AutoStore AS today announced the release of Router, a newly developed software suite for its cube-based order-fulfillment system that it claimed can increase robot productivity and efficiency by up to 40%.
“The launch of Router could not have come at a more crucial time in our industry,” stated Karl Johan Lier, CEO of AutoStore. “This revolutionary software, available to all AutoStore users, will change the order-fulfillment landscape at a time when the ability to adapt quickly means everything. We recognize the importance of anticipating future challenges.”
Nedre Vats, Norway-based AutoStore was founded in 1996 and said its Cube Storage Automation is the densest and one of the fastest order-fulfillment systems in existence. The company has installed more than 500 systems in 30 countries over a wide range of industries. All systems are designed, installed, and serviced by AutoStore’s network of partners, or qualified system integrators. The company has offices in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, South Korea, and Japan.
Router intended to help retail adapt to change
“This pandemic has demonstrated to us that the retail and e-commerce market will never be the same as it was,” Lier said. “With Black Friday and the holiday season approaching, warehouses and micro-fulfillment centers will need the flexibility and high-speed efficiency that Router can deliver. We’re excited to unveil the biggest development in AutoStore history in years.”
Based on over 20 years of research and development, the Router software can be implemented in any AutoStore system, whether a large-scale distribution center or a back-of-store micro-fulfillment center. The company touted its technology’s flexibility and claimed that users could improve total system throughput by up to 4x.
Router uses computer algorithms to continuously calculate and recalculate in real time the most efficient path for AutoStore robots to move and deliver orders inside the company’s high-density grid system. Every second, the software analyzes and dynamically adapts to operational changes, accelerating the fulfillment process and maintaining a continuously optimized flow of order movement, said AutoStore.
As a result, the system is able to process and adapt to continuously changing events happening outside the grid, such as new orders coming in, order cancellations, and movement of fulfillment personnel, the company said.
“This year has taught us all at AutoStore to adapt to new situations quickly and with an eye to innovation,” said Carlos Fernandez, chief product officer at AutoStore. “This has been years in the making, but the new software has never been more necessary than right now.”
“Highly efficient with increased flexibility, Router is designed to meet the changing needs of our customers – no matter what the future may bring,” he said. Developed at the company’s headquarters in Norway, the software is now available worldwide, said AutoStore.
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