Amazon’s fulfillment center in Coppell has been the testing ground for some of the company’s latest technology, specifically smart robots.
The Dallas Business Journal got an exclusive sneak peek at the center and the Kiva driver robots roaming around the facility, which comprises about 1 million square feet of space.
The robots are used to cut process time from hours to minutes, as the robots can quickly bring items to stationary associates for picking, packing and stowing.
Amazon operates about 15,000 Kiva robots in its network after initially testing them in the Coppell facility when it opened last September.
The robots help the facility with its random stow system, which Amazon uses to also cut down time. They are restricted to an area comprising about one-third of the facility and automatically drive themselves to their proper locations following quick-response code stickers that are stuck to the ground to identify their location. They know when to stop and let other Kiva robots pass, when to park themselves, when to pick up a rack, which have randomly stored items, and when to drop them off.
In action, it very much looks like a mini set of roads, with Kivas driving from one place to the next, yielding to higher priority Kivas and readjusting their placement for better logistics.
The Kivas are all controlled by a central system, which knows where all the Kivas are and makes sure there are no collisions or errors. The system is also fully automated.
When an item needs to be stowed, an associate will scan the item and a Kiva will retrieve a random rack. The associate then stocks the item in the rack and the system stores its placement. As soon as the associate is done, Kiva drives off to find the proper placement for the rack.
Similarly, when an order comes in, an associate will call up an item. Kiva knows where items have been stored and looks for the closest rack to fulfill the order. It finds the rack, lowers itself under it, elevates the rack on top of itself and drives it over to the associate. As soon as the associate scans it in, Kiva knows it can drive the rack back to storage.
Kiva has a full range of motion – moving backwards, forwards, at angles and elevating up and down to pick up items.
While Kiva makes operations for Amazon more efficient, a spokeperson for the company said that it will never replace the need for fulltime associates.
“Even with the implementation of Kiva, we’re hiring more,” Ashley Robinson said. “It’s just allowing us to better meet customer demand.”
Kiva is installed in 10 Amazon locations across the nation.
But it’s not the only technology Amazon is using to make its fulfillment centers more efficient.
It also has a 6 ton robot called Robo-Stow, which can lift up to 1600 pounds. The robot automatically recognizes when palettes need to be lifted and stored, and loads them from a conveyor belt on the bottom floor. It then lifts the palettes to the second floor of the fulfillment center for storage. It can also lower palettes and find empty palettes for removal.
The company uses Robo-Stow to remove its associates from the lifting process, improving safety and cutting time, company representatives said.
The Coppell fulfillment center employs hundreds of associates and ships tens of thousands of packages from its facility seven days a week. It’s one of two fulfillment centers, with the other one based in Haslet.
Haslet handles smaller items, while Coppell works with items bigger than 18 inches.
Amazon acquired Massachusetts-based Kiva Systems Inc. in 2012.
Danielle covers technology, retail, restaurants and hospitality for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe to our new TechFlash email newsletter.
Exclusive: A look at the technology inside Amazon's Coppell fulfillment center ... - Dallas Business Journal (blog)
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