RK Logistics Increases Productivity with Robots
March 30, 2017
RK Logistics announced today the company has completed a successful six-month pilot program with Fetch Robotics, reaching a company milestone in robotics use for the logistics industry.
“Fetch has partnered with us to implement programs that make our operation more efficient,” said Landon Spring, Senior Director of Business Development & Marketing for RK Logistics Group. Since their deployment in August 2016, Fetch’s material transport robots have worked alongside RK employees 24/7 over three shifts, to help transport items throughout the Livermore, CA warehouse.
Spring said RK Logistics’ main goal in implementing the robots is to increase employee productivity, by eliminating simple tasks such as transporting items from one part of the warehouse to another. “For the 4,500 deliveries that the robots have traversed our warehouse floor in the past six months, that’s 1,000 kilometers our workers haven’t had to spend time transporting items,” commented Spring. “By allocating mundane transportation tasks away from our employees to the robots, we are freeing up our people for higher value work.”
To date, RK’s use of Fetch robots has led to significant increase in warehouse productivity. “We chose Fetch Robotics over other options because we felt that Fetch would be the best partner for our business, and every day since then has validated that decision,” said Cindy Traver, Senior Director of Operations for RK Logistics Group. “Within a few short months we saw a full ROI on our implementation, and we are able to pass the savings from this initiative on to our customers.”
RK is using the Fetch Robotics’ VirtualConveyor solution, which incorporates the Freight series of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and charge docks with the Fetchcore cloud-based fleet management software. The AMRs work alongside warehouse workers in dynamic environments that are also shared with forklifts in the warehouse. The Fetch AMRs can safely do their jobs no matter how busy the surrounding environment.
The navigation of the robots within the RK facility is all managed through Fetchcore, which allows customers to quickly set up and deploy the freight robots. Fetchcore also creates a facility map of warehouses; at RK, this process only took one hour. The Freight AMRs navigate dynamically using the facility map, allowing the robots to plan their own paths to travel quickly and efficiently anywhere they need to go. Warehouse managers also use Fetchcore to create and schedule workflows in a matter of minutes, and provide routine task assignments. Fetchcore contains an extensible API for additional customization.
“For anyone who wants to see a glimpse of the future with robots and employees seamlessly working alongside each other, I encourage them to take a look at Fetch Robotics in action at RK Logistics,” said Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics. “See for yourself how robots are the next great productivity weapon for the logistics and material handling industry.”
About RK Logistics
RK Logistics Group is a 3PL innovator, providing full-spectrum supply chain support services.
Our ongoing efforts to exceed our clients’ expectations has led to significant growth and expansion of services over the past 35 years.
Today, RK Logistics’ mission is to re-define third party logistics, with our new trademark 3PL+ service level, which sets a new benchmark in the supply chain industry. It demonstrates our commitment to our customers, to go far beyond typical warehousing and transportation.
