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E-commerce Poses New Automation Challenges

Two new robotic technologies help address e-commerce related packaging issues, including a reduced labor pool, the need for speed, and sorting of intermixed products.

MHS’s multi-pick robotic end effector can pick up and hold up to 36 items simultaneously and pack four orders at a time into four shipping boxes.
MHS’s multi-pick robotic end effector can pick up and hold up to 36 items simultaneously and pack four orders at a time into four shipping boxes.

Providing greater flexibility specifically for the growing e-commerce market are two new technologies—a multi-pick EOAT from Material Handling Systems, Inc. (MHS), and an AI- (Artificial Intelligence) powered picking solution from Plus One Robotics and Fanuc America.

According to MHS, today’s e-commerce landscape pushes supply chains to meet faster service levels and overcome labor challenges in the face of intense cost pressures. “The robotic multi-pick uses technology to help companies reduce dependency on a shaky labor pool, control costs, and boost output,” it explains.


Read article   Read this article on collaborative robots in the e-commerce supply chain.


Unlike robotic picking systems that handle a single item to fill one order at a time, the multi-pick robotic end effector can pick up and hold up to 36 items simultaneously and pack four orders at a time into four shipping boxes. This enables the end effector to act as an on-demand buffer per Lean Manufacturing best practices, a task typically reserved for accumulation conveyors or other automated components in an order fulfillment process.

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