UK warehouse robotics partnership targets SMEs

The partnership with Hikrobot aims to make robotic automation more accessible for small and medium businesses, as well as larger organisations. 

The Chinese manufacturer develops some of the most advanced industrial technology available including robots, machine vision and industrial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). 

OWR is sister company of OrderWise, one of the UK’s leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) and warehouse management software (WMS) providers.

At launch, a range of four Hikrobot goods-to-person, a-to-b and production line solutions are available. The line-up includes Hikrobot’s new CTU robot and omnidirectional Forklift Mobile Robot (FMR). 

Fully integrated with OWR software, sales orders can trigger robots to collect specific racks; and manufacturing requests can automatically mobilise the production line. Robots jump into action as soon as an instruction is received reducing delay and improving order accuracy.

David Hallam, CEO of OWR said: “Ecommerce has experienced a huge surge as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has brought into stark relief the tremendous resilience of the supply chain; but it’s also identified areas where investment could significantly increase capacity and productivity. 

“Thanks to our new partnership with Hikrobot, an integrated warehouse solution with the world’s best robotic automation is no-longer out of reach for many. Faster fulfillment and increased accuracy is now possible without the need for expensive infrastructure and it’s all achievable whilst reducing operational costs too.”

At the end of 2019, Hikrobot had deployed 2000 robots outside of China.