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Tag: Airrob

Compact Robotic Solution Optimises 3PL

Posted on by David Priestman

A compact and agile AirRob automated storage system by Libiao Robotics has been installed in the Shanghai warehouse of a specialist lean supply chain management service company.

Founded in 2001, Shanghai Shine-Link International Logistics (SLC) services the specific storage and distribution needs of precision-driven, high-end industrials, from medical devices to advanced electronics, and chemical reagents to mechanical parts. It offers a wide range of services, including supply chain management, international transportation, and various value-added activities.

With a client list comprising international brands such as Coty, Siemens, Pioneer, and Leica, SLC’s services are highly sought-after by companies whose exacting supply chain and fulfilment standards are considered above the normal needs of the average industrial customer. It has recently added a major medical devices, disinfection and hygiene products manufacturer to its list of prestigious customers.

“Smart Logistics” Model

SLC’s stated focus is on providing lean supply chain management services to international multinational companies based on accurate, timely and personalised IoT and digital services. It has developed a “smart logistics” business model with IT at its core, the goals of which include visual management of logistics processes, intelligent traceability management of products, intelligent warehousing and distribution management, and smart supply chain coordination management.

A significant element of this smart philosophy lies within the four walls of its warehouse facilities, where it embraces cutting-edge systems and practices to attract and retain customers requiring a 3PL that can go above and beyond the average SLAs for the sector. Therefore, to best service the medical device company’s particular storage and global distribution requirements, SLC converted a small area of its Shanghai distribution warehouse to a high-density, highly efficient Libiao AirRob storage system.

The system Libiao designed for SLC comprises an arrangement of standard warehouse racking serviced by just three hard-working AirRob robots which travel vertically and horizontally on the racking to store and retrieve goods quickly and efficiently. These are serviced by a small fleet of nine ‘floorbots’, which transport the goods to one of seven workstations, where the items are then readied for dispatch.

Reduced Energy Consumption

The multi-award-winning AirRob system offers significant advantages over traditional automated warehouse systems. Its modular design enables rapid installation on existing standard racking within one-to-four weeks without the need to alter existing infrastructure or flooring, making it ideal for retrofits or brownfield developments. AirRob operates in aisle widths as narrow as 0.85 meters, enhancing storage density by up to 30%. Each bot consumes just 150 watts per hour – lower than a microwave – reducing energy usage by one-third compared to similar systems. Its scalability allows for quick and easy expansion to meet growing demands. Additionally, AirRob’s efficient operation can triple throughput efficiency, offering a typical return on investment (ROI) within 12–24 months.

Ding Ling, General Manager of IT BU at SLC, commented on the project: “After going out to the market to compare the different systems and solutions that were available, we decided to select AirRob primarily for three main reasons. Firstly, the fact that Libiao Robotics is the inventor of this type of solution; secondly, the solution represents a good ROI for us; and thirdly, we were attracted by the potential energy savings we can make with AirRob.”

“We’re particularly proud to have been chosen as a supplier to such a prestigious and demanding customer,” said Ronan Shen, Libiao Robotics’ VP of Global Sales. “Not only have we provided a system that meets the precise needs of SLC, but we have managed to successfully achieve this in a particularly space-constrained area of a busy warehouse, without disruption to its ongoing operations. Furthermore, the project represents the first AirRob installation in the medical supplies sector, an industry that lends itself well to the characteristics of AirRob, such as high efficiency and accuracy, a high density of storage, low energy usage, and the careful handling of delicate or valuable items.”

This smaller-than-usual AirRob installation at SLC’s Shanghai facility perfectly illustrates that companies can automate some repetitive tasks or part of their operations at a relatively low cost point, yet still make significant gains in efficiency and accuracy.

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AirRob Installation at Skechers is Application of the Year

Posted on by David Priestman

Libiao Robotics, a supplier of warehouse robotics automation solutions, has been awarded a 2025 RBR50 Innovation Award, given annually by the Robot Business Review to recognise innovation in the mobile robotics industry. Libiao won the accolade for the implementation of its flagship AirRob automated warehouse storage and retrieval system at the Chinese NDC of its customer Skechers.

AirRob by Libiao Robotics is a groundbreaking warehouse automation system that offers high goods transit speeds and industry-leading storage density. The AirRob system is aimed at businesses with intensive logistics operations such as e-commerce, footwear & apparel, cosmetics & pharmaceuticals, as well as manufacturers requiring intensive storage of production parts.

