Dive Brief:
- Geodis signed an expanded agreement with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) supplier Locus Robotics to deploy 1,000 AMRs at warehouses worldwide, according to a news release last Thursday.
- The France-based third-party logistics (3PL) provider will roll out Locus AMRs over the next two years to better service e-commerce orders, according to the release.
- Geodis and Locus Robotics first partnered in 2018 at an Indiana facility to implement AMRs to support workers in the complex picking process.
Dive Insight:
Faced with soaring e-commerce demand and labor constraints, Geodis joins DHL Supply Chain and Radical in expanding agreements with Locus Robotics to boost robotics automation in their warehouses.
“It is crucial [Geodis remains] committed to implementing the most innovative and effective robotics solutions available in our warehouses to allow us to best serve our customers,” Eric Douglas, executive vice president of technology and engineering at Geodis in Americas, said in the release.
The company is currently using Locus AMRs in 14 facilities to help fulfill orders for retail and consumer brands in warehouses across the U.S. and Europe. Geodis’ footprint will expand significantly under this deal, according to the release.
Since 2018, the Locus AMRs have helped its “e-commerce warehouses efficiently manage order picking and inventory replenishment, significantly increasing throughput to speed delivery processes” as well as reduce tedious tasks across the workplace to improve employee retention, the release read.
The company has continued to boost its e-commerce offerings in the U.S., most recently, through the acquisition of a New Jersey-based omnichannel logistics firm Need It Now Delivers and the launch of a fulfillment service for direct-to consumer brands from four Geodis eLogistics Hubs nationwide.
“Locus’ collaborative multi-bot approach has proven its effectiveness and reliability at each of our sites, giving us the ability to easily scale performance,” Douglas said. “This new expansion agreement reinforces our clear and ongoing commitment to cutting-edge technology to meet our exploding customer volumes globally.”
