Today’s e-commerce distribution centres (DCs) need to pick a large variety of items, which results in increasingly complex operations. Alongside this, the scarcity of manual labor further increases the pressure on DC performance. SIR – also known as collaborative robotics or cobots – is an effective and risk-free way to gradually introduce robotic technology into a DC while retaining high levels of scalability and flexibility.
“Operators can work safely side by side with the robot unit without using a fenced cell,” explains Vanderlande’s Director E-commerce Ruben Jakobs. “This creates a low-risk working environment with high flexibility. Our state-of-the-art software will allow the robot to pick the majority of products without the need for teach-in, which is a huge benefit considering the ever-increasing range of products in e-commerce.”
Additionally, the robot optimizes order carton filling by gently stacking items. This solution can be further utilized for picking, with a capacity of up to 600 items per hour.
To learn more about Vanderlande’s versatile and diverse product range, please visit stand S3912 at ProMat 2017.