Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) Order Fulfillment Goods to Person Best Practices

Ten AMR Goods to Person Best Practices…

• Maintenance should not require a full-time employee for a standard system. Be careful and diligent when looking at AMR manufacturers… there is a huge difference!
• The system should slot the racks in the storage area automatically.
• The shelves in the racks should be slotted with common SKU similarity.
• Shelves should be arranged with the most active items in the golden zone.
• There should always be monitoring and reporting of minor mechanical issues, before they become big ones.
• The system should automatically be able to monitor and reroute AMRS away from bad spots on your floor.
• You should have the ability to pick, return, replenish and cycle count from the same workstations.
• Make sure you can integrate any AMR or technology into your system today or tomorrow.
• Rapidly deploy additional bots to meet peak requirements.
• Finally, the system should provide a rapid return on investment!

We use Conveyco’s seven-step methodology to find you, the RightFIT. We start with a deep dive, data analysis. We then move to design objectives to make sure everything is aligned. We evaluate alternative analysis to validate we have the best solution. Then we apply the lens of your business case, to look at all the vital criteria that will assure success including the return on investment.

We create a clear path to success including metrics and dates. Then we create our execution roadmap and lifecycle Nexus which helps assure that this system is going to be running successfully for months, years and even decades.

Conveyco is an integrator and represent the best of the best. Our customers business case, and their requirements are our only loyalty. We integrate all facets of a facility, not just one technology. This separates us from the manufacturers which they have a vested interest in what technology you purchase rather than what is best for you.

Conveyco Has a Full Line of AMRs For a Myriad of Applications.

Today, we are going to focus on the Goods to Person Go-Fer Bot. This system provides high density, reduced labor, and a wicked fast Return on Investment. In addition to order picking, this system is perfect for returns handling, and replenishment. This system will be the RightFIT for many organizations.  Let us dig deeper…

The Go-Fer Bot goes under a rack, lifts it, and then delivers it to a workstation. It presents the bin to the operator to pick, using pick to light indicators.  A task complete button is hit, and the bot takes the rack back to storage and a new one slides in for picking.

The Robot Control System (RCS) and Warehouse Execution Software (WES) will likely make or break your AMR system. Some of the features you should require is slotting, golden zoning every rack, and optimizing the racks’ locations on the floor. This should be done automatically and will increase your throughput dramatically. Another feature you should require is automatically monitoring your AMRs motors to tell you that a wheel has picked up a label or string and needs to be taken off.  The system should be able to integrate all technologies (and manufacturers) for future flexibility. Plus being able to implement Wave, Waveless or Overlapping Wave Management depending on your order profiles and business.

Some of the Go-Fer Bot’s features and benefits include saving up to two thirds of your labor. A standard workstation will provide up to 300 lines / per hour / per person. We can turbo charge the workstation and hit up to 1000 lines / per hour / per person with 99.9% accuracy… and not to mention, two thirds the floor space savings and rapid deployment.

A view of the floor and the workstations up front.

There are many rack styles and options available.  These are just a few ways of handling inventory in the system. And the important thing is, you can have different rack styles in the same system and change them as needed.

This is simply illustrating how the Bots queue to eliminate operator wait time. As you can tell, the operator picks from the active bin, and when picked, the next rack slides in for picking.

And to hit that 1000 lines per hour we use a Turbo Queue Workstation. The moment one rack face has been picked; the operator slides to the next waiting one.

And to show you how other technologies can be implemented in the workstation; you can see the Go-Fer Bot Queue. To the right a pallet, gaylord, bins you name it. Plus, in the back you can have pick to light flow rack or put walls or put stations which the bots will move in and out of the workstation automatically.

This shows a Go-Fer Bot floor. The X’s are bot positions and the white is their path. Workstations can be in the front, rear, or sides of the system. You can pick, return, replenish, cycle count from dedicated or multipurpose workstations. You can create ad hoc workstations when and where needed… quickly and easily.

The standard layout will save up to 2/3 of your floor space. For extra space savings requirements we can save and additional 60% by utilizing mining bots to move racks away for picking bots to access. To learn more, check out our blog page.