Seven months after launching its stand-alone e-commerce unit, Saks Fifth Avenue has started shipping online orders from a high-tech Pennsylvania warehouse, deploying dozens of autonomous robots programmed to help workers find Giambattista Valli gowns and Christian Louboutin pumps.
With its robots and new facility, both operated by GXO Logistics, Saks is aiming to keep up with skyrocketing online sales, reports The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 28, 2021). Like many other retailers, Saks has been flooded by stay-at-home shoppers since Covid.
“Advances in robotics, coupled with AI and machine learning capabilities, have created exciting possibilities in automated warehouse design,” said GXO’s CIO. Many of these advances enable fulfillment-center operators to boost efficiency and speed up deliveries, he said. “Technology is enabling greater precision in inventory management. Pairing workers with robots is a winning combination.”
Robots being used by Saks—known as cobots, because they collaborate with human workers—stand 4 feet tall and move about the warehouse on wheels. They are equipped with large computer screens, which are used to display images of items that workers need to gather for an order. The robots rapidly cross-reference incoming orders with a map of product locations in the warehouse and quickly guide workers to the items. From there, workers pick up the items and route them to the appropriate delivery bay.
The system helps move goods through the fulfillment process twice as fast as manual processes alone. That kind of speed will be crucial for online retailers, like Saks, as they gird for what is expected to be a busy holiday shopping season.
Over the past 2 years the e-commerce unit’s sales increased 82%. Even as vaccines make it safer to return to physical stores, many customers are sticking to online shopping habits picked up during pandemic lockdowns.
Classroom discussion questions:
- How does this warehouse differ from that of an Amazon center? (Hint: see the Global Company Profile for Ch. 12 in your Heizer/Render/Munson text)
- Describe the technology used at this Saks facility.