PEC optimizes warehouse processes with robots

2021: Testing the transport of goods inside the warehouse using robots

The First Expeditionary Company (PEC) tested the transportation of cargo inside the warehouse using robots from Ronavi Robotics. The experiment took place for a month at the company's hub in South Butov, the PEC reported on June 9, 2021. The task is to move between different storage areas, including to the issue area for customers.

The standard process looks like this: the client arrives in the cargo issue area, the operator transmits the order data to the WMS system, which appoints a line employee from the storage area to collect the shipment.

The employee finds the desired cell, picks up the shipment and delivers it for issuance. At the same time, he spends 30% of his working time directly on the package, and 70% takes up the movement of goods between different zones. The purpose of PEC testing was to check the possibility of automating these routine processes.

Ronavi H-1500 is a logistics robot platform for transporting goods with a size of no more than one pallet and weighing no more than 1500 kg inside warehouses. It moves along specially applied markings in any direction without turning the body.

The robot works up to 90% time per day, it takes 18 minutes to fully charge. For comparison, a person works 8 or 12 hours intermittently, so for round-the-clock work of the warehouse, the work of line personnel is organized in several shifts. Using robots allows you to reduce the labor cost of moving goods by up to 70%.

The machine itself performs tasks, but if necessary, the operator can manually control the robot from the tablet. The platform is integrated through a special RMS program into the WMS system in order to distribute tasks and, if necessary, predict the placement of product items in the warehouse.

"At the first stage, a swarm of Ronavi robots works with human participation, but subsequently the movement of cargo in the warehouse can become fully automated, and the capacity of line personnel can be redirected to other work. The main goal of the joint work of PEC and Ronavi Robotics is the optimization of intra-warehouse logistics, "said Oleg Rozanov, commercial director of Ronavi Robotics.

"The pilot project showed that the optimal sites for the introduction of the Ronavi H-1500 robot are warehouses where internal logistics implies long routes with high repeatability of the same processes," said Oleg Skovorodnikov, director of the digital transformation department of PEC.

According to the results of the pilot project, a decision will be made to launch a robot in other PEC storage complexes, where such technologies will significantly increase the productivity of the warehouse, according to the company.