USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE

GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Managing Unpredictable Demand..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................2

Key Attributes of E-Commerce Warehouse Automation.........................................................................................................................................................................3-5

Using Robotic Solutions to Support Sustained Growth..........................................................................................................................................................................6-7

Using Robots to Meet Peak Seasonal Demands...............................................................................................................................................................................................8

Making the Move to Flexible, Data-Driven Robotic Automation..............................................................................................................................................................9

MANAGING UNPREDICTABLE DEMAND

The power of e-commerce lies largely in the broad exposure other perks, many e-commerce operators have been unable
it provides. Not limited by the physical locations of retail to bring in anywhere close to the number of workers they
outlets, e-commerce opens up products to the world. And, that require to meet demand during the holiday season. The result is
world is increasingly embracing the choice and convenience overtaxed workers, higher costs per order, and slower deliveries,
e-commerce delivers, creating growth across the sector. But all of which threaten the long-term health of the business.
what makes e-commerce so powerful from a sales perspective
can create challenges in the warehouse. Seasonal surges or The obvious solution is automation. Yet, traditional warehouse
steady growth can each stretch warehouse operations to the automation solutions weren’t designed to address the specific
breaking point, ultimately delaying fulfillment and alienating challenges of e-commerce. Instead of facilitating efficient
customers just as a business is poised to take a step forward. response to growth in inventory or throughput, they rely
on fixed systems that can make it more difficult to respond
It’s a challenge that is increasingly difficult to address by to change. Fortunately, a new generation of warehouse
adding warehouse personnel, particularly during the holiday automation solutions has emerged that delivers the key
shopping season. The labor market is as tight as it has been attributes warehouse operators need to efficiently and cost-
in years and competition for seasonal warehouse workers has effectively manage growth.
become fierce. Even with signing bonuses, higher wages and

2 USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

KEY ATTRIBUTES OF E-COMMERCE
WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION

Flexibility
The e-commerce supply chain is constantly evolving, creating
the need to continually adapt to changes in throughput,
product mix, and delivery times. Fixed conveyor systems can
handcuff an organization as it attempts to deal with these

Da
changes. Today’s warehouse automation must enable flexible

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management, not impede it.

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That requires, first and foremost, modular technology that can
be easily re-configured to accommodate changing processes FUTURE-READY
and scaled incrementally without impacting operations. WAREHOUSE
The systems should also have the flexibility to move with the
organization to a new facility. Many e-commerce organization
start small without the luxury of a dedicated warehouse. As
the business grows, fulfillment may move from converted Robotic
office space to a small warehouse to a larger warehouse. With
bolted-down automation, this evolution creates the dilemma
of having to either delay the investment in automation until
the business has fully scaled—introducing risks that slow or
As warehouse management software has evolved, siloes
prevent growth—or continually re-investing in new automation
have been created, with warehouse management, warehouse
with each move. Just as with other investments, e-commerce
execution and automation control systems all operating in a
automation must be able to move with the business.
way that leaves data isolated, limiting its potential to improve
Finally, remaining flexible also requires embedded intelligence operations.
that allows warehouse technology to leverage emerging
Today’s warehouse management systems integrate these
capabilities, such as machine learning, to adapt to change
capabilities in a single platform, while offering standard
without human intervention. One example is the ability to
interfaces to ERP and other software systems to provide new
detect a change in the demand for a certain product and re-slot
insight into equipment availability and performance while also
inventory on the fly to make the now fast-moving product
enabling new capabilities, such as virtualization.
more easily accessible.
Data is also the fuel for the artificial intelligence and machine
Responding to the continuous change inherent in e-commerce
learning systems that enable intralogistics systems to learn
fulfillment requires flexible automation solutions that are easy-
and evolve on their own. Through the power of data and
to-deploy and re-deploy, feature a modular design that scales
artificial intelligence, warehouse systems can learn to recognize
incrementally and includes the embedded intelligence required
patterns, regularities, and interdependencies from structured
to take advantage of machine learning and other developments.
and unstructured data to anticipate demand and adapt,
Data-driven dynamically and independently, to new situations.
Data is a powerful tool in warehouse management, but
The future will be driven by data and the warehouse software
one that remains largely unharnessed. From bar codes on
and hardware systems being implemented today must be capable
products to sensors on equipment, there is a wealth of data
of using data to increase visibility into operations, improve
available today that can help improve equipment availability
coordination across systems, and adapt to changes in real time.
and efficiency, personnel productivity and safety, and process
throughputs. The key to harnessing the power of warehouse
data lies in the combination of the warehouse management
system and the embedded intelligence in warehouse
automation systems.

USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT 3

KEY ATTRIBUTES OF E-COMMERCE
WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION

Robotic
Advances in vision, gripping and navigation technology have
allowed robotics to migrate from manufacturing, where they
have been employed successfully for decades, to the warehouse.

Robotic-based warehouse automation systems resolve the issues

with traditional approaches to warehouse automation that have
limited its use in e-commerce. These solutions feature a modular
architecture that delivers the scalability e-commerce operations
require while enabling the move to goods-to-person picking.

Instead of having pickers walk miles each day to search for

and pick products, a goods-to-person system brings the
products to the picker. This dramatically reduces pick times and
improves the ability to adapt to fluctuations in demand. This is
particularly valuable in e-commerce where speed is paramount,
and warehouses often support a wide range of SKUs that can
increase the time and travel distance required for manual picking.

Two robotics-based goods-to-person picking solutions have

emerged for addressing the specific challenges of e-commerce.

CarryPick
Swisslog’s CarryPick system consists of mobile racks,
autonomous mobile robots, ergonomic workstations with
pick-to-light technology, and warehouse management software
with integrated automation control capabilities. The mobile
robots, controlled by the automation-friendly WMS, lift and
carry mobile racks of products to workstations where workers
can efficiently assemble orders.
Each component of the CarryPick system—racks, robots and
The system requires minimal modification to the facility to
workstations—is also mobile in the sense that it can be moved to
support navigation and can operate in spaces with ceiling
a new location just like office furniture or other business assets.
heights as low as 8 feet, making it an ideal “starter” system for
e-commerce operators in the early stages of growth. CarryPick is also flexible in the type of products that can
be supported. Each mobile rack can be variable and can be
However, CarryPick is much more than a starter system. It has
configured to support products in cartons, bins or single items
the ability to scale to meet the demands of a large operation
and can be equipped with bottom inserts, compartments,
as evidenced by the use of similar technology by Amazon to
drawers, bins or hanging bars. This allows storage of products
support its fulfillment operation. The software has the capability
with a variety of sizes and weights and makes it easy to
to intelligently manage a large fleet of robots, ensuring
accommodate product changes.
coordination, minimizing travel times and optimizing utilization.

4 USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

KEY ATTRIBUTES OF E-COMMERCE
WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION

AutoStore
AutoStore is a compact, robot-based automated storage and The design of the system results in up to 60 percent better
retrieval system that supports goods-to-person picking. It utilization of space than other automatic storage systems, and
is designed to handle high volumes of both fast- and slow- 300 percent better than a conventional rack system.
moving small-order and small-case-pick SKUs for fulfillment
operations that require high storage density. A variety of workstation configurations can be deployed to
allow batch picking based on orders or SKUs. Any order can be
AutoStore consists of a three-dimensional grid of self- redirected to any one of the pick stations as the need arises.
supporting bins that are moved to pick stations by Machine learning allows the AutoStore system to identify
independently operating robots. The robots are equipped with fast-moving items and keep them at the top of the grid for
a lift for picking up, carrying and putting product into the bins faster access.
that are stored within the grid. All robots can reach any position
on the grid, eliminating the risk of single-point system failure. AutoStore can be configured to fit different building heights,
span multiple levels and even surround obstacles in the
warehouse, such as pillars or walls. The modular design of the
system also allows it to be disassembled and reassembled at a
new location.

USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT 5

USING ROBOTIC SOLUTIONS TO SUPPORT
SUSTAINED GROWTH

Both AutoStore and CarryPick can be configured to accom-

modate sustained growth in an e-commerce operation with
minimal disruption to daily operations.

Planning for growth begins with system configuration. By

analyzing order data and identifying trends, along with busi-
ness growth objectives, systems can be sized to seamlessly
accommodate projected growth in the near term.

But growth isn’t always projected, and systems need to scale

well beyond the near term. The CarryPick system offers the
ultimate in modular scalability and is ideally suited to handle
growth incrementally in small phases. With CarryPick, scaling
the system can be as simple as adding individual robots to
support throughput or additional racks to increase density.

This offers a huge advantage to organizations who want to

shift equipment costs from their capital to their operating
budgets. CarryPick’s flexibility allows the automation spend
to be integrated into the operating budget with additional
robots, racks and workstations being added annually to ac-
commodate growth. When the time comes to move to a new
warehouse, CarryPick components can be simply picked up
and moved to the new location.

