6 River Systems (6RS), the provider of fully collaborative mobile robotics solutions, announces general availability of Mobile Sort, a new solution which enables warehouse operators to intelligently generate and fulfill batched orders using 6RS’ robots, mobile sort stations and cloud-based software enhanced with machine learning. 6RS will debut Mobile Sort on April 8 at ProMat 2019.
 
E-commerce and retail sales continuously grow each year, yet warehouse operators struggle to find and hire enough warehouse associates to maintain with the work. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that U.S. warehouses need to hire an additional 452,000 workers between 2018-19 amid record-low unemployment nationwide, just to fulfill the growing demand. Mobile Sort is designed to assist operators rise to meet peak demands and challenges.
 
“Each-picking operations are under bigger-than-ever marketplace pressure to pick a lot faster and scale for peak seasons with fewer seasonal hires,” Jerome Dubois, 6RS co-CEO and co-founder said. “6 River Systems’ Mobile Sort enhances throughput with a picking and sorting solution that is certainly mobile and flexible, assisting operators who are crunched for time, capital and resources balance performance and cycle times.”
 
Mobile Sort stations consist of smart kiosks, mobile put-to-light walls with validation sensors which work with 6RS’ cloud-based software and 6RS collaborative robots, called “Chucks.” 6RS’ intelligent allocation engine continuously makes highly optimized batches of work which group orders into the most effective picking jobs, decreasing walking. Chucks deliver empty totes to associates in active picking places and direct associates to complete picks. Totes are then delivered to take-off points, where they are sorted into orders using the Mobile Sort stations.
 
Equipped with product images and put lights, Mobile Sort stations furthermore assist associates to sort items into customer orders at industry-leading speed and accuracy. The entire solution, from robots to sortation and packout stations, is operated by 6RS’ machine learning which moves efficient picking and system performance. Not only does Mobile Sort improve pick rates, but also, it is used to consolidate picks across different areas or automation into discrete orders; as an example across mezzanine levels or from goods-to-person automation solutions.
 
“Mobile Sort is simple to install and breakdown, and does not require any permanent infrastructure,” Gillan Hawkes, 6RS VP of Product said. “Unlike regular automation, Mobile Sort can be easily scaled up or down to manage seasonality and to reclaim valuable floor space.”
 
With the addition of Mobile Sort, 6RS extends the value that their solutions offer buyers — from their collaborative mobile robots, to order allocation, picking, sorting and pack-out. These solutions address present gaps in the market today, especially for third party logistics, B2B, fast-growing e-commerce and omni-channel retail operations.
 
“Autonomous mobile robots have done a fantastic job of attacking the low-hanging fruit in fulfillment processes — movement of material” said John Santagate, Research Director for Commercial Service Robotics at IDC. “As the innovative vendors in this space have started to scale deployments, they're now also developing complementary products that extend the value of the AMRs in the fulfillment process. Mobile Sort from 6 River Systems is a good example of an AMR vendor extending the abilities and value of their products and services ”.
 
The Mobile Sort solution will likely be deployed throughout leading 3PL and retail warehouse operations in time for peak 2019.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com