Tag: AMR|materials handling|warehouse automation

Retail peaks such as Black Friday can seriously challenge intralogistics operations. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) offer a cost-effective solution that will help remove much of the risk, smooth the spikes and ensure continuity of service to customers, writes Frazer Watson, VP-Sales UK/Ireland at mobile robot designer and manufacturer iFollow.

Not so long ago peak in retail meant Christmas. Now there is a whole season of peaks through autumn, starting with Black Friday and followed by Christmas and then Boxing Day. This year, unusually, the World Cup has been thrown into the mix, which shows how peaks can crop up at any time. After Christmas comes the inevitable peak for returns, which now run at unprecedented levels across retail. In fact, depending on the sector, peaks will keep popping up throughout the year – Valentine’s Day, Easter, summer goods and Halloween being just a few examples. Fashion retail has moved from two main seasons of Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter in a year to over 50 micro-seasons catering for new trends and rapid customer purchases.

Peak events are not limited to promotions where the retailer is in charge of how much and of what is being offered, such as with Black Friday. There are likely to be instances of unpredictability, where they have no control over demand. For example, each Christmas sees a ‘must have’ toy or game emerge, sometimes apparently from nowhere.  Book publishers can launch what they assume will be a ‘best seller’, but they have little influence on the content or timing of reviews that may promote sales. These days, all it takes is word to spread on social media to spark lines to fly off shelves. With so many peaks, many being off-piste, it starts to look like a mountain range for retailers to conquer.

Cost of living crisis affects peaks

And that’s not all. The cost of living crisis is expected to have an overall dampening effect across this year’s peak season, though Black Friday may be an exception as shoppers spread the cost of Christmas by taking advantage of reduced prices. Consultancy PwC estimates the overall spend on Black Friday bargains to be £7.5bn this year – some £0.5bn higher than last year. Nevertheless expectations of consumers cutting back in the coming months in some form abound, certainly in non-grocery. This puts additional pressure on retailers during the most important part of the year and at a time when they are facing higher energy and labour bills, as well as rising commodity costs.

With profit margins under intense pressure and given the crucial role warehouse operations play in ensuring that customers are not let down, retailers are looking for flexible and cost effective intralogistics solutions that can help to improve their bottom line and achieve their priorities­ – including continuity of customer service levels. Resources such as warehouse shelf space and labour are tight. To cope with peaks, it may be necessary to change modes of operation, which might mean different pick routines in the warehouse, for example.

To support this need for flexible intralogistics processes it makes sense to also have in place easily adaptable, robust and reliable equipment that not only performs everyday functions, but can also be scaled up whenever necessary to meet peak demand. Few items of intralogistics equipment tick these boxes as successfully as AMRs, which is one of the reasons why robotics has become an integral part of warehouse operations. According to the International Federation of Robotics report, half a million industrial robots were installed in 2021 globally. This represents a growth rate of 31% year-on-year and exceeds the pre-pandemic record of robot installation in 2018 by 22% – we can call that a new peak.

Easily scaleable

A significant advantage of using mobile robots in retail warehouses, unlike systems that are fixed to the ground, such as conveyors and automated storage and retrieval systems, is the ability to add and remove robots to meet demand. Given they do not require the support of infrastructure, their tasks can be easily modified to suit changes in requirements.

They offer simple automation that can enhance productivity. For example, assigning one zone per operator and organising the robot’s shifts according to the products it has to pick will maximise the number of picks per hour achieved by a picker and will minimise their movements. This allows the operator to gain up to 90% in productivity compared to manual preparation.

Duo picking is an excellent way of working efficiently with one or more mobile robots. Each operator is equipped with a voice terminal, a Radio Frequency (RF) terminal or an order picking tablet to read the list of items to be picked. This picking method allows the operator to gain up to 50% in productivity compared to manual picking.

Fleet management software

Fleet management software that can manage up to 200 robots, and works with all ERP and WMS systems, will efficiently allow locations and tasks to be modified with just a few clicks.

Christmas being the busiest time for grocery retail is a trend that is unlikely to ever change, despite current economic conditions. The ability to handle two roll cages up to 1500kg on one robot, which is a stand-out feature on iFollow’s AMRs, will be a massive help to warehouse operators looking to keep the supermarkets shelves full of everything required for Christmas. iFollow AMRs can also operate in cold rooms down to -25°C and ensure the absence of condensation, even when moving from a very cold environment to a temperate space, which demonstrates their flexibility and reliability.

In a volatile retail economy, predicting and managing future events is always going to be difficult. Mobile robots offer a great intralogistics solution to support agile retailers that cannot afford to disappoint at peak. But remember: robots aren’t just for Christmas – they should be at the core of everyday intralogistics operations, continually providing flexibility and improving productivity.

