WILMINGTON, Massachusetts – Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) from Locus Robotics have picked 200 million units in e-commerce fulfillment warehouses. The milestone comes during the pre-peak season period leading into the critical Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales period.
“We are thrilled to have reached the 200 million units picked milestone,” said Rick Faulk, CEO, Locus Robotics.
“As more and more shoppers move online, and as we quickly approach what is expected to be the biggest – and most challenging – holiday retail season yet, retailers are turning to AMRs to innovate to meet growing demand and avoid risking losing valuable customers.”
The 200,000,000th pick took place at a Boots U.K. warehouse facility. Boots UK is a leading health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the UK, part of the Retail Pharmacy International Division of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
Flexibility
“The flexibility of the Locus system to scale as the demand grows has been key to our success,” said Ken Hall, supply chain development manager, Boots UK.
“The autonomous nature of the LocusBots has also been instrumental in worker health and safety, enforcing social distancing through such a busy period while also delivering significant productivity improvement.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly transformed the retail industry, making online and omnichannel purchasing the new standard worldwide. The explosion of online shopping has put increasing pressure on fulfillment companies to adequately staff their fulfillment teams to meet the growing number of orders and ensure that items are picked and packed as efficiently as possible.
These trends will continue as the 2020 holiday shopping season approaches. According to recent reports from Adobe, Cyber Monday sales are expected to hit a record-breaking US$9.4 billion, up almost 19 percent from last year, and Black Friday sales online are expected to be $7.5 billion, up 20.3 percent.
Customers of Locus Robotics, including CEVA, DHL, Boots UK, GEODIS, Port Logistics Group, Verst Logistics, Radial, and others, see doubling or tripling of fulfillment productivity and lowered labor recruitment, training, and retention costs.
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