60 robots bring stock to workers at Baycrew's

DHL Supply Chain has put an automated storage and retrieval system to work at Baycrew's Kashiwa-shonan Logistics Center in Japan. The company says 60 robots manage approximately 10,800 bins inside the existing facility.

For incoming stock, robots bring empty bins to workstations for people to fill. For outgoing orders, they retrieve inventory and bring it to workers for picking and sorting. This is goods-to-person automation, not a warehouse operating without people.

DHL says the system increases storage density and reduces walking. Its account does not give independently measured throughput or before-and-after productivity figures.