Skechers, the global footwear brand, deploys AirRob at its Taicang Distribution Centre, which supplies replenishment stock to 400 retail outlets as well as servicing eCommerce consumers across China. The implementation of Libiao’s AirRob system has yielded significant benefits for its customer. By automating the entire area, manual handling and temporary storage space have been drastically reduced, resulting in a 50% saving in storage space and a greatly improved throughput rate. This has led not only to a reduction in labour costs and an improvement in the work environment but has also considerably enhanced overall operational efficiency.

“Original and Best”

“We are deeply honoured to receive this prestigious RBR50 award for AirRob alongside our long-standing customer Skechers,” said Xia Huiling, CEO of Libiao Robotics. “Whilst we have seen various versions of AirRob being hurried to the market by our competitors recently, this award is recognition that AirRob is the original and the best. It has come at exactly the right time for us, as we rollout the technology globally to customers seeking a tried-and-tested automated warehouse storage system to optimise their warehouse operations.”

“Libiao Robotics’ deployment with Skechers is a strong endorsement of its technology, showcasing how its automation solutions meet the demands of a major global brand,” said Steve Crowe, executive editor, robotics, of WTWH Media. “We look forward to celebrating Libiao and all RBR50 winners at the RBR50 Gala during the Robotics Summit & Expo!”

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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Posted on by David Priestman

The expression ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’, often attributed to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, is applicable to the industrial landscape today as designers from Libiao Robotics, a pioneer in the invention of its award-winning AirRob automated warehouse storage system, walked through the exhibition halls at the recent CeMAT Asia event in Shanghai. For there on display were numerous imitations of AirRob, some being promoted by blue chip intralogistics manufacturers, and others by less well-known producers.

Speaking after collecting the 2024 Wu Qing Yi Logistics Innovation Award for Libiao’s AirRob system at the 12th Global Intelligent Logistics Industry Development Conference, Ms. Xia Huiling, CEO of Zhejiang Libiao Robotics Co., Ltd., addressed this proliferation of AirRob-like systems recently introduced by industry competitors, saying: “We have seen many excellent companies launch similar products based on the design concept of the AirRob system. It is my view that imitation promotes technological innovation, but plagiarism hinders innovation. I would like to talk about my views from three aspects:

“First of all, from a product perspective, I think this phenomenon shows that the concept and value of the AirRob solution have been recognised by the industry, which shows that we are heading in the right direction to change the world. Thank you for your affirmation of Libiao! Secondly, from an individual perspective, AirRob is a product that the Libiao innovation team has spent a lot of time and effort to bring to the market. Imitation behaviour does bring some emotional experiences to the Libiao innovation team at certain moments, but our focus and goal is always on how to provide customers with better solutions, how to protect customers’ time and safety through technological innovation. It is our quest to enable the logistics industry become more efficient and smarter. Finally, Libiao hopes that everyone will pay attention to our passion for innovation and belief in innovation through our systems. If AirRob can inspire the innovative spirit of more imitators and ignite the fire of innovation, Libiao is willing to be one of the few sparks.”

Innovation Advantage Through Strong Competition

When asked how Libiao manages to maintain its innovation advantage in face of fierce competition from within the industry, Ms. Xia cited four distinct points: “First, we understand that imitation is an inevitable phenomenon in the development of the industry. Just like when our ‘mini yellows’ (Libiao’s highly acclaimed AMRs) first appeared, they also encountered many imitators and the pressure was really great at that time. But at the same time, we are also very grateful to those strong competitors. As the saying goes: ‘To succeed, you need friends, and to achieve great success, you need strong competitors.’ It is these competitors that have driven our growth.

“Second, each of Libiao’s product designs is based on a deep understanding of the industry, aiming to solve pain points, provide value to customers, and solve problems fundamentally. Therefore, Libiao attaches great importance to intellectual property protection and has deployed a comprehensive patent strategy around the world, especially in developed countries, where strict legal systems can be used to safeguard its rights and interests. It is precisely because of its insistence on originality that Libiao is respected in the industry, and many industry leaders are willing to discuss the future with us, to share technology and dynamics, which allows us to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’.

Xia Huiling

“Third, I think innovation can be divided into original creation and re-creation. Original creation requires special genes and the spirit of ‘making the world better’. Libiao has always insisted on original creation since its establishment; my definition of re-creation is to repeat innovation on the basis of original creation. Imitators belong to re-creation, and the goals of re-creators are relatively consistent, namely economic benefits. However, the values of original creation and re-creation are different, and their contributions to the world are also different. Libiao’s ultimate goal is to ‘make the world more efficient’.

