Locus Robotics partners with DHL to deploy up to 2,000 robots

Autonomous mobile robot maker Locus Robotics has signed DHL Supply Chain as a client in a multi-million dollar agreement.

The move will strengthen DHL’s digitalization strategy, the company says. By 2022, the supply chain specialist plans to take on up to 2,000 robots, becoming the largest partner of Locus Robotics worldwide.

The robot producer – which recently announced a market valuation of $1 billion – deploys its assisted picking robots in e-commerce or consumer warehouses to help with picking and inventory replenishment. The robots can help to increase efficiency and accelerate delivery processes.

“It is particularly important for us to be able to consistently optimize our supply chains — assisted picking robots are very effective in this respect,” says Markus Voss, global CIO and COO DHL Supply Chain, in a statement.

“So far, more than 500 assisted picking robots are already in industrial use in our warehouses in the USA, Europe and the U.K. By the end of 2021, another 500 robots are to be added in a total of more than 20 locations. The collaborative picking technology has clearly proven its effectiveness and reliability in modern warehousing.”

Assisted picking robots display images of goods to be picked, calculate optimal navigation routes and can be integrated into the warehouse system landscape via DHL Supply Chain’s Robotics Hub.

“Our expanded partnership with DHL reflects the increasing demand for warehouse digitalization worldwide to meet today’s exploding fulfillment challenges,” says Rick Faulk, CEO, Locus Robotics.

The pandemic has accelerated the booming trend of e-commerce, which makes the labor-intensive picking process in e-fulfillment play an even bigger and more critical role in meeting high end-customers’ demands.

In addition to these robotic solutions, DHL Supply Chain relies on software solutions that can provide real-time information on the status of the global service logistics network of their customers.