3PL’s mobile robot fleet helps manage disruption and growth

DM Fulfillment Services is a third-party logistics (3PL) company providing omni-channel fulfillment and distribution solutions for manufacturers, merchants and trading partners. Business has grown significantly in recent years, and in 2018, the company almost tripled its total square footage through a series of building expansions. At the same time, the company re-evaluated its picking and packing operations. To optimize current facility layout and remain flexible going forward, the company deployed a fleet of mobile robots to support picking and packing of small packages.

Founded eight years ago, DM Fulfillment is one of two subsidiaries. The second is Supplies Network, which has 30 years of experience distributing a range of printer-related products, including toner, ink and copiers. DM Fulfillment now operates five highly automated fulfillment centers.

Greg Welchans, president and CMO of distribution management, identifies three main reasons for pursuing mobile robots. First, he sought to improve productivity and pick velocity to remain competitive with other online retailers. Second was to alleviate the pressure of hiring employees. It’s only becoming harder find human capital to pick product, Welchans says, so the third objective to reduce training time was that much more important.

Before deploying the new mobile robots (6 River Systems), the distribution business had been handling roughly 95% small packages. This required very little floor space at facility docks since conveyor extended right into truck trailers. These layouts were challenged when the company started selling a lot of nonconveyable hardware—some the size of washing machines.

“We needed a lot more floor space at the docks to stage product for delivery and receiving, and conveyors got in the way of that,” Welchans says. “Because we can reconfigure the robots on the fly, it gives us a whole lot of flexibility on how we ultimately fill the trucks.”

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has seen an influx of customers who previously sold their products on Fulfillment By Amazon, which recently suspended processing of “non-essential” items. Automation has enabled the company to keep warehouses open while efficiently onboarding new customers, Welchans says.

“People come in every day, and thankfully we’ve been able to keep them employed. If it weren’t for these capabilities our employees would be hurting right now,” he adds. “Automation has allowed us to stay in business, and not just that but to stay efficient as we have ever been.” Each warehouse is a replica of the other, with redundancy of inventory and procedures. People working in one know how to operate in another. If someone gets sick, it could result in a closure of several days. If that were to happen, the network can automatically reroute orders to another location to continue business as usual.

Unlike with fixed infrastructure, the robots can be shipped between facilities to increase velocity. When they arrive, each robot will automatically connect to the network and be tapped into the system to begin work. It’s as simple as turning on a phone, Welchans says.

DM has deployed 113 units throughout their distribution centers, and the first facility has already seen a 38% increase in pick velocity. It takes around 30 minutes to train a new employee on the system. The robots have also contributed to an improved turnover rate that is now less than 10%.