We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Rolling robots solve parcel crunch
APPLICATION

Rolling robots solve parcel crunch

British retail chain meets challenges of pandemic e-commerce boom with AMRs from Geek+.

Sorting-robot.jpg
August 25, 2021
DC Velocity Staff
No Comments

Founded in the 1960s as the first U.K. discount chain, Asda has since grown into one of Britain’s best-known retail brands. Today, it employs over 145,000 people at its mall-like “supercentres,” grocery stores, clothing and home supplies shops, and gas stations. 

The engine behind those operations is the company’s Asda Logistics Services division, which spans 39 distribution centers across the country that are served by a fleet of 4,000 heavy-goods vehicles and 2,000 home-delivery vehicles.

In 2015, Asda Logistics Services launched “toyou,” an e-commerce parcel platform that lets consumers return or collect purchases from third-party online retailers at more than 600 Asda stores. Designed with customer convenience in mind, the service lets consumers combine several shopping activities into a single trip to an Asda location. 

Not surprisingly, Asda toyou volumes exploded during the pandemic year, as demand for parcel collection and returns services skyrocketed. Adding to the challenge were the company’s aggressive expansion plans. In the past few years, Asda toyou has expanded the number of retailers it supports to more than 100 third-party sellers. 

So Asda began looking for ways to boost its capacity to support parcel collection and returns. For help finding a solution, the company brought in the British systems integrator AMH Material Handling, which then brought in its own partner, the Chinese autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendor Geek+. Together, the partners integrated 60 of Geek+’s S-series parcel-sorting robots into the operations of an Asda DC in the English town of South Elmsall, West Yorkshire.

THE RIGHT SORT OF BOT

For the Asda project, the partners chose Geek+’s S20C-model bots, which are rolling three-foot-tall robots that can carry loads of up to 44 pounds apiece and travel at speeds of over 5 miles per hour. Deployed in a 3,875-square-foot sorting area within the South Elmsall cross-docking facility, the units have allowed Asda to sort 2,000 parcels an hour with 99.99% accuracy, the robot supplier says. 

As for how it all works, “the process for intelligent sorting is pretty straightforward,” Lit Fung, vice president and managing director of Geek+ for APAC, UK, and Americas, said in a release. Basically, the system uses a network of AMRs to transfer incoming parcels from workstations to cages of corresponding destinations, he explains, adding that the system boosts both accuracy and efficiency “while also making the process more ergonomic for warehouse employees.”

On top of that, the solution will give Asda the flexibility to respond quickly to fluctuations in demand, he added. “With no need for fixed platform development, it makes it easy for Asda to scale operations in line with business growth. All [it has] to do is adjust the number of robots and destination chutes.” 

 

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
KEYWORDS AMH Material Handling Asda Geek+
  • Related Articles

    Rental robots help DCs solve labor woes

    Modex 2020: 6 River Systems shows off upgrades to rolling fulfillment robots

    AT&T provides 5G data network for rolling retail robots

  • Related Events

    PARCEL Forum ’22 Chicago

Recent Articles by DC Velocity Staff

APM Terminals to add capacity at Port of Mobile

Airfreight operators host “open house” for college students

Convenience stores hop on “curbside pickup” bandwagon

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Now's the time to be a logistics professional

  • Autonomous trucking firms launch partnerships with freight transportation providers

  • Demand for piece-picking robots gains steam

  • Report: Delivery expectations intensify

  • Empty shipping containers stack up at U.S. port depots

Now Playing on DCV-TV

5480fb3e eabb 4d19 8c47 2e6c8724563d

“With Freight Rates More Stable, Why Do My Freight Costs Keep Going Up?”

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
Lately people have been asking me a pressing question: “Mike, if there’s a freight recession headed our way, shouldn’t we be seeing freight rates and our freight costs going down?”Ideally the answer to that question would just simply be “yes.” However, these are not simple times. Which is why the answer to this...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Guide to Proven Warehouse Solutions

  • Five common misconceptions about running a private fleet

  • Optimize AS/RS With Advanced Warehouse Execution Software

  • The Value of Genuine Parts and Service

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2022. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing