People and technology working together to improve productivity, safety and order accuracy is one of the hallmarks of SCI’s warehouse innovation and automation programs. At SCI, we’re always looking for ways to make our workplace and our client service even better, and that’s why we use collaborative robots also known as cobots.
These autonomous collaborative robots, or “cobots”, work alongside our service representatives to help them work more safely and more efficiently. There are different types of collaborative robots, follow to and follow behind. When the SCI team member goes to an aisle, they have a follow behind cobot joining them to begin picking items for an order.
When the orders are completed, they autonomously travel themselves back to the packing area, where orders are checked and readied for shipping. Using advanced navigation technology, the cobot team members move throughout the warehouse.
Whenever an SCI representative is ready to work on the new order, they simply go to the next nearby meeting point, and begin picking their next set of orders with a new cobot.
The cobots also reduce the time the SCI associate would have spent pushing or pulling a traditional cart through the pick aisles. This improves productivity by about 70 percent. It’s also safer for our employees since they aren’t walking as far or pushing heavy carts. Plus, the cobots’ LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors prevent them from running into people and objects, making the workspace even safer.
We no longer need RF guns, and this hands-free picking approach feeds into the 70 percent improvement.
The cobots are easy to use and because they know their way around the warehouse, they reduce the time it takes to onboard new team members from days to hours. This is efficiency we can pass on to our clients with faster, more accurate orders.
Our team loves their new coworkers, and many of the cobots now have their own names!
Watch the video to see SCI innovation in action, with people and technology working together to make our workplace and our clients’ businesses even better.
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For non-Sales related inquires please call 1-888-755-1528.
