Japanese beauty and cosmetics company Pola Orbis has streamlined its warehouse operations with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) from California-based ForwardX Robotics.

With over 100 cosmetics stores to replenish and an inventory of more than 500 SKUs to manage, the company turned to ForwardX Robotics, which customised 16 of its Flex 300-LS AMRs equipped with built-in weighing scales to cater to the warehouse’s operational requirements.

The warehouse shelves are divided into sections, each designated to specific picking workers. Operators concentrate on material collection within their designated picking island. AMRs then navigate the optimal route to the assigned island, guiding operators to retrieve materials from their designated areas. These materials are placed in the AMR’s onboard store material box. Once all the goods are picked, the AMRs autonomously proceed to the next workstation, exchanging loaded frames, replenishing empty ones and perpetuating a seamless workflow.

As a result, Pola Orbis has achieved a 30% reduction in worker travel distance, 25% reduction in labour costs, and a 10% decrease in logistics costs. The transformation enhanced order fulfilment precision, reduced transportation downtime, and boosted overall productivity in warehouse operations.

The weighing scales are powered by the AMRs themselves, eliminating the need for manual recharging; the weights of the goods are also seamlessly verified during the picking process, ensuring picking accuracy of 99.99% with over 99.9% uptime, thus achieving a pick-to-go operation.

Using picking AMRs that boast heavy payload capacities of 300 to 600kg, ForwardX (www.forwardx.com) provides tailored options, combining RFID scanners, onboard weighing scales, and other accessories to meet business demands. The company has more than 3000 AMRs installed in over 150 facilities across four continents.

Established in 1929, Pola Orbis (www.po-holdings.co.jp) is a Japanese company that develops and manufactures cosmetics products.