Geek+ robots streamline Banggood warehouses

  • September 14, 2020
  • Steve Rogerson

Banggood is using autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) from Chinese firm Geek+ to power its growing cross-border ecommerce business with automatic sorting operations.

Geek+ has implemented the large-scale AMR sorting system to support Banggood’s network of 37 international warehouses with deliveries bound for over 200 countries.

In light of the accelerated shift towards ecommerce, Banggood has faced challenges of rapid growth in online sales, unpredictable demand, labour shortages, and higher requirements for safer operations. With labour-intense operations often subject to inaccurate sorting, the company turned to Geek+ to automate its warehouse using its FleetSort offering.

“Today, ecommerce players need flexible solutions that allow them to scale operations in line with business growth and cope with unpredictable demand,” said Kelvin Zhang, Geek+ product director. “FleetSort automates the sorting process using AMRs to bring ordered goods from workstations to sorting destination following a simple chutes layout. To scale operations, companies can easily adjust the number of robots and sorting destinations and, since there’s no need for platform development, the solution can be immediately set up into existing facilities, saving considerable infrastructure costs.”

Apart from flexibility, another priority of global businesses is safety, particularly in light of the on-going global pandemic. Safe warehouse operations require strict measures to ensure employee protection and prevent products and packages from being contaminated. FleetSort can be integrated with moving robots that will automatically change cages of sorted items once filled, providing around-the-clock, unmanned and safe operations.

“After the implementation, we have seen significant improvements in the average efficiency of employees and 99.99% sorting accuracy while reducing the overall reliance on manual labour,” said Wenfa Liu, director of Banggood warehousing. “This has enabled us to meet higher customer service requirements of our B2C business while providing cost-efficient and safe operations. We’re also impressed by the level of customisation provided, as FleetSort can automate sorting based on shipping routes, helping us continue to cover global markets and meet various international requirements for transportation channels.”

FleetSort uses S-series robots to sort small or middle-size parcels. Using algorithms, the system monitors robot traffic and balances the task of each robot to increase sorting efficiency. The robots are adapted to work with various automation options, from manual packaging to conveyor docking and robot arm stations. FleetSort increases the use of the warehouse space by intelligently distributing the destination chutes layout on the ground.

Geek+ has 300 global customers and has deployed more than 10,000 robots worldwide. Founded in 2015, the company has 800 employees and is headquartered in Beijing, with offices in Germany, UK, USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.