Locus Robotics will supply 1,000 collaborative, autonomous robots to support operations at 12 DHL Supply Chain sites in North America in 2020.
The companies have signed an Expanded Multi-Site Services Agreement outlining these terms.
“The agreement with Locus Robotics further enables us to bring productivity-enhancing technology to our customers quickly, so they are well-positioned to capitalise on new and emerging opportunities,” said Jim Gehr, president, retail at DHL Supply Chain North America.
“DHL Supply Chain’s initial implementation of the Locus solution within the life sciences and retail sectors was a tremendous success; we saw increases in fulfilment productivity of up to 80% in selected customer operations.
“We now see an opportunity to extend the benefits of utilising Locus’ highly flexible AMR solution at scale for customers across multiple sectors.”
DHL Supply Chain North America and Locus Robotics partnered in 2017 to pilot a collaborative, autonomous robotics solution – LocusBots – to support staff in piece-picking order fulfilment in warehouses.
The LocusBots navigate autonomously within warehouses to locate and transport pick items to staff.
According to Locus Robotics, the AMRs can be deployed to support a range of picking strategies, reducing time spent on routine or physically demanding tasks, reducing manual errors and increasing productivity.
“What is particularly gratifying about this expansion is that the DHL decision was based on observed successes in their early facilities,” said Rick Faulk, CEO, Locus Robotics.
In 2018, DHL Supply Chain announced a multi-year plan to invest US$300m in emerging technologies in its North American operations.
The logistics company has rolled out an accelerated digitalisation programme that has identified 14 target technologies – seven of which involve collaborative robotics – that can be fast-tracked into customers’ operations.
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