Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.18
November 11, 2019
…bought up by the biggest e-commerce player of them all—Amazon. Today, dozens of vendors offer AMR solutions, and others offer piece-picking robotic arms. There are different AMR approaches, too. Some solutions follow a “goods-to-person” principle in which robots bring mobile shelf units filled with items to a workstations, while other AMRs meet up with human pickers in the aisles to guide them through a set of picks within a relatively dense section of the warehouse. In either case, the goal is to vastly reduce the amount of walking or “travel” that takes up much a warehouse associate’s day. Going forward,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.09
January 07, 2021
…leaders that are setting the pace, like Walmart and Amazon. They are setting the bar on service when they do things like moving from two-day to one-day shipping or Walmart doing same day delivery for groceries, he notes. “As a result, new last-mile fulfillment models are taking shape, such as ship from store and drone delivery.” Pointing out that the future of delivery revenue goes beyond just shipping and delivery cost, Amling says smart companies are “playing offense,” versus attempting to defend their territory. “This is the era of organizational velocity,” he adds, “which is the ability to observe, accept…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.08
December 28, 2020
…labor rates as part of what some call the Amazon effect, that makes the return on investment timeframe shorter for robotic lift trucks, down to two years or less for multi-shift operations,” says Paramore. “As a result of all these trends, we expect to see sales of robotic lift trucks increase going forward into the remainder of the year and into 2021 and beyond.” Companies considering robotic trucks do face a much higher price tag for a robotic unit versus a conventional equivalent, but in effect, it’s unrealistic to compare unit costs, explains Paramore, since robotic units are a system…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.05
July 09, 2018
…a pioneer in goods-to-person robotics that was acquired by Amazon). “We are a drop-in replacement for cart picking that is a full-system solution,” explains Jerome Dubois, co-founder of 6 River Systems. “We not only do the transport, we are the pick station, we are the put-to-light, we are the scanner, and the aisle manager functions. Everything is contained within our robot.” 6 River’s software can integrate with a warehouse management system to get order information, and with that data, it figures out the most efficient work assignments for each robot or “Chuck” as they are called. The software then sends…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.90
July 12, 2019
…insurance to consolidated delivery. In addition to delivering an Amazon-like customer experience to industrial customers, new found supply chain efficiencies, savings and additional revenue are delivering benefits to Cisco’s bottom line. Better yet, says Allen, those benefits recur year after year. In retrospect, the program was hardly a slam-dunk. First, top management had to buy into the concept, according to Darren Mallard, senior manager of marketing strategy, who joined the project part way through. “Management did its due diligence and set benchmarks that had to be met along the way. And we exceeded their expectations,” he says As a result…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.87
November 14, 2021
…This category also involves universal fleet managers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), which offers its RoboMaker product. The goal of orchestration, explained Klappich, is to more easily establish unified workflows using different robots. For instance, a larger AMR or an autonomous lift truck can bring pallets to replenish a pick area supported by another type of robot. There generally is less need for such a solution if a company is new to robotics, advised Klappich. “The need depends on the complexity of the environment,” he said. “If you are an operation just getting started with robotics and want to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.84
July 16, 2023
…day, thanks to the operational efficiencies uncovered in simulation. Amazon Robotics uses it to support its fulfillment centers (see video below). BMW Group taps into it to accelerate planning for its automotive assembly plants. Soft Robotics applies it to perfecting gripping for picking and placing foods for packaging. Automakers worldwide are supporting their operations with robotics. “Car companies employ nearly 14 million people. Digitalization will enhance the industry’s efficiency, productivity and speed,” said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang during his latest GTC keynote. How robotics simulation works, in brief An advanced robotics simulator begins by applying fundamental equations of physics. For…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.74
July 22, 2020
…of the United States in two days and is Amazon Prime and Walmart 2-Day certified. For instance, UPS’s East Coast fulfillment operation is near the Worldport shipping hub in Louisville, Ky. “We can synchronize order fulfillment with operations at Worldport using multiple pickup times, including late pickup times,” Clements says. At the same time, he adds, if you’re looking for a warehouse in every major metropolitan area, UPS is doing that now. If you’re looking for new technologies, like drone delivery, UPS is currently providing drone deliveries of some prescription medications to residences in partnership with CVS and to the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.69
February 19, 2021
…and cost. In the realm of ecommerce, pioneers like Amazon relentlessly favored speed. That worked fine for brick-and-mortar retailers when their ecommerce volumes were in the single digits as a percentage of sales. However, given that today’s order volumes are likely here to stay, profitability is a mandatory consideration from here on out. Last-Mile Delivery A simple, back of the envelope SWOT analysis will tell you that retailers with brick-and-mortar stores have an obvious advantage over their direct-to-consumer (D2C) counterparts: their physical store footprint. Several last-mile delivery innovations have spawned from this advantage, including buy online, pick-up in-store and buy…