At IMHX, TUGBOT is launching TUGBOT 2, which it describes as “the perfect solution for your intralogistics processes”.

No matter which type of cart, trolley, dolly or wheeled vehicle your company uses to move materials from point A to point B, the versatile TUGBOT autonomous mobile robot can pull anything on four or more wheels. Relying on an industrial-grade range of flexible and plug-and-play mechanical grippers TUGBOT solved the last obstacle to enable automation at global scale of intralogistics processes that use manually pulled wheeled vehicles.

No need for metal adapters, no need to purchase new carts or make any physical modification in your cart or facilities.

At IMHX, TUGBOT 2 – the world’s only AMR that can pull any cart – will be launched. TUGBOT 2 is a safe and flexible AMR that solves a world problem in automating intralogistics processes as it is able to latch to nearly all types and shapes of carts with up to 600kg using its flexible range of mechanical grippers.

TUGBOT is a Portuguese company focused in the design and manufacture of AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) to automate intralogistics and material handling processes that use carts, trolleys or dollies.  Visit the company at Stand 5G05 to meet TUGBOT 2.

Continental will present for the first time in public its Autonomous Mobile Robots for the external market at the LogiMAT 2022, the international intralogistics tradeshow, from May 31 to June 2 in Stuttgart, Germany (hall 2, booth number EF15).

After an internal test phase in Continental production locations worldwide, the AMRs are now ready for the external market entry with improved and new features as well as the handling of new use cases. Building on the company’s years of extensive research in the robotics field, Continental is including these solutions now into its product portfolio in the newly established area of Continental Mobile Robots.

“We are pleased to confirm that from now on volume production of the AMRs has started in Continental’s Rheinböllen plant in Germany with the first external customer projects slated to be delivered,” says Pierre Pomper, Head of Autonomous Mobile Robots at Continental. “Continental complements its in-house capabilities with a partner ecosystem of technology leaders Kinexon and ROEQ to provide customers a leading edge AMR solution out of one hand.”

Since 2020, Continental’s AMRs have been successfully deployed at several own production locations worldwide. The company built its Autonomous Mobile Robots in-house to meet the demands and challenges of the future factory, since such a solution was not readily available in the market. The experience gained has now been incorporated into the AMR version for the external market.

Due to the load density, the electric vehicles are as small and compact as possible, but can carry very heavy weights. With measurements of only 1,455mm, 630mm and 225mm (l/w/h), the AMRs can carry significant loads up to 1.2 tonnes at a speed of up to 2m/s. Thus, they are versatile, while also being maximally manoeuvrable. Increased torque, shorter turning radius, optimised sensor coverage, improvements to its lifting mechanism design and accessibility of controls as well as the easy equipment for the transport of carts, pallets and top rollers are additional features.

Customers can benefit from a partnership between Continental and Kinexon. The fleet management software of Kinexon which is offered optionally turns an AMR fleet into an intelligent and perfectly coordinated swarm. The creation of orders and routes as well as the management of the AMRs will become much easier and more standardised (e.g., using the VDA5050 protocol).

“We developed a reliable and scalable fleet management software in collaboration with Continental, which increases the flexibility and performance of our customers AMR fleets. Additionally, we offer an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) system for connecting relevant things of the material flow such as AMRs. Our holistic fleet management software combines this information in real time to optimise supply chains, material flow and industrial automation even more,” says Dr. Alexander Hüttenbrink, Managing Director at Kinexon.

Continental is able to offer its AMRs with different top modules. Customers can choose between cart/rack and lifting unit use cases. Due to the close collaboration with ROEQ, a leading expert for robotic equipment, Continental can now also offer top roller modules, for transferring loads between AMRs and conveyors. The number of options offered is what makes Continental’s offering so unique. At LogiMAT, an AMR with top roller module from ROEQ will be shown as a world premiere.

“We are excited to team up with a strong partner like Continental,” says Michael E. Hansen, Managing Director at ROEQ. “We are on a path of significant growth and I am convinced that our collaboration will provide customers with a wider choice of better and more robust solutions to meet their logistic challenges.”

The AMRs are an attractive shopfloor logistics solution for several industries including logistics and warehousing, automotive, food and beverage as well as electrical and electronics. They work hand-in-hand with humans, reduce manual activities such as driving forklift trucks, speed up transport and provide an accurate overview of shopfloor inventory and its storage location. Continental offers everything from a single source, which is not quite common in the market and a big benefit for the customers: From consulting, sales, integration, service and support to maintenance contracts and a 24-hour support – everything out of one hand.