At inVia Robotics, we offer a warehouse automation solution that takes the manual and costly effort out of the storage and retrieval of warehouse inventory. Our AI-driven robotics platform is designed to take your existing warehouse and fulfillment setup and identify and implement workflow changes that optimize your operations. It’s fully scalable and can be tactically adapted to any warehouse environment.
The first step we take when creating the right automation design for your business is to conduct a detailed assessment of your current environment, including existing workflows and operational data. We look at a year’s worth of data (if available) so we can identify seasonal trends, taking into account such things as order, line, and unit volume, as well as the rate of product (or SKU) turnover in your inventory.
Different e-commerce businesses have varying peak seasons, so by analyzing your volume growth in those areas, we can design a configuration that will provide you with optimized results. A party supplies business, for example, would have a high rate of SKU turnover to accommodate the various holidays throughout the year—Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day—whereas an athletic shoe company might have a relatively low SKU turnover due to steady product demand and more traditional seasonal peaks.
We also apply the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. In a nutshell, this means that roughly 80% of your orders are comprised of 20% of the products you sell, so we make sure that 20% is easily accessible in your forward pick area. This removes friction in fulfillment of your high-velocity products and keeps the order flow process humming. We also look at your preferred storage method (shelving, carton flow, pallets or racks) and the number of days worth of inventory you keep on hand. Each of these data points can be optimized to increase overall warehouse efficiency.
We are admittedly warehouse and data nerds, and we get really passionate about things like “cube movement.” This is calculated by looking at the physical dimensions of the items you sell and figuring out how many cubic feet of space they occupy as they move through the warehouse. We get very granular on this analysis, looking at cubing dimensions for inventory, order containers and pack out. These dimensions and the velocity of the items leaving the warehouse dictate how much space you need to store your inventory, and every fraction of an inch we optimize for you makes an impact on your bottom line.
After mapping your facilities and running all the possible scenarios through inVia Logic, our AI-driven software, we can then calculate the most efficient inventory moves in the fulfillment process and create the optimal design for you. From there, we can employ any combination of tools for the execution of a wide range of fulfillment tasks, including picking, replenishment, putback and returns, cycle counting, sortation, and pack out.
For example, in warehouses with relatively light order volume, our inVia PickMate tool guides your people to move goods from the pick face into order bins with simplicity and precision. We map the optimal path, and your people follow simple, intuitive commands on a handheld device.
For larger operations or multiple warehouses, our inVia Picker robots complete the task of moving your warehouse inventory from one point to another completely autonomously, helping you fulfill every order faster and more accurately.
And for some businesses, we may recommend a combination of the two: Workers using PickMate in one zone of the warehouse, while Picker robots work in another zone.
That’s the true advantage of partnering with inVia: you get a powerful automation solution designed specifically for your needs that can expand quickly and easily when business is booming.
To learn more about how inVia can boost order fulfillment, give us a call today.