ForwardX Robotics, a provider of vision-based autonomous mobile robots for warehouses, has once again teamed up with L’Oréal following their successful 2022 collaboration.
Together, they have launched the world’s first case-picking solution featuring AMRs integrated with an automatic weighing system.
This groundbreaking system significantly enhances operational efficiency and reduces manual picking errors. It is now operational in L’Oréal’s first Smart Fulfillment Center worldwide, located in Suzhou, China.
L’Oréal’s Smart Fulfillment Center spans across 46,000 squared meters, utilizing superior automation technology and information systems.
It plays a vital role as a hub for managing D2C and B2B orders, supporting e-commerce platforms and retail stores.
The Smart Fulfillment Center deployed 43 of ForwardX Robotics’s customized Max 600-L AMRs, efficiently handling case picking and distribution, supporting the center to process up to 50 million D2C orders and 17 million B2B customer orders annually, with an order fulfillment efficiency of over 7,000 D2C orders per hour.
In order to achieve highly accurate picking, ForwardX designed Max AMRs equipped with automatic weighing systems that swiftly verifies picked items’ weights against expected values.
It will then display popup notifications on the interface screen to alert workers if any case exceeds or falls short of the total weight by a specified calculated amount, indicating deviations beyond the acceptable error margin.
ForwardX’s f(x) Fleet Manager intelligently groups picking orders and dispatches the closest AMRs according to SKU size and location, optimizing routes for the shortest distance.
AMRs autonomously navigate to workstations to fetch empty pallets as directed by the system, planning optimal paths to picking aisles. Simultaneously, AMRs send signals to manual forklift operators to replenish empty pallets.
Upon reaching the picking area, AMRs dock beside designated product shelves while workers use PDAs to pick items, verify them by scanning barcodes, and print labels.
After placing the goods on the pallet, Max AMR’s integrated automatic weighing scale system then checks the weight of the picked items against the expected weight, ensuring accurate item and quantity selection.
After completing picking tasks, AMRs autonomously unload at workstations and notify forklifts to retrieve pallets, communicating with the warehouse management system to complete orders.
Modern warehouses face challenges in case picking due to diverse inventory. Manual lift carts and forklifts are essential for handling small to medium-sized items.
However, integrating AMRs with forklift operations can be problematic due to the dangerous risk of collision with forks.
ForwardX’s advanced computer vision based sensor fusion technology allows the AMR’s to perform obstacle recognition and and choose obstacle avoidance strategies accordingly, minimizing blind spots, ensuring safe collaboration with workers and forklifts.
This collaborative project with L’Oréal marks a significant milestone, as ForwardX’s case picking AMR solution has now become a new standard for L’Oréal’s operations, enabling workers to focus on less physically exhausting, value-adding tasks, while ensuring highly accurate picking productivity.
By leveraging ForwardX Robotics’ world leading case picking solution, the Suzhou Smart Fulfillment Center demonstrates the beauty and personal care giant’s ability to handle orders with flexibility, efficiency and scalability, further cementing L’Oréal’s global leadership position in innovation and sustainable development.
