Berkshire Grey announced the general availability of its next generation mobile robotic platform, BG FLEX.
Designed for customers who desire high density buffering capabilities and enhanced goods-to-person and goods-to-robot picking stations in a single, modular package. It can induct, transport, sort, sequence, and fulfill items, cases, and containers of merchandise.
The solution is built around Berkshire Grey’s industrial grade mobile robots and controlled by Berkshire Grey’s workflow software.
Berkshire Grey is a 2022 RBR50 honoree for its robotic put wall, and Berkshire continues to innovate with new solutions.
“Retail enterprises that approach their supply chains holistically can save millions of dollars and take care of customers faster and more profitably by investing in mobile robotic automation,” said Steve Johnson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Berkshire Grey. “This generation of our AI-enabled mobile robotic platform harnesses mobile swarm technology, integrated buffer, and robotic picking along with advances in software and hardware performance that transform fulfillment operations at their core.”
Berkshire Grey’s BG FLEX mobile robotic platform transforms fulfillment operations by –
- Reducing store truck unload and aisle replenishment times with granular presorting.
- Enabling seamless curbside pick-up and extended BOPIS product selection.
- Facilitating delivery-route alignment for quick commerce and home delivery.
- Maximizing transport utilization in delivery networks.
- Reducing reshelving and maximizing inventory pick station utilization for eCommerce.
- Automatically integrating resale-ready returned goods with existing inventory.
- Storing and consolidating partial orders together with filled orders for just-in-time transport loading.
- Storing, picking, and sorting, with industry-leading goods conveyability.
- Integrating with Berkshires Grey’s family of AI-enabled robotic picking solutions.
“More so than other warehouse robotics vendors, Berkshire Grey addresses the intense challenges thrust upon warehouses struggling with essential consumer product deliveries,” said Sankara Narayanan, Senior Industry Analyst, at Frost & Sullivan. “BG customers are well-positioned to embrace new, secular shifts in both consumer demand and labor constraints.”
The next generation of Berkshire Grey’s mobile robotic platform builds on the success of its first-generation systems which are in use at major retailers. Here, hundreds of mobile robots sort and sequence tens of thousands of items, cases, and reusable containers on a daily basis. Trucks are optimally loaded based on each customer’s preferred strategy, resulting in shorter unload times and significant improvements in store operations for product put away. The new features of the BG FLEX platform – including high density buffer and multiple picking options – extend the functionality of the system to provide end-to-end fulfillment and sortation processing in an optimally sized footprint appropriate for any operational environment.