CarryPick

6 USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

USING ROBOTIC SOLUTIONS TO SUPPORT
SUSTAINED GROWTH

With AutoStore, it’s more important to get system sizing right significant expansion of each system without modification
during configuration as expanding the grid storage system and plays a key role in ensuring assets are fully utilized, in-
does involve some disruption to warehouse operations. The ventory is re-slotted based on demand, and issues that could
grid is typically sized to handle some degree of growth wit- affect system availability are detected.
hout modification with the number of robots deployed based
on current throughput requirements. Significant growth can While the design of CarryPick provides greater incremental
thus be accommodated simply by adding more robots and scalability, AutoStore has the clear advantage in density and, in
increasing utilization of the existing grid. traditional warehouses, can make better use of vertical space.
Both systems support fast, efficient goods-to-person picking
With more than 130 AutoStore systems sold or installed, Swiss- with clear grow paths that can extend well into the future.
log has extensive experience in sizing the system to strike the
optimum balance between initial cost and future flexibility. Choosing the right one for a particular operation requires an
evaluation of product type, density requirements, delivery
With both AutoStore and CarryPick, the modular nature of speeds and facility requirements.
Swisslog’s SnyQ software enables plug-and-play operation
that streamlines deployment. The software is able to handle

Whenamajorexpansionisrequired,additionalAutoStorestoragemodulescanbeaddedtotheexistinggrid.Ifitbecomesnecessaryto
move to a new warehouse, the modular AutoStore system can be disassembled and reassembled in the new location.

USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT 7

USING ROBOTS TO MEET
PEAK SEASONAL DEMANDS

It would be ideal if some e-commerce companies had their peak Relying on hard-to-find labor during the most important season
periods in the early months of the year, some in the spring and of the year significantly increases business risk. Use of robotic-
summer and some during the holidays. But that’s not the case. based automation can mitigate that risk in multiple ways.
Almost all experience dramatic increases in sales during the
holiday season, creating fierce competition for seasonal labor. First, goods-to-person picking solutions increase the produc-
tivity of warehouse personnel. Many CarryPick and AutoStore
customers find they can increase pick rates by as much as 50
percent using goods-to-person picking, significantly reducing
the need to supplement staff during peak seasons.

In addition, robots don’t have the physical limitations of human

labor. They don’t get tired, take breaks or need seven hours of
sleep each night. That provides the flexibility to extend work
shifts by, for example, having robots stage orders before human
workers arrive on the job.

Another approach that is gaining popularity, particularly with

CarryPick users, is to build a reserve of robots over time to

452K
handle seasonal demand. In this approach, a warehouse diverts
some of the money it would spend on seasonal labor each year
to purchase additional robots to help meet peak demands. This
allows the organization over time to build ample reserve capa-
city and significantly reduce the need to supplement the labor
force during the holiday season.

The robots are compact and consume very little warehouse

ADDITIONAL space when they sit idle. Even if they are idle for ten months
out of the year, the ability to gradually build reserve capacity

WAREHOUSE
over time, combined with the flexibility to instantly turn on
that capacity to meet peak demand, can make this an attractive
option for e-commerce providers seeking to reduce the risks

WORKERS
associated with finding sufficient labor during peak periods.

NEEDED

According to a recent report from CBRE, the rapid growth of

e-commerce will create demand for an additional 452,000
warehouse and workers in 2018-2019

8 USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT

MAKING THE MOVE TO FLEXIBLE,
DATA-DRIVEN ROBOTIC AUTOMATION

Robotic-based automation solutions enable the flexibility to

effectively manage both seasonal and sustained growth.

Bolted down automation They have emerged as the solution-of-choice for e-commerce
operations seeking to leverage the benefits of automation
systems can limit flexibility without being locked into a system that can’t adapt to change.
Today, they are operating reliably and effectively in hundreds of
in the short and long run. warehouses around the world.

While the technology is inherently flexible, expertise in system

sizing and deployment is required to leverage the full flexibility
and capability these systems enable.

Swisslog’s team of automation specialists, which has deplo-

yed more robotic-based automation systems than anyone, is
available to help you select the right system for your business,
configure the system to balance initial cost with future growth
and enable a fast start-up.

Swisslog
www.swisslog.com

USING AUTOMATION TO MANAGE GROWTH IN E-COMMERCE FULFILLMENT 9