RMT Robotics, a division of Finland's Cimcorp, announced today that it will begin offering automated crate picking using RMT's gantry-mounted robotic pickers. Cimcorp has 35 such installations in Europe and Asia, but this method has never been used in the United States or Canada, according to RMT executives. The method is popular in Europe for food and beverage applications, including dairy, beer, bakery, and food processing work-in-process. In that system, the gantries pick individual items, cases, and trays and load them gently inside reusable plastic crates. Orders can be topped off manually with individual items—a loaf of bread, say, or a carton of milk.

RMT also said that it was in the process of implementing the biggest robotic gantry order picking system in North America for an unnamed customer. The facility will be slightly larger than a football field and will handle some 8,000 cartons an hour for 320 simultaneous SKUs.