Peak Season Preparation: Assisted Picking Robots Offer New Level of Flexibility

No matter how much companies try to proactively predict and prepare for peak demand, it often isn’t enough, especially with the massive growth in eCommerce. As soon as the volume hits, companies inevitably fall back into a reactive state, trying to figure out which items are in demand and moving those products from reserve to active areas.

At DHL Supply Chain, we work closely with customers to prepare for peak periods, putting our planning, analytics and operations excellence in place to enable them to succeed. We have created a machine learning model that learns from past and current peak seasons to enable customers to make decisions more effectively on inventory inside the warehouse so companies can better position inventory to meet their customer demands.

In 2021, DHL Supply Chain processed three million orders with more than 11 million items shipped during the seven-day time period between November 26 (Black Friday) and December 3. Peak day demand during that week was nearly 14 times higher than an average day.

Robotics Solutions Address Labor Challenges

Adding a new layer of complexity to peak planning is the ongoing labor shortage being felt throughout the supply chain. During the 2021 peak season, the lack of workers was a contributing factor in many supply chain delays and disruptions. And the issue is not expected to dissipate any time soon. As of the end of April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 11.4 million open jobs in the U.S., with 7.6% of those total openings located in transportation, warehousing and utilities.

One way DHL Supply Chain is confronting this challenge for customers is through the use of warehouse robotics and automation. As part of our commitment to accelerating digitalization of the end-to-end supply chain, we focus on 12 technology categories from the collaborative robotics and software-based automation space.

The assisted picking robots navigate autonomously within our warehouses to quickly locate and transport pick items to associates. Since our initial deployment, we have continued to invest in and expand our use of assisted picking robots, leveraging our size and scale to productize the solution across our global network of sites focusing on those with the highest potential benefits. Currently, we have more than 50 active sites globally with assisted picking robots deployed. At any given time, nearly 2,000 robots are being used to assist picking on our warehouse floors. During 2021 peak season, we were able to quickly scale utilization by an increase of more than 30% to meet accelerated demand.

As we continue to productize the solution, assisted picking robots have become a valuable component of our peak season strategy, helping us to better adjust capacity at the flip of a switch.

More Flexible, Efficient Work Environments

Our unmatched deployments of assisted picking robots at scale has provided valuable insight and best practices that enable us to strategically deploy the technology, quickly adjusting the implementation as needed to meet peak demand. This enhances picking productivity during a time of high volume.

We can swiftly bring in more robots, sometimes transferring them from one facility to another, with minimal onboarding effort. Getting our associates up and running efficiently is about 80% faster than recruiting, hiring and training new pickers with a manual process. For peak periods, it is not about eliminating workers, but rather reducing the number of short-term positions we need to fill during peak periods in a tight labor market.

We are also creating an efficient, comfortable work environment for our associates. With assisted picking robots rolling up and down the aisles, our associates spend less time walking long distances and pushing heavy carts and focus more on value-added work. Associates have described how easy it is to learn how the robots operate and have been quick to embrace the expanded capabilities. It has become a powerful retention and recruiting tool.

Bringing Peak Season Flexibility to Carhartt

DHL’s Canal Winchester, Ohio, facility is a prime example of how the company strategically utilizes assisted picking robots. The technology was introduced in the facility, which fulfills orders for Carhartt, America’s premium workwear brand since 1889, in the fall of 2021. As part of our established, systematic approach to evaluating and implementing innovative solutions, we put together a playbook for each digitalization solution that is then shared throughout our network of sites to provide a blueprint for deploying the technology.

The playbook was used to initially deploy about 50 LocusBots to support 11-15 associate pickers in a 150,000 square-foot area of the facility. As peak season demand started, an additional 32 robots were seamlessly deployed without any negative impact to operations. Not only did this provide much needed support for the existing warehouse workers, but it also reduced the number of positions we would typically need to fill to meet peak demand. At the end of peak season, we once again reduced the number of active LocusBots at the facility to about 50.

At DHL Supply Chain, our comprehensive approach to innovation enables us to quickly and effectively transform our customers’ operations with automation, including during peak season. We partner with top and emerging technology providers to deploy cutting-edge robotics like assisted picking robots. Using our proven process, we assess and integrate innovative solutions that are scalable and flexible to break through the boundaries impacting our customers’ supply chains today and for the future.

Click here to explore some of our solutions, including how we’re using assisted picking robots in our operations.

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