Found in Robotics White Papers & Archives, with a score of 39.31
Reverse logistics is often considered a costly and time-prohibitive endeavor. Especially during the busy holiday seasons, retailers focus heavily on order fulfilment and delivery to consumers. But it’s that next step in the process that often creates a warehouse bottleneck. As part of the reverse logistics process, robots can help alleviate concerns with warehouse backlogs and, from a financial standpoint, give returned items another shot at selling to consumers. E-commerce organizations continue to grow, but so too do their complexities with inventory, logistics, supply chain and warehouse management. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) work alongside humans to reduce the bottlenecks associated…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 34.18
Self-driving yard trucks must be able to reverse into trailers to fully automate operations, according to ASI Logistics. It and SICK Inc. yesterday announced that they have solved the problem of reversing into trailers autonomously. A few technical details must be known for autonomous trucks to correctly reverse into trailers, said Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI). A self-driving truck must know the position and height of the trailer’s “kingpin” it is reversing into, it explained. The kingpin is the mechanism under the trailer that connects to the truck’s fifth wheel and locks the trailer to the truck, ASI added. The truck…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 32.20
…from eating into profitability is the daily challenge of reverse logistics, an intensive, particularly labor-bound process that basically reverses the fulfillment process. In addition, there are more quirks and exceptions, like non-uniform packaging of items returned by consumers and the extra step of goods inspection before items can be returned to inventory for resale or other dispensation. This makes those “free and easy” returns for customers anything but that for e-commerce retailers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs). Free, no-hassle returns are a major driver of e-commerce growth, particularly in categories such as apparel, footwear, electronics, and luxury items. They're also…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 30.70
…mar-kets and can integrate across a variety of applications. “Reverse logistics and returns handling have become the center of attention for many e-commerce companies as recent studies have shown that 41% of people who purchase items online do so with the intention of returning at least part of their order,” said Carl Vause, CEO. The turnkey system is designed for order fulfillment and returns processing of items in poly-bags or self-sealing mailer bags. These malleable plastic bags have become the preferred packaging method in e-commerce due to the lower shipping costs versus cardboard boxes. Modex 2020 is scheduled to be…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 24.63
“Pain point.” That’s not a bad summary of reverse logistics these days. However, there doesn’t seem to be enough pain in reverse logistics to get many companies to fix their generally inadequate and manual processes. Instead, they continue to receive, review, reallocate, and repeat in the same awkward way. To begin, plenty of returns are out there. Industry estimates for conventional retail is 5% of purchases get returned. That number skyrockets to 25% to 30% for e-commerce. While the former might be manageable, the latter is clearly a deluge. And with a more than 40% increase in e-commerce sales since…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 21.43
…eloquently described one of the biggest challenges in the reverse logistics and robotics discussion: teaching robots how to identify objects, even when the same item is presented in different boxes and in various conditions. Humans can view a box - or more specifically a collection of boxes - and decide how to pick and sort them most efficiently. How will robots and cobots designed and trained to work alongside humans learn those skills? Calibrating AI perception is an ongoing challenge that robot developers and reverse logistics operators continue to tackle by evolving to handle the overflow of inventory flowing into…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 21.43
…flow of returns. Berkshire Grey Inc. today introduced its Reverse Logistics system to help retailers accelerate the resale of returned goods and improve labor utilization in the returns process. “Returns processing has a significant adverse impact on the real profitability of e-commerce,” said Steve Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Berkshire Grey. “As online shopping continues to grow, returns operations, while more critical than ever post-holiday season, are struggling to keep up.” “By applying robotic automation to optimize reverse-logistics processing, e-commerce retailers and 3PLs [third-party logistics providers] have an opportunity to change the equation for e-commerce returns and turn…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 18.33
…more than doubled their totals from 2019, it said. Reverse logistics includes product returns, refurbishment and repairs, recycling of packaged materials, and disposal of end-of-life products, explained the partners. It involves many areas across the organization, including returns management, sales, finance, warehousing, logistics, recycling management, and environmental compliance. It is also an important part of the customer experience, said Locus Robotics and Optoro. Optoro has integrated its returns platform with Locus’ autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to to handle order returns – whose numbers typically increase substantially during the holiday season. By determining the best path for each returned item, the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 18.06
…2023. These hefty dollar amounts showcase just how necessary reverse-logistics operations remain as part of an organization's customer service process. Bedford, MA-based Berkshire Grey develops robotic sortation systems for retail and e-commerce distributors. In its “2022 State of Retail & eCommerce Fulfillment Report” the company found 72% of executives believed they would lose customers if they didn’t offer free returns, and 80% who saw increased returns in 2020 needed to increase headcount to accommodate. The survey of chief supply chain officers also found 51% of executives believed implementing automation will increase employee satisfaction, and 43% believed it will lead to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 15.19
…to create long-term competitive advantage in e-commerce, retail, and logistics with our AI technology and robotic solutions.” Berkshire Grey said it combines patented hardware, software, and artificial intelligence to automate fulfillment, supply chain, and logistics operations. The company claimed that it can automate pick, pack, move, store, organize, and sort operations “to deliver competitive advantage for enterprises serving today’s connected consumers.” Its customers include Global 100 retailers and logistics service providers. Berkshire Grey has a strong 2021 Berkshire Grey said the new orders reflect growing demand for robots to transform warehouse operations and meet soaring consumer expectations for on-demand order…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 14.30
…Ambi Robotics’ entry into automated induction, middle-mile sortation, and reverse logistics as we build upon the success of the 80 flagship AmbiSort A-Series systems deployed across the US.” The AmbiSort B-Series is the company's second system. The company also offers the AmbiSort A-Series, which is a small sorting system. In October, the company raised $32 million in funding. In total, the company has raised $65 million, according to Crunchbase. AmbiSort B Series offers flexibility Ambi Robotics noted the AmbiSort B-Series is modular. Customers can configure the system to their precise sorting needs, seamlessly integrating automated induction, sorting, item manipulation, and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 13.49
…planned to increase investments in warehouse automation. On the reverse-logistics side, Berkshire Grey found that 71% of executives believe that offering free returns is necessary to staying competitive. As much as 18%, or $158 billion, of merchandise sold during the holiday season is returned, noted the National Retail Federation. Chris Geyer, vice president and fellow at Berkshire Grey, recently spoke with Robotics 24/7 about e-commerce trends and automation. He was previously a research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University and iRobot. “I'm an engineer by training and have been working on putting computer vision in things that fly, drive, or have…