UK Parts Supplier Achieves Warehouse Automation Success with 40 AMR Robots for Optimized Logistics

Project Overview

L&S Engineers, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of spare parts and consumables, implemented HIK Logistics robot solutions to enhance logistics efficiency in its large-scale warehouse. This project focused on automating the order picking process using mobile robots, increasing the precision of logistics operations, and reducing the burden on workers.

Project Background & Objectives

Background

L&S Engineers operates a large logistics center that handles thousands of spare parts and consumables, requiring the processing of numerous orders daily. However, the existing manual methods faced the following challenges:

Increased fatigue among workers due to long walking distances
Low operational efficiency and slow order processing speeds
Concerns over decreased customer satisfaction due to high error rates

Objectives

Enhance Operational Efficiency: Shorten worker travel distances and improve productivity through mobile robots
Improve Accuracy: Reduce error rates in the order picking process
Reduce Operating Costs: Lower labor and operational expenses through automation

Components

Robot	Robot HIK AMR Logistics Robots (40 units): Each robot moves autonomously using high-performance sensors and transports necessary parts to the workstation for order picking.

Workflow

STEP 1.	Order Receipt: The central management system collects customer order information.
STEP 2.	Work Instruction Transfer: Mobile robots receive information regarding part locations and workstations from the central management system.
STEP 3.	Part Pickup: Robots collect designated parts from shelves within the warehouse.
STEP 4.	Transport and Delivery: Robots transport parts to the workstation and deliver them to the worker.
STEP 5.	Task Completion: The worker dispatches the order after packaging and final verification.
STEP 6.	Robot Return: Robots that have completed their tasks move to the standby area for the next assignment.

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Key Features

Automation and Efficiency: 40 robots perform tasks continuously for 8 hours, maintaining high throughput.

Accuracy: Error rates reduced by 50% through advanced sensors.

Flexibility: Flexible design capable of processing various order lines simultaneously.

Worker Convenience: Worker travel distance reduced by 20 miles, alleviating physical exertion and fatigue.

Implementation Results

ROI Period
Key Metrics	Operational efficiency doubled, with an average of over 1,100 order lines picked per day. Error rate improved by 50% compared to previous methods, increasing customer satisfaction. Improved work environment by reducing travel distances, leading to lower worker fatigue and higher job satisfaction. Operational cost reduction and long-term cost efficiency through the automation system.
Client Feedback	The client stated, "HIK Logistics robots have gone beyond simply increasing efficiency to innovatively improving the work environment. In particular, both workers and customers are seeing great benefits thanks to the reduction in worker travel distances and the automated picking system."