Store / Facility Replenishment

Ocado Intelligent Automation (OIA) offers an advanced automated mixed-case fulfillment solution designed for medium to high-throughput facilities, enabling seamless stock replenishment for stores and distribution centers.

This solution seamlessly integrates a number of our systems to streamline replenishment, from storing palletized and depalletized cases to building aisle-ready, mixed case pallets. Dense cubic ASRS storage, automated de/palletization, automated or manual pallet stores and pallet-mover AMRs all work in unison, while advanced execution software orchestrates and sequences every step.

The OIA case handling solution ensures a coordinated, efficient replenishment process that enhances operational speed, accuracy, and productivity. The process is as follows:

• Pallet-mover AMR collects palletized cases from the inbound dock and moves them to an induct station for induction into the ASRS grid.
• If stock is too large, heavy, slow or fast-moving for storage in the grid, these exceptions are moved to a pallet store zone.
• Empty bins stored within the grid are brought to induct stations by robots.
• Robotic arms carefully decant cases from each pallet into the bin, which is then inducted back into the grid.

• Cases are fetched from stock and presented at a pick workstation.
• Cases are transferred to a pallet via robotic arm, combining mixed cases in one build.
• A pallet mover AMR collects the pallet and moves it to outbound to begin its last-mile journey.

Manual Case Picking with Porter AMR

• For stock exceptions remaining in the pallet store and not inducted into the grid, cases are picked manually by your employees onto the Porter robot.
• Advanced software algorithms may then dynamically route the robot to an employee in a different zone within the pallet store for further picking.
• Once the pallet building process has been completed, the robot is routed to the dispatch zone.
  
  

Person-to-goods AMRs offer a dynamic, medium-throughput solution for replenishment, with ‘cobots’ working alongside your employees to reduce in-aisle congestion by expediting replenishment tasks.

OIA’s range of OMRS person-to-goods AMR solutions, including Chuck and Porter, provide flexible replenishment for 3PLs operating smaller distribution centers. Designed for lower to medium throughput within existing infrastructure, these AMRs help maintain stock availability, preventing short-ship issues and ensuring reliable fulfillment for clients.

Chuck is ideal for lower-volume needs, while Porter supports higher throughput operations. Powered by OIA’s FES software and supported by the Mobile Fulfillment App (MFA), these intelligent systems optimize workflows, enabling efficient, scalable replenishment without costly infrastructure changes.

The process is follows:

• An employee places cases for replenishment onto the AMR
• The AMR autonomously carries cases to the pick area for case replenishment. The employee is directed to the first task.
• The AMR directs the employee through replenishment, reducing walking and ensuring accuracy.
• The AMR sends a confirmation and any exception information to the orchestration software, and the employee moves to the next task.
• If required, cases can be picked to pallet and moved via a pallet-mover AMR