You haven’t had a season’s greetings until you’ve seen this one.
Kiva Systems wishes people glad tidings with its robots dancing to “The Nutcracker.”
The video is 1 ½ minutes of amusement that grabs your attention, much like Kiva’s bots themselves.
People use the words “squat,” “stout” and “boxy” to describe the battery-powered orange robots.
They use words like “game changing,” “breakthrough” and “revolutionary” to describe the system.
Kiva, based in Woburn, Mass., turned order picking around. Instead of pickers going to a shelf and getting the item they need, the bots bring the ordered item to them.
The inventory is mobile and the picker is stationery.
This means productivity can easily double, perhaps quadruple, according to Kiva. And because system components are mobile and modular, the system is flexible – able to add new products without disrupting operations.
Flexibility, especially to add new products without
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Seventy robots now work in Zappos’ non-shoe merchandise warehouse. This equals 20 percent of the online shoe company’s inventory – which includes accessories such as socks and apparel.
In that sector, productivity jumped 100 percent, said Anthony Vicars, director of fulfillment for Zappos.
The area where the bots work is a separate part of the distribution center, and looks deceptively quiet, he said.
There is less lighting and noise, and it is spot-cooled where humans work.
“Even though it doesn’t look like much is going on, it is,” Vicars said.
“Our maintenance team loves it, because they only have to wipe off the optical scanners,” he said.
Workers with the most seniority named their robots, and received a birth certificate.
“It changed the work that they do, but not the number of people here,” Vicars said, because Zappos is still growing – although at a slower rate – even in this economy.
“All it really did was slow down the rate at which we hire,” Vicars said.
He called the system “intuitive” and “extremely easy” to train people to do.
When an ice storm prevented the pick crew from getting to work, the people who did make it in were picking and packing orders in a half-hour, he said.
“Many customers report that their employees prefer to work in Kiva than with conventional automation or manual processes,” said Mitch Rosenberg, Kiva’s vice president of marketing. At some of those companies, workers compete to work in the Kiva zone, he said.
“Humans focus on activities that only humans can do fast and well, while reducing work inefficiencies such as walking and waiting,” he said.
It’s also more ergonomic, with fewer injuries in Kiva work zones.
“Unlike many work processes, the robot-based workflows easily adapt to human needs; for example, humans can log out at any time to use a restroom or get a snack and get right back to work after they are done without disrupting the productivity of other workers. And every customer reports that humans working with Kiva robots have more fun with their work,” Rosenberg said.
Kiva employees have fun, too. They can wear jeans, do yoga and play basketball.
“Kiva employees work very hard and put in long hours, and cultural elements like these make this work environment sustainable,” Rosenberg said.
The activities let workers have fun, reduce stress, stay in shape and stay connected with friends, he said.
Kiva wouldn’t disclose how many warehouses use its system, but the Gap, Walgreens and Staples, as well as Zappos, are customers.
Existing warehouses also can be adapted for Kiva. The system has been installed into more existing warehouses with conventional automation than new buildings, Rosenberg said.
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