Problem
Starlinks, a Saudi Arabian company that provides end-to-end supply chain management and operations, operates over 162,000 climate-controlled fulfillment centers. The company handles everything from e-commerce fulfillment, international shipping, e-commerce last mile and customized delivery.
The massive company recently opened a 37,000 sq-m (400,000 ft²) fulfillment center in Saudi Arabia. As with all of its fulfillment centers, Starlinks wanted to maximize the potential of the space with as much storage capacity as possible while still maintaining high efficiency.
A fully or partially automated fulfillment center can significantly reduce the manual labor needed to keep the center running, while also processing more packages than a fully manual fulfillment center.
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Solution
Geek+ offers robotic fulfillment systems that can be implemented in just 1-3 months. Its systems include a range of mobile robots, like its smart forklift robots, moving robots, sorting robots and goods-to-person picking robots. Customers and able to pick the combination of these autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that will work best for their workflow.
“We are proud that our robotic solutions were chosen to power the most technologically advanced fulfillment center in Saudi Arabia,” Brian Lee, Head of EMEA at Geek+, said. “The Middle East is a fast-growing logistics platform with strong demand for better throughput and faster fulfillment to meet consumer requirements, for which our solutions are designed. We are excited for what the future holds with Starlinks.”
For its newest fulfillment center, Starlinks utilized Geek+’s P40 picking AMR, S20C sorting AMR and RS8 RobotShuttle. All together, Starlinks’ new center uses over 250 mobile robots.
Geek+ offers all of its robots under a Robots as a Service (RaaS) model. This model allows customers to automate their operations without forking over a large chunk of capital immediately. Instead, customers pay per item picked or for every hour the robot works.
Results
With robots from Geek+, the fulfillment center has a capacity for over 12 million units. And, with two Geek+ systems implemented together, the center can process 3.6 million orders per month.
“Our new solution comprises a pallet storage and handling storage system, a manual pick tower as well as a robotics solution allowing us to cater to a wide range of customer requirements and operations complemented by micro fulfillment centers distributed strategically across Saudi Arabia,” Salah Taha, the Director of Operations at Starlinks, said. “Advanced automation and big data analytics enable us to better track and manage inventory, predict demand, and optimize routes for transportation thus helping us to increase efficiency, reduce operating cost and provide seamless services to our customers. We are committed to driving further innovation in the logistics and supply chain industry in the region and reducing lead time to e-commerce shoppers.”
