ProFresh (AI, Artificial intelligence, AI)

2022: Completion of the first phase of warehouse robotization

The logistics company ProFresh summed up the results of the first stage of the robotization process, which was launched in warehouses under its control in 2021.

ProFresh Warehouse

The first stage was aimed at reducing manual labor during the procedure for winding pallets necessary for the safe transportation of cargo. The company replaced the process of manual winding of pallets with a winding using EMotion EB1000 mobile pallet packers from PKG.

Using 3 robots for two months gave a net film saving of 20%. The rates of two warehouse employees were reduced - people working on this site were transferred to another unit, which thus was able to close the need for labor. Cladding with the help of a robot made it possible to accurately budget the consumption of film - for each pallet, the consumption became the same, while with human labor it could differ many times.

EMotion EB1000 PKG pallet packer

The ProFresh company leased pallet-packing robots, thanks to which the costs paid off in two months. In the near future, the company plans to expand the experience gained to other areas of the warehouse, renting 7 more similar robots.

At the same time, ProFresh began robotizing two more warehouse procedures - inventory of goods using drones and moving goods through the warehouse using mobile robots. The calculation of the implementation efficiency carried out by the company shows that if you buy robots in these areas, they will pay off in 4-5 years, in case of rental - in less than a year. The company plans to complete the robotization of these zones by the end of 2022.

"Robotization" is not just an increase in the efficiency of each particular warehouse operation, but also a reduction in the risks significant for the logistics market associated with labor shortages. Due to the outflow of labor migrants, the services of a warehouse handyman for the period from 2019 to 2021 have risen in price by about twice. This trend will undoubtedly continue from the near future. Thanks to robots, we reduce the recruitment of low-skilled personnel, free already hired employees from routine operations, transferring them to solve new problems. This allows the company to expand, take new customers, without fear that there will be no one to serve warehouses, " says David Chikvashvili, CEO of ProFresh.