North America's second largest provider of supply chain services, GENCO Supply Chain Solutions manages 120 operations and over 34 million square feet of warehouse space for customers in retail, manufacturing and government.
PROBLEM: How to Reduce Costs
GENCO Supply Chain Solutions pioneered the practice of "reverse logistics," or processing goods returned by customers to major retailers. In GENCO Supply Chain Solutions' reverse logistics center, goods returned to retailers are sorted, stripped of their original packaging and packed into boxes for delivery to contract wholesalers. This creates enough garbage to fill 30 or more carts in a single shift. A teammate must walk the filled cart approximately 380 meters to the trash compactor and bring the empty cart back to the work area. This lengthy process takes teammates away from their primary duties and creates bottlenecks for those responsible for trash compacting at the end of each shift.
SOLUTION: Seegrid's GT3 Tugger
The GT3—the industry's first industrial mobile robot tugger—transports materials and finished goods without wire guides, magnets, lasers and human intervention. Seegrid's patented Industrial Mobile Robotics (IMR) technology uses stereo cameras to build a reliable 3D map of the environment. Using the map and its own reasoning ability, the GT3 navigates a predetermined path to complete assigned transport tasks. Sears initiated a two-week pilot program using the robots to haul full carts of garbage to the trash compactor and return empty carts to teammates. The paths were installed in about an hour and teammates were trained to use the GT3 the same morning.
RESULTS: GENCO Supply Chain Solutions
Shortly after the trial, Sears purchased the GT3 and continues to reap the benefits today. GENCO Supply Chain Solutions' compacting teammates send the GT3 with empty carts to line teammates, who then replace the empty carts with full carts to deliver back to the compactor. Using the GT3, teammates stay focused on their primary work, uninterrupted, and walk only 5-10 meters to the GT3 to swap carts instead of 380 meters to the compactor.
At GENCO Supply Chain Solutions, the GT3:
