HAI Robotics Deploys Case-Handling Robots for U.K. Warehouse Operator

November 25, 2021

HAI Robotics, which develops autonomous case-handling robotics systems (ACR) for warehouse logistics operations, has announced the deployment of its first project in the U.K. with Chinese cross-border warehouse operator WINIT.

The project, deployed in a 10,000-square-meter warehouse in Tamworth, Staffordshire, provides 120,000 storage locations with a shelving height of 4.3 meters. The company said that by deploying 100 HAIPICK A42 robots and 16 on-conveyor Picking Workstations in the warehouse, goods-handling efficiency is improved three to four times than manual work with a daily handling volume of up to 50,000 pieces.

Warehouse owner WINIT is a Shanghai-based provider of overall solutions for cross-border e-commerce, and runs overseas warehousing distribution services in Australia, the U.S. and several European countries. The company said it saw its warehouse throughput spike, comfortably accommodating the rush of order-fulfillment requests from merchants around the world, driven by the online shopping boom.

Like many warehouse operators, WINIT was dealing with staffing shortages and the rising hiring cost for local laborers. Since their warehouses are often located near commercial hubs in industrialized countries, they found it difficult to maintain a stable workforce, even with above-average level wages, the company said.

An additional challenge is the large number of SKUs owned by different merchants, which could range from consumer electronics to baby toys, HAI Robotics said. “To meet consumers’ growing demands for short parcel delivery time, furnishing a warehouse with robots that can handle complex order-fulfillment tasks can be a rewarding decision,” the company said.

HAI said the A42 robot can handle picking and sorting with eight loads in one movement, and that one worker can handle about 450 pieces of goods per hour, which is about three to four times faster than manual work. The system also improved storage density by 130%, with spaces from 0.25m to 6.5-meters high being fully utilized. HAI said the system boasted a 99.99% picking and sorting accuracy. 

“We were primarily obliged to provide an ACR system,” said Kane Luo, vice president of sales at HAI Robotics. “However, we’ve taken into consideration the whole process from inbounds to packaging of outbound goods. The workstations were also ergonomically redesigned to overseas standards.”

For additional details on the project, visit this HAI Robotics website.