U-Freight Group has been an early entrant into the world of e-commerce logistics and has progressively upgraded its warehouse facilities to become fulfilment centres.
Recently, the company has completed the upgrade of its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and intelligent racking system in its 20,000-sqft facility in Kwai Chung, one of five freight hubs in Hong Kong.
U-Freight has added 30 of Geek+’s P-series AMR picking robots at the automated facility, which will be used to move inventory shelves and pallets to the workstations, using a ‘shelf-to-person’ solution powered by software provider Geek+.
The company said that the automated system, which was installed 2 years ago, had taken several months to complete the upgrade, with normal operations ongoing at the fulfilment centre.
Empowered by Geek+ proprietary smart algorithms, the robotic retrieval system uses the fewest AMR picking robots possible to achieve maximum efficiency while improving warehouse storage capabilities.
Combining these algorithms with the facility’s warehouse management system enables products to be stored and located based on the frequency of purchase. Fast-selling goods can be stored where the robot can most easily pick them, with less commonly ordered items stored elsewhere.
U-Freight explained the upgraded system would eliminate the need for operators to leave their stations, improving put away and picking accuracy and reducing labour intensity. It is also expected to maximize the throughput capacity, whilst enhancing operational efficiency and reducing the operational costs.
Over the last few years U-Freight Group has been enhancing its warehouse capabilities across the globe for e-commerce fulfilment and has made significant investments to meet the demand for e-commerce logistics.
“In our EFCs, picking operations account for an increasing proportion of costs, accounting for more than 50% of warehouse operation costs,” said Simon Wong, CEO of UFL.
“Traditional warehouses mostly adopt the ‘person-to-goods’ selection mode, which can mean high labour cost and low selection efficiency. By upgrading our system, we will be adopting the latest technology in ‘shelf-to-person’ picking and believe this will improve production efficiency.
“The upgrade and expansion of our Hong Kong EFC is just the latest initiative helping us boost efficiency and capture more value, in order to capitalise on the opportunities that are being presented by the ongoing surge in e-commerce volumes,” Wong added.
