Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.66
…autonomous vehicles. The company has also filed suit against AutoStore Technology AS over ASRS patents. More CFCs to come Kroger plans to open another CFC in Groveland, Fla., west of Orlando. The company also plans to open CFCs in Dallas; Phoenix; Forest Park, Ga.; Frederick, Md.; Pleasant Prairie, Wis.; and Romulus, Mich., as well as in the West and Pacific Northwest. “We're excited to be building a distribution network that creates a more equitable food system by providing greater accessibility to fresh food through the power of innovation,” said Gabriel Arreaga, Kroger's senior vice president and chief supply chain officer…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.35
…(APIs). RightHand cited integration partners including Element Logic, an AutoStore partner and a leading European intralogistics company, and Okamura, which provides products and services for offices, education, commercial facilities, and distribution centers. Last year, the company opened its RightPick Center Europe in Nurenburg, Germany, and integrated its RightPick 3 system with SVT Robotics Inc.'s SOFTBOT platform. With its collaborators, RightHand serves customers such as PALTAC Corp., Japan’s largest wholesaler of consumer packaged goods, and apo.com Group, a European online pharmacy. RightPick 3 is available for about $150,000, including hardware and recurring software fees, according to Forbes. RightHand investors follow growing…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.93
…been big investments in this space, including Berkshire Grey, AutoStore, Locus Robotics, and Nimble Robotics, and we've been busy with existing projects.” RightPick 3 includes cognitive improvements “We first launched RightPick in 2017 at ProMat,” recalled Martinelli. “As we've worked with integrators on projects, we've learned that they want robotic item-handling systems that are relatively easy to plug and play with different aspects of automation, such as ASRS [automated storage and retrieval systems].” RightPick 3 can pick faster and handle a broader range of items than its predecessors, said RHR. The system has a modular hardware design, well-defined application programming…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.84
…productivity expectations, said Andrew Benzinger, business development manager at AutoStore, a robotic order fulfillment provider. Other strategic drivers like DC network plans and the need for more space can also influence your robotics approach, as can a major shift to more direct-to-consumer e-commerce fulfillment, he said. A combination of factors may be drivers for automation. Once a company identifies what it wants to accomplish, it’s a matter of assessing data such as the order profile, throughput requirements, and available inventory on hand to properly configure a robotics solution. “When we work with a new customer, we first understand why they’re…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.67
…River Systems in the AMR space. This also includes AutoStore and Symbotic in the goods-to-person picking space and perhaps RightHand Robotics and Covariant in the piece-picking space, which has been slow to get traction. Exotec appeared to be moving ahead with deals with companies like Gap Inc. We’re also beginning to see robots targeting tasks beyond robot-to-goods picking, such as trailer unloading and parcel induction. Those are great. But there are also signs that 2023 may be the long-awaited shakeout in the robotics industry, like the long-awaited recession in the economy. The most visible and public example is SoftBank’s announcement…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.66
…in warehouse applications developed by systems integrators such as AutoStore, OPEX, Bastian, Swisslog, TGW, and Kuecker Pulse Integration (KPI). “We haven’t done any marketing and surprisingly we don’t have any dedicated sales reps, yet we’ve deployed a large number of robots,” said Kalouche. “I think this is a testament to the high demand for what we’re building and to our product and how well it works. We let the robots speak for, and sell, themselves. To date, we have 100% customer retention and 100% repeat customers.” “With logistics and fulfillment experience at Amazon, iHerb and other retail companies, I've worked…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.48
…labor shortages. Two of the new automation tools include AutoStore robotic goods-to-person systems and pouch sorters. The systems are used for store replenishment and e-commerce fulfillment, depending on the size of the order. “Both technologies allow us to pick directly into a bin or pouch that goes directly to a packer so we can move quickly,” said Mullahy. Did the pandemic change Macy's strategy? On the contrary, Mullahy replied, the company's plans were already in place by the spring of 2020. “We looked at COVID as a reason to accelerate strategies that we were already considering,” he said, crediting them…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.35
…of big retailers that are looking at G2P and AutoStore because trying to find land for new facilities is a long process. One electronics provider in the Columbus, Ohio, area wiped out 60% to 70% of a building for an automated storage and retrieval [ASRS] system, with a ton of success. Another client in Upstate New York, a sporting goods retailer, is looking at Brightpick. ROI and workforce concerns How can companies be sure of their return on investment (ROI) over time? Stretar: From a pure labor perspective, if we understand the manual processes, automation can save costs. It goes…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.16
…We work with all the major manufacturers, including Attabotics, AutoStore, and SSI Schaefer. How much do you need to educate the market about reducing risk? Sanborne: There is risk for companies involved with new technologies. Our direct model is less scary. We work with a lot of robot manufacturers, distributors, and systems integrators. A lot of them are really successful at selling our offerings. Banks don't understand how to write these leases. For example, the chief financial officer of a Fortune 500 company got nine months into a deployment and wanted to give it to a bank, but the bank…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.06
…a Norwegian firm that is the largest integrator of AutoStore. SDI will serve as Element Logic’s base to enter the North and South American markets. Examples of partnerships to gain access to new markets included Murata Machinery and AGVE Group, Muratec and Cimcorp, and Addverb Technologies and Numina Group. And, while not really a consolidation, I remain impressed by the amount of private equity funds that continue to be invested in our space. Robotics reaches a tipping point Back in 2015, I invited Tom Galluzzo, the co-founder of IAM Robotics, to write an article for Supply Chain Management Review [Editor's…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.67
…in the Netherlands. With a fleet of RightPick-enabled picking robots and an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) from AutoStore, Apologistics handles more than 25,000 parcels per day with 20 or fewer employees, according to founder Michael H. Fritsch.
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.58
…automation attractive. In Thailand, Swisslog has deployed a small—500-bin— AutoStore system for TRUE, a mobile network provider, inside of a branding shop in Bangkok. The shop is in a high-end shopping mall, and the system stores and picks goods for customers buying mobile phones or accessories. Swisslog has deployed AutoStore solutions that are smaller than those found in larger DCs. However, they still might hold 12,000 SKUs, or as many as 30,000 SKUs, with some MFCs filling 3,000 customer orders a week. Others are capable of more filling more than 30,000 customer orders per week. Whether general retailers will jump…