Robotic Goods-to-Person Solutions Are Ready for DCs of All Sizes

A decade after Amazon created headlines when they purchased Kiva Robotics, third-generation autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are taking the market by storm. These latest goods-to-person (G2) solutions store and retrieve products and SKUs in a more efficient way in high-speed picking applications. Robotic-based G2P are now available from firms such as Geek+, Addverb, Grey Orange and many other vendors worldwide. Robotic-based G2P systems adoption is growing rapidly as they become more cost-effective for warehouses as a viable automation investment to improve picking and lower labor costs. As a result, G2P and AMRs are the fastest growing product segment in the material handling automation space, with AMRs for the first time outselling automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in 2021. Robotic-based G2P storage and picking systems are now within the budget of small, medium and large businesses. For example, if a firm has 3,000 to 4,000 orders a day and 3,500 or more SKUs with a variable velocity movement mix, their distribution center (DC) operation could fit a small-size robotic G2P solution. As a result, these automation solutions can be an effective tool for companies aiming to reduce order fulfillment picking and replenishment labor costs in B2B, e-commerce and omni-channel order fulfillment operations.