AMRs for grocery delivery warehouse

The deployment represents the commitment of Geek+ and Circle K Hong Kong to build supply chain resilience using technology and support customers with a wide selection of products and excellent services.

The 140,000 sq ft DC handles the deliveries of more than 300 Circle K convenience stores in Hong Kong, serving over 600,000 customers daily. With large volumes bound for different destinations and a wide selection of products ranging from small everyday items to food and cold goods, Circle K Hong Kong wanted to automate its warehouse and streamline large-scale logistics processes.

In January 2021, the company decided to invest in 100 Geek+ AMRs, to ensure the effective daily handling of over 1,000,000 products.

AMRs will automate many time-consuming and strenuous tasks traditionally performed by warehouse employees such as finding and moving goods around the warehouse. In turn, it creates a safer work environment for employees while improving overall employee productivity. Driven by intelligent software and QR-code technology, the network of robots will flexibly move racks of ordered goods from a designated area for inventory to employees positioned at workstations where they will finalise the picking process guided by the user-friendly interface. It improves the overall picking accuracy and efficiency. The flexibility of movable robot-compatible racking, combined with the ability to choose the optimal route and organise inventory densely according to real-time demand, will improve space utilisation and bring more flexible supply chain operations. Additionally, AMRs can operate 24/7 to better support periods of high throughput demand.

Circle K Hong Kong senior supply chain manager Bruce Ma, says: “With substantial challenges facing our team, we aim to improve customers’ and employees’ experiences by reinventing our supply chain using automation technologies.”

For more information, visit www.geekplus.com