“Finally, despite the tremendous changes in the logistics industry, there are still many pain points and on-site problems that need to be solved. Libiao hopes to lead the industry into a new era of healthy competition and collaboration through its own persistence and practice. Therefore, we call on more companies to join the ranks of innovators with the goal of ‘making the world more efficient’, focus on solving the core pain points of the logistics industry, and promote the industry to develop in a more efficient, smarter and more sustainable direction.”

Future Developments

As competitors circle the market aggressively with their AirRob-like products hoping to capture business from high-volume retailers and eCommerce operations, Ms. Xia is focused on Libiao’s future development strategy. “I feel that competition in the logistics industry is not fierce,” she acknowledges. “The reason why everyone feels that competition is fierce is more because of homogeneous competition, that is, price wars, which is also what everyone calls ‘volume’.

“Libiao has always insisted on differentiated competition. By solving new problems and creating new scenarios, we let users realise that modern technology can support their imagination and break the shackles of traditional thinking. Users can reorganise and optimise processes like building blocks. We are also very happy to cooperate with all parties to give full play to their respective advantages and provide more innovative possibilities and imagination space for the logistics industry. Just as the Internet once reshaped the physical industry, the logistics industry is now standing at the forefront of such a transformation.”

In a highly competitive industry sector, where technology is developing at a considerable rate, Libiao has recorded tremendous growth by bringing innovative – some have described them as pioneering – products into the marketplace that are designed to solve real challenges customers have in real situations. AirRob, which was nominated for a prestigious IFOY Award in 2023, is a prime example of that, and it is therefore no surprise that it has spurned AirRob-like imitations from companies who looked on jealously at the technology and realised they needed to catch up. Ms. Xia believes that by continuing to innovate, further growth will come.

“We hope that all our peers can realise that competition is the driving force of industry progress, but true success comes from contribution to society,” she said. “The future of the logistics industry is full of opportunities and challenges. As I said before, we are being imitated by others actually because we are doing the right thing. We are on the right path, and there is no hesitation. Engineering culture is the DNA of Libiao. We will continue to focus on flexible automation technology innovation and create value for customers. Libiao believes that true success comes from a deep insight into customer needs and unremitting efforts. We are willing to work with users and partners to protect customers’ time and value and make the world more efficient,” concluded Ms. Xia.

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Libiao Robotics Partner Introduces AirRob to Taiwan

Posted on by David Priestman

With labour shortages affecting global markets, logistics businesses in particular are seeking ways to automate repetitive tasks and help manage operational costs. Increasingly they are turning to robotic solutions such as the innovative AirRob system from Libiao Robotics. In Taiwan, where the labour shortage is particularly acutely felt, Toyota Material Handling Taiwan, the importer of intralogistics systems and forklifts manufactured by the Japanese automotive giant, chose the recent Taipei International Logistics Show to introduce AirRob’s capabilities to the Taiwanese audience.

With 166 employees working out of eight service locations in Taiwan plus two further locations in Mainland China, Toyota Material Handling Taiwan reshaped its business in 2003 in response to the developing changes in industry trends. The opportunity arose to transform Toyota Material Handling Taiwan from a pure forklift business to one that provides customers with holistic automated solutions for logistics warehousing and storage.

“In the past, the customer’s main premise to introduce automation has been return on investment,” said Huang Mingren, General Manager of Toyota Material Handling Taiwan. “But now the lack of labour has become the primary problem. AI is becoming more and more mature, and in addition to being intelligent and shareable, equipment now being introduced should also be highly flexible. In Japan and Taiwan, in terms of logistics automation, traditional equipment such as automatic warehouses, conveyors, sorters, elevators, electronic labelling and picking systems are still widely used. But we have now entered an era where intelligent warehouse automation equipment is transforming the industry, accelerated by eCommerce-type logistics.”

This year, Toyota Material Handling Taiwan introduced Libiao’s AirRob system into its range of intelligent warehouse solutions. Meeting the demands of high-density and high-traffic warehouse operations such as those experienced in eCommerce operations, “AirRob has the characteristics of high return rate, high flexibility and high efficiency,” continues Huang Mingren. “According to the projects we have executed, the staff can not only increase the speed of operation by more than 50%, but also significantly shorten the training period. In terms of the operation platform and equipment, the number of robots can be flexibly increased or decreased according to the demand, and if the scale is expanded or the site needs to be moved, it can be easily moved or reconfigured.

“It is an intelligent robot with a very high degree of flexibility and freedom; it can be very small or very large, and it can have great expandability to meet the needs of different customers under different operating modes. Our mission is to create solutions together with our customers and partners. It is my dream that our company can be the benchmark in Taiwan in the field of intelligent storage, and at the same time have the opportunity to bring us and our partners to the world market. We are an integrated platform, with reputation, knowledge, technology and capital. With the launch of our intelligent storage solutions, I believe that we will have the strength to lead us to be bigger and stronger.”

