US-based sports nutrition retailer installing 48 Brightpick Autopicker robots
Brightpick, a provider of warehouse automation solutions for order fulfillment, says that The Feed, a US-based sports nutrition and gear ecommerce retailer, has begun installation of 48 Brightpick Autopicker robots that will go live at their warehouse at the end of March 2024.
Brightpick also announced that another installation of Brightpick Autopickers went live in November 2023 in an EU-based Dr Max distribution center that replenishes Dr Max pharmacies.
Dr Max is the second largest pharmacy chain in Europe with 3,000 pharmacies across six countries.
Brightpick Autopicker is the only autonomous mobile robot in the world capable of picking and consolidating orders directly in the warehouse aisles.
The robot’s patented two-tote design enables it to retrieve storage totes (bins) from shelving and robotically pick individual items from those storage totes into an adjacent order tote.
It does this repeatedly as it moves through the warehouse aisles until the order or batch has been fully picked.
In addition to in-aisle robotic picking, Brightpick Autopicker can be used for other tasks such as Goods-to-Person picking, pallet picking, stock replenishment, dynamic slotting, order consolidation, buffering and dispatch.
Jan Zizka, CEO and co-founder of Brightpick, says: “It is exciting to see the strong traction we are receiving for Brightpick Autopicker robots in ecommerce, pharmaceuticals, and e-grocery.
“The recent wins with The Feed and Dr Max demonstrate the trust that major companies in the US and EU have for our robots and our company. As we complete additional pilots this year, we expect to have more good news to share about Brightpick Autopicker installations.”
The Feed, based near Denver, Colorado, is a thriving ecommerce store for athletes. The company knows that eating smarter can make a difference in sports training and offers a wide array of sports nutrition and supplements, as well as gear, to its customers.
It is currently installing 48 Brightpick Autopickers in its warehouse for picking, kitting (creating ready-to-ship orders) and buffering (storing) finished orders, as well as to replenish inventory.
In the first phase of the project, the robots will enable The Feed to fulfill 5,000 orders per day while eliminating its reliance on manual labor.
The Feed wanted to reduce operational and fulfillment expenses and chose the Brightpick solution because of the speed of deployment and ability to scale with the company’s strong growth trajectory.
They also wanted, and received, an automated solution that didn’t require additional power modifications in their warehouse and integrates well with its existing in-house software systems.
Matt Johnson, founder of The Feed, says: “The Feed’s e-commerce platform is a performance-minded marketplace for athletes.
“We have scaled significantly over the last few years and are moving into a new, larger warehouse. Brightpick Autopickers are a powerful way for us to keep up with our high demand now and in the future.”
Among other things, Dr Max operates three modern pharmaceutical distribution centers in the Czech Republic, and the one in Prague is now equipped with eight Brightpick Autopicker robots.
The robots are picking up to 7,000 items per day and consolidating orders to regularly replenish Dr Max pharmacies and hospitals in the country.
Brightpick Autopickers help ensure the reliable supply of medicines which are often vital for maintaining the health and life of Dr Max customers.
Distributors of pharmaceuticals often face stringent regulatory requirements. To meet these requirements, the Brightpick solution can easily determine and pick pharmaceutical items with the earliest expiration date, and quickly stop picking from any batch (for example if it is found to be defective).
Brightpick Autopicker can also reliably pick ambient and chilled groceries, packaged goods, cosmetics, electronics, medical devices, polybagged apparel and more.
The Brightpick solution takes just weeks to deploy and enables companies to reduce their picking labor by 98 percent and cut picking costs by half.