Tompkins Robotics
Overview
In the competitive world of retail, efficiency and agility in the supply chain are paramount. The world's leading retailer, serving millions of customers globally, sought to enhance its distribution network to meet rising demands. This case study explores how Tompkins Robotics' tSort system provided a transformative solution, enabling the retailer to optimize operations and elevate output.
Improving Distribution Center Adaptability
The retailer, with its expansive distribution network, aimed to replace its traditional fixed sorter at a key warehouse servicing over 450 stores daily. Their goals included:
- Replacing their traditional fixed sorter
- Implementing a system that could better adapt to changing operating needs
- Reducing manual unit handling
- Increasing sortation capacity
The Tompkins Robotics Solution
The retailer selected Tompkins Robotics' tSort system, recognizing its simplistic design, significant uptime, and minimal maintenance requirements. Tompkins Robotics collaborated closely with the retail giant to understand their unique challenges and tailor the best automated solution. A customized configuration was designed, incorporating first-generation tSort Vertical Lifts.
Key Solution Benefits
The implementation of the tSort system delivered substantial improvements to the retailer's operations, including:
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Flexibility & Adaptability: Unlike traditional fixed sortation systems, tSort provides the flexibility and modularity to scale operations easily and cost-effectively, adapting to future growth without major infrastructure changes.
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Rapid Deployment: A typical tSort implementation takes less than half the time of traditional sortation systems. The project spanned seven months from the original receipt of order to fully operational, with an installation time of only seven weeks.
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Reduced Operation Costs: tSort streamlined operations and decreased labor costs by eliminating the need for excessive handling and reducing staging time for orders awaiting processing. tSort facilitated a fast closeout of orders, reducing the cost of processing orders
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Higher Capacity in a Smaller Footprint: tSort's multilevel design more than doubled the number of sort destinations within the warehouse, allowing the retailer to efficiently process orders to over 450 stores each day.
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Improved Warehouse Safety: tSort's design eliminates the need for hard-wired electrical connections and floor fastenings, ensuring a safe working environment. The self-charging robots operate within an enclosed environment on tables or platforms, minimizing potential hazards and enhancing safety measures.
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User-Friendly Operating System: The system's simplicity facilitates easy training, allowing operators to quickly fill orders after only 15 minutes of instruction. Its simplicity also eliminated the need for dedicated maintenance staff to manage automation.
Measured Results & Improvement
The adoption of Tompkins Robotics' tSort system significantly enhanced operational efficiency, increasing throughput and enabling efficient servicing of over 450 stores daily. The implementation of the tSort system led to:
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Eliminated handling of staged orders
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Improved sortation accuracy to 99.9%
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Increased sortation destinations by 250%
Testimonial
Sean O'Farrell, Tompkins Robotics VP Sales & Marketing, stated, "It was incredibly rewarding to collaborate with this well-respected retailer to understand their unique challenges and craft a tailored solution for their distribution and fulfillment needs. Enhancing operational accuracy and efficiency for their distribution centers exemplified our commitment to innovation and client success."
Flexible & Scalable - Ready for What's Next
The tSort system continues to prove to be a transformative solution for major global retailers, significantly enhancing operational efficiency, increasing throughput, and enabling efficient servicing for vast networks of stores. Flexible, scalable, simple is always in season!
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Next Steps
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