to handle new types of items.
“We are continuously looking for novel technologies that can advance our processes and provide our clients a competitive edge, making their e-commerce fulfillment more proficient and intelligent, and Covariant’s autonomous robots do just that,” said Deborah Williams, vice president of fulfillment at Radial, in a statement.
“Innovation is not all about evolving operations,” Williams added. “It is about standing out to our clients, helping them break through, and ensuring we can guarantee them the success they rely on us to deliver. We are excited to partner with Covariant, and we’re already looking at additional use cases to drive further agility across our network.”
Radial Inc. provides services for major consumer brands
Radial Inc. is a part Belgian Post Group and offers fulfillment and omnichannel technological services for major consumer brands, including Gamestop, DSW, Calvin Klein, and Express.
“The challenge of e-commerce logistics continues to be the cost-effective delivery of a great customer experience. Radial turned to Covariant to deliver an AI Robotic automation strategy that improves quality and throughput while reducing unpredictability,” said Ted Stinson, chief operating officer at Covariant. “In six months, together we have realized the successful automation of day-to-day sortation at a major facility - and we're just getting started.”
With a more automated order sortation system, Radial can reduce worker strain and fill gaps in its workforce, while improving overall facility output and delivery times, specifically around high-demand periods, Covariant said.
Founded in 2017, Covariant said its AI-powered robotic systems can be used for order sortation, item induction, good-to-person order picking, kitting, and depalletization. Its robots have been used to handle health and beauty items, pharmaceuticals, logistics items, and general merchandise.
For more on Radial's use of the robots, check out its customer story on Covariant's page.
Radial will be at NRF next week
The Radial leadership team will be in attendance at NRF 2023 from Jan. 15 to Jan. 17 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. It will be at booth 6510 and will showcase a fully operational Covariant Robotic Putwall used for order sortation and have interactive demos, videos, scanners, POS devices, and other information and technologies on display.
The NRF tradeshow was designed to cater to the retail market and will feature hundreds of exhibitors and more than 50 keynotes.
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