Robots, wearables, and artificial intelligence promise to increase warehouse efficiency, but operators still need to consider human workers in their optimization plans, according to Kenco. Gamification is one approach that combines technology and people for continuous improvement, noted Kristi Montgomery. She is vice president of innovation, research, and development at Kenco.
“Right before COVID-19, those of us in the innovation space saw gamification as something with high possibility, but the information was not yet there,” Montgomery told Automated Warehouse. “We’ve evolved considerably with digital signage, real-time availability, and wearable RF [radio frequency] technology, which allow associates to see in real time where they are.”
“Kenco has always been driven by lean principles, and we saw gamification as a way to take our existing labor management infrastructure, whether that’s systems or programs, and really take it to the next level,” she added. “We want to give employees the ability to impact their own destinies by adding things like pay for performance.”
Kenco said it focuses on supporting customer needs with innovative, connected solutions. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based third-party logistics provider (3PL) supports distribution, e-commerce fulfillment, transportation management, material handling equipment, and customized supply chains.
Gamification builds on metrics
While younger generations are familiar with gamification and incentives, Kenco needed reliable metrics for people who work in different roles, recalled Montgomery.
“If I am on the inbound side of things, I am measured by number of pallets received per hour,” she explained. “And there’s an inventory person who is measured by how many cycle counts they complete per hour. Those two are apples and oranges from a metrics perspective, right?”
“But there’s a standard that each of us have to meet, and so what we’re measuring and how we’re normalizing it is percentage to standard,” Montgomery added. “So am I at 100% of my standard? Am I at 90% of my standard? Therefore, we’re equals when it comes to how we’re performing against the standard.”
Kenco has a team of engineers developing standards for each of its facilities and activities, she said. It then builds the normalized data into the labor management system, which allows workers to see how they are performing against one another as well as their own records.
Wearable and stationary RF scanners can identify the locations of inventory. At the same time, the labor management system must take into account where robots and workers are so that any orchestration is well-balanced, she said.
“If there’s a glitch in the ASRS and a bin doesn’t arrive for a person to pick from, they’re not going to be penalized for that time because it wasn’t in their control,” Montgomery said. “We’ve deployed a warehouse execution system [WES] that is AI-enabled, and it sits between the different pieces of software for systems such as a standalone Locus fleet manager, an AutoStore, or a conveyor or sorter.”
AI needs human oversight
“AI is going to make it so that no one person or piece of equipment is waiting on something else, but it still needs humans to inform it,” she said. Montgomery cited the example of an appliance customer that had complex parts that needed to be picked up and clamped together in a facility of 1.5 million sq. ft. (more than 139,00 sq. m).
“We didn’t want our people running all over the place dropping things off in such a huge facility, so we let the AI engine train with the most tenured lift-truck drivers,” she said. “As new people came on, we just called it ‘pick path optimizer,’ but it really allowed them to get the that tribal knowledge that sat in the best guy’s head on their mounted RF screens so they would know exactly what order to pick things up and to drop them off.”
The company has rolled out gamification to its sites and seen a return on investment (ROI) in six to 12 months, said Montgomery.
Save the date for the 2026 Robotics SummitKenco partners with GreyOrange for orchestration
Kenco last month partnered with GreyOrange Inc. and said it plans to deploy the GreyMatter Multi-Process Orchestration Platform (MPOP) across its network. Fleets of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) from GreyOrange’s Certified Ranger Network will support the deployment.
GreyMatter is different from traditional warehouse management systems (WMS) in that it can optimize the flow of work from receiving and putaway through replenishment, case picking, and order fulfillment, claimed Roswell, Ga.-based GreyOrange. The AI-driven platform orchestrates people, processes, and robots across complex and evolving distribution environments, it said.
“This partnership accelerates our ability to deliver the most advanced, efficient, and scalable solutions to our customers,” stated Montgomery. “With GreyOrange’s GreyMatter orchestration platform, we can optimize every fulfillment process while maintaining the flexibility our customers expect from a 3PL partner.”
Kenco and GreyOrange said they are initially focusing on case picking. GreyMatter dynamically assigns pick zones in real time, continuously balancing workloads, reducing idle time, and enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks.
The partners are also automating point-to-point (P2P) pallet movement, eliminating non-value-added horizontal travel for forklifts such as running empty clamps, staging pallets, or idling on the dock. Lift operators can then focus on vertical tasks, replicating an ASRS without the constraints of fixed infrastructure, said Kenco.
“Modern warehouses often have four or more different classes of robots working together with employees on the floor,” said Akash Gupta, CEO of GreyOrange. “In these increasingly complex environments, our GreyMatter platform for orchestration and dynamic decision-making ensures that 3PLs can operate at peak efficiency and realize the full value of their investments in automation.”
