Insights Using Automation to Increase Each Picking Productivity

The reinforcements have finally arrived for eCommerce and omnichannel warehouse managers dealing with rising order volumes and shorter cycle times.

As the most labor-intensive task in the warehouse, demand for each picking has been growing steadily while the labor available to manage that demand continues to shrink. That’s led supply chain partners to focus on innovative solutions that address the labor challenges operators are facing and enable them to maintain service levels during peak periods seeing increasing fluctuations in demand.

Automation to the Rescue

Those reinforcements for each picking are coming in the form of assisted picking robots. These solutions partnered with the existing warehouse infrastructure provide a fast and minimally disruptive path to enhanced picking productivity.

For example, as Locus Robotics’ first and largest customer, DHL Supply Chain has deployed assisted picking robots that, working collaboratively as a team, enable warehouse associates to continually pick without leaving the zone they are working in. The assisted picking robot guides the picker to the exact location of the item to be picked and through a simple visual user interface, aids in the selection of the proper SKU, quantity and end location placement of the picked order. Once all picks are completed for a single location, the short-term relationship between the robot and the associate for that specific pick is terminated. The robot then moves on to its next pick, and the associate moves to the next robot that is ready to pick within their zone. When the robot has completed all of its picks, it autonomously travels back to the starting point to drop off current orders and to be filled with the next highest priority orders.

Supply Chain warehouses

In DHL Supply Chain warehouses where assisted picking robots have been deployed, picker productivity has increased by up to 140-170%, and the need for peak labor has been cut by more than half.

Multiple assisted picking robot solutions are available on the market today and selecting the right system for a particular application is essential to achieving desired results. While the process of technology selection can be very involved, it boils down to ensuring the selected solution matches the needs of the application in terms of the types of products being picked, the size of the facility and the need for future scalability. And, even more important to a fully successful deployment of these technologies is leveraging implementation experience and repeated practice in integrating that solution. At DHL, we learn, share and apply best practices from each deployment to the next. Attempting to implement robotics solutions alone without that prior knowledge – and playbook to guide your success – will not be as effective.

DHL takes a vendor-agnostic approach to technology selection in which the requirements of each application are evaluated, and the best technology is selected from the full range of solutions available on the market. For assisted picking robot applications, DHL has consistently selected the autonomous mobile robot solution from Locus Robotics.

Locus has successfully integrated agile, reliable robots with intelligent and configurable software to support effective robot-assisted picking across a broad range of product types and warehouse sizes. Autonomous mobile robots are designed to work safely around human pickers and offer a high degree of configurability and scalability that enables optimization based on multiple application variables. The solution is easy for associates to learn and ensures accuracy both in the products picked and where they are placed on the robot to support efficient unloading based on order type.

Deploying Assisted Picking Robots

DHL has deployed more LocusBotsTM than any organization in the world, recently exceeding more than 100 million units picked across our North America warehouses, and even more units picked throughout our global network. Based on our experience, here are three key aspects to keep in mind if you are adding assisted picking robots or similar solutions to your supply chain operations:

1. Build the right team
   Assisted picking robot solutions often don’t require major changes to your warehouse, but keep in mind that they’re not simply a “plug-and-play” option. Your warehouse configuration, software systems, order prioritization rules, and physical inventory characteristics all need to be considered when planning for the deployment of assisted picking robots. The best practice is to bring together a cross-functional team that can work together throughout the process. At DHL, our digitalization deployment teams include specialists from operations, engineering and IT to ensure the right expertise is available at every stage of a project – and throughout the life cycle of the product.
2. Know what you don’t know
   It’s extremely satisfying to watch multiple robots zipping across the warehouse supporting pickers. But it’s important to remember that their orchestrated movement is as much a function of software algorithms as robotic engineering. Your technology vendor can’t possibly understand your operations as well as you do, and that operational knowledge is vital to the configuration process. By the same token, you can’t possibly understand the capabilities of a particular technology solution as well as the engineers and developers that built it. Assisted picking robots have a wealth of powerful capabilities that can be unlocked through proper configuration. Having a partner like DHL to help translate the conversation between operational needs, WMS solution and robotics partner may be the key to ensuring you are realizing the full value of your technology solution. Even after more than a dozen implementations of the assisted picking robots, DHL works closely with Locus Robotics on each new deployment.
3. Be prepared to discard established processes
   Solutions like assisted picking robots work best when an outside-the-box mindset around conventional operating procedures is adopted. These solutions break down barriers, like slotting to reduce walk distance, that were once at the core of warehouse design. With assisted picking robots, it’s the configuration of the robots rather than how inventory is slotted that determines efficiency. Attempting to maintain pre-robotics slotting strategies serves only to complicate putaway with no benefit to picking.

Leveraging Automation Experience

With the right experience, assisted picking robots can be deployed with minimal disruption to operations and deliver a fast return on investment. By reducing the time and energy that pickers spend walking the warehouse floor, this solution can boost associate productivity, reduce employee turnover and minimize the need to scale up labor with increased peak demand. As the leading user of Locus Robotics solutions, DHL Supply Chain has proven processes and deep experience that streamlines implementation of these solutions and allows their full capabilities to be unlocked. As Locus and other robotics companies are expanding their offerings to carton- and pallet- handling robots, DHL is well positioned to lead the way in expanding the use of autonomous mobile robots throughout the end-to-end supply chain. 

Learn how DHL Supply Chain can transform your operation with automation.