conveyors & automated handling handling l
Avenue, Crate & Barrel and Toys “R” Us have all experienced the strategic advantages that mobile-robotics from Kiva Systems has to offer. These distribution centres give us a preview of the “supply chain of the future”, built on mobile-robotic technology – a powerful combination of hardware and software – able to swiftly move t-shirts, pens, high-heels, toys, medical devices, and dresses around warehouses in increasingly efficient ways. Founded nine years ago, Kiva Systems uses hundreds of robotic drive units to bring inventory on mobile shelves directly to workers, allowing easy and efficient access to all inventory items at all times. Kiva can handle products of all shapes and sizes, and automatically brings products to operators eliminating wasteful time spent walking the warehouse floor. Kiva is a complete order fulfilment solution that encompasses inventory control, forward replenishment, picking, packing, shipping sortation, finishing and quality assurance to simultaneously improve fulfilment centre productivity, speed, accuracy and flexibility. And because the system is modular and mobile, new inventory shelves, drive units and stations can be added at anytime to increase processing capacity without impacting on-going operations.
Watching a Kiva-enabled warehouse in operation is a bit like watching a marching band perform its grand finale – each movement is purposeful and precise. The mobile-robotic drive units follow a grid system of two- dimensional bar code stickers on the warehouse floor. They navigate their
way to mobile shelves containing the desired inventory and when the drive unit reaches the correct shelf on the warehouse floor, it positions itself beneath it and lifts the shelf from the ground. The drive unit then carries the shelf directly to the pick worker. This system allows a picker to access new inventory every six seconds empowering a Kiva pick worker to be up to four times more productive than other pick, pack and ship automation approaches. Another benefit of this solution versus traditional automation is that Kiva does not require batching and waving of orders like traditional conveyor systems, so orders can be processed in as little as 15 minutes. And, with Kiva, orders are 99.9% accurate because the system uses
laser-light directed picking, put-away and order consolidation combined with barcode scanning and multiple methods for confirming order quantity. The mobile-robotic hardware (which includes the drive units, mobile shelving, chargers and pick stations) is only half the story. It’s the innovative use of software that truly transforms a Kiva-enabled DC into a self-organising power house. The system provides valuable inventory data that is carefully and continuously analysed by Kiva software algorithms, allowing the entire system to organise itself based on product velocity and proximity to pick workers.
With mobile-robotics, popular items are typically stored on multiple shelves which are in turn kept in multiple locations on the storage floor. The more popular items are held closest to the picking stations for greatest efficiencies. As item popularity changes, the system automatically adapts the shelf storage strategy to reflect changing product velocity effectively providing continuous autonomous re-slotting without human intervention.
This novel approach to warehouse automation makes it possible to transform any building into a fully functioning DC in weeks versus months, because it easier to design and faster to install with overall lower operational costs than traditional warehouse automation. Ultimately, a mobile-robotic warehouse means it’s a building that is quick and low-cost to set up, inexpensive to operate, and easy to change. ●
www.kivasystems.com www.PressOnShD.com February 2012 ShD 33
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