Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Rick Faulk, CEO at Locus Robotics:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Locus Robotics?
A: Locus Robotics’ revolutionary, multi-bot solution incorporates powerful and intelligent autonomous mobile robots that operate collaboratively with human workers to dramatically improve piece-handling productivity 2 – 3x, with less labor compared to traditional piece handling systems. This award-winning solution helps retailers, 3PLs, and specialty warehouses efficiently meet and exceed the increasingly complex and demanding requirements of fulfillment environments, easily integrating into existing warehouse infrastructures and scaling as demand grows, without disrupting workflows, helping operators to drive the digital warehouse transformation. Locus currently serves over 40 customers and is deployed in more than 80 warehouses around the globe.
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Q: Can you describe a typical use case for your solution?
A: Locus is purpose-designed to meet the needs of the exploding omnichannel ecommerce and warehouse fulfillment environment that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Warehouse operators, who were already facing a labor availability problem have seen it become even more pronounced, are seeking to lower costs for recruiting, training, and retaining labor. Locus allows companies who cannot find enough labor to meet demand to optimize their existing workforce and improving overall productivity while lowering costs.
Locus is ideal for picking and fulfilling high-volume orders for a wide range of consumer products, industrial parts, health care items and medical devices, automotive, aerospace, and more.
By eliminating unproductive and wasteful walking time and pushing heavy carts, Locus improves worker productivity over 2X while improving the ergonomics of the workplace to make this difficult work easier – and faster. Because Locus brings the work to the worker, workers are focused on what they do best – picking.
Locus dramatically improves worker productivity 2x to 3x, enabling higher pick rates, lower labor costs, and faster cycle times.
Q: How has COVID-19 affected on your company?
A: Because of the pandemic, Locus Robotics has seen a tremendous jump in volume for digital native brand customers, as well as our industrial, healthcare, medical devices, and pharmacy accounts. For example, a major pharmacy retail customer in the UK has consistently seen daily e-commerce volumes that rival those of Cyber Week.
Companies across all segments are dramatically accelerated their digital strategy to incorporate an online ordering and fulfillment component by 5 years, putting increased pressure on warehouse fulfillment to meet growing demand while managing a critical labor shortage. To meet this challenge, they are looking toward automation that is easy to deploy quickly and gives a fast ROI. Locus can be deployed in as little as 4 weeks and delivers an ROI in just 9 months.
Many customers are already expanding their warehouse automation and pick areas to meet the sustained shift to e-commerce, even after we emerge from our pandemic shelters. Another customer – a global athletic apparel company – has also shifted their priorities to be a primarily online, favoring e-commerce over retail because of efficiency and speed to delivery.
Locus naturally helps with worker health safety and social distancing. Because LocusBots do the traveling and bring work to associates, associates only need to interact with the bots and minimally with other workers. This helps minimize the risk of virus transmission while maximizing productivity. Locus is the only AMR solution that naturally promotes required social distancing without sacrificing high levels of productivity. By having associates pick in zones and letting the robots do the transporting of the items, associates avoid inefficient overlaps that slow down picking speeds to effectively minimize person-to-person contact.
Q: You’ve recently raised $150 Million in Series E funding; can you tell us something more?
A: Locus will use the new investment to further expand its market opportunities around the globe and support ongoing research and development (R&D) to grow and enhance its award-winning, innovative warehouse technology solution.
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Q: What can we expect from Locus Robotics in next 12 months?
A: The need for reliable, cost-effective automation that can be quickly deployed in both existing and greenfield sites is dramatically increasing as consumer demand explodes. Locus will be announcing even more deployments within a wide range of verticals and segments and featuring the many of the world’s most important brands.
Last Updated on March 20, 2021
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