Taipai International Logistics Show

Taking place at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre, the Taipei International Logistics Show saw Toyota Material Handling Taiwan formally introduced the comprehensive Libiao AirRob 3D sorting system to demonstrate the warehouse automation services and solutions it can provide to its customers in Taiwan. Libiao’s CEO, Xia Huiling, was invited to share the company’s innovative solutions in the food and footwear industries, and to describe how Libiao can provide cutting-edge technology to help alleviate the current labour shortage problem in Taiwan’s logistics sector. With a large demand for personnel, difficulty in recruiting workers, and a high turnover rate, businesses in Taiwan often need to recruit a large proportion of temporary workers, particularly when facing seasonal business growth. The emergence of AirRob provides an effective solution to help solve these challenges, she said.

During her speech at the Smart Logistics Forum held during the exhibition, Xia Huiling discussed Libiao’s efficient sorting solutions for food, clothing, housing and transportation. After highlighting several of AirRob’s significant benefits and advantages – such as the need for no infrastructural modifications to the existing shelving, no special requirements for ground flatness, its fast deployment, its highly efficient goods-to-person operation, and its ability to easily conform to Taiwan’s stringent environmental regulations – Xia Huiling discussed in detail an application of the AirRob system at the Skechers footwear and apparel distribution centre in Taicang, Mainland China, a project which not only won the 13th LT Award China Logistics Technology Innovation Application Award, but has also been shortlisted as a finalist in Europe in two categories of the prestigious Robotics & Automation Awards 2024.

Xia Huiling furthermore analysed the current status and trends of international cold chain logistics in 2024, pointing out that the industry is developing rapidly, especially in Europe and Asia-Pacific, with great potential. The market segments of fresh food and pharmaceutical logistics are expanding, but they face challenges such as temperature control management, cost control and difficulty in recruiting workers. She also explained how Libiao’s intelligent sorting solutions can cope with these challenges through successful cases of the company’s applications in fresh food projects such as Dingdong Maicai, Hema Fresh, Meituan Youxuan, and South Korea’s HY.

The addition of Taiwan to its already extensive operations in Asia-Pacific means Libiao Robotics is strongly placed to service the growing needs of customers in the region. Furthermore, Libiao is expanding to serve its growing customer base in the European market, having recently established a regional headquarters in Frankfurt.

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Airrob – Future Warehousing System

Posted on by David Priestman

A new, ultra energy-efficient, robot-based tote handling solution from LiBiao Robotics is launched today – Airrob. Delivering high storage density, rapid and accurate picking and future-proof scalability, this exceptionally cost-effective, ground-breaking automated picking solution brings a host of exciting benefits.

Watch the video of Airrob here.

The Airrob tote handling system delivers high-storage density and a high flow rate by introducing automation to racking structures. It achieves efficient and intensive picking, storing and delivery of items. The system consists of Airrob, ground robots, racks, totes and work stations. Free from limitations of rack types, the system can be deployed in under a month and expanded.

One Airrob can pair with multiple ground robots. Twin-directional picking in aisle width as narrow as 850mm is possible, with just 10mm space between totes. One single Airrob can pick and store 150 totes per hour.

LiBiao is a global pioneer of intelligent sorting robots, and one of the world’s leading suppliers of flexible intelligent sorting solutions, creating the world’s first portable, modular and automated unit sorting system. The company integrates logistics automation, research and development, production and sales of intelligent equipment.

Since its establishment, LiBiao has always specialized in the development and innovation of logistics automation technology, emphasizing original intelligent technology, independent system bottom layer and application development. All of its products are independently researched and developed, and the company has accumulated over 100 exclusive invention patents. With the sorting robot series as the core, and the automatic control system, automatic scanning and weighing system, intelligent charging system as supporting components, LiBiao has gradually built up a rich product ecosystem for intelligent logistics applications.

Now, LiBiao’s intelligent sorting system has been widely applied across various industries and scenarios, including express delivery, supermarkets, retail, shoes & garments, medicine, catering, cold storage, book publications, manufacturing, etc. In addition, over 35,000 sorting robots are running in many countries and regions such as the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Europe. Its services cover markets worldwide, including companies such as: Walmart, Orbis, Mitsui & Co., MonarchFx, Nordstrom, Target, K-mart, USPS, China Post, Deppon Express, JD.com, ZTO Express, STO Express, SLC, etc.

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