Korber and Locus Robotics to Enable Evo to Enhance Ecommerce Order Fulfillment

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, evo faced serious challenges navigating rapid growth in demand at their warehouse as well as peak seasons - pushing the company to the limits of its capacity.

FREMONT, CA: Körber and long-time strategic partner Locus Robotics, the global leader in warehouse robotics, together are enabling evo to dramatically improve e-commerce order fulfillment and productivity by deploying Locus's autonomous mobile robot (AMR) solution alongside Kӧrber's warehouse management system (WMS).

"The automation solution from Locus Robotics and Körber was one of the first technologies that I have seen come into the warehouse where the team was excited from the get-go," said Chris Christiansen, Outbound Manager, evo. "The improvement of speed and efficiency is impressive, allowing us to boost productivity and efficiency ahead of the 2020 holiday season while keeping our workers safe amid COVID-19 concerns. We are also well equipped with the flexibility to scale up and down on a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) principle."

Due to hard-to-find temporary and seasonal workers, as well as a desire for improved productivity in its fulfillment operations, evo specifically struggled to keep up with e-commerce orders. Additionally, evo had to consider COVID-related safety and social distancing guidelines while designing their work processes.

evo turned to Körber, their trusted supply chain partner since 2014. Körber had already delivered the warehouse management system (WMS) and would now provide a multi-bot warehouse automation solution with Locus that allowed the required flexibility and efficiency.

Körber and Locus implemented the AMR solution in just 53 days. This allowed evo to be ready to meet and exceed growing order volumes with zero downtime or disruption. The project started with ten robots that move independently through the warehouse, collaboratively supporting pickers by eliminating unproductive walking time and physical labor. Further, the visual imaging of the product to be picked helped accelerate pick rates.

To support peak season, evo added seven additional robots for expected higher volumes at the facility, using Locus's innovative RaaS model. This is managed via Kӧrber's WMS.