Scaling operations while keeping the customer first

Framebridge, the high growth, online custom framing company, has been rapidly scaling their manufacturing operations to meet customer demand at their state-of-the-art production studio in Richmond, Kentucky. In order to optimize their workflows, Framebridge decided to deploy Fetch Robotics’ Cloud Robotics Platform and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), which were key to delivering on-demand automation to Framebridge’s 100,000 square foot facility. Fetch Robotics’ solution allowed Framebridge to automate the movement of frame components between various production stations, as well as track frames and art with new precision across their production facility. These operational improvements provided a direct benefit to Framebridge customers by making the customer experience faster and more seamless.

The Story

Framebridge has been successful in elevating the traditional framing experience by combining technology, logistics, and in-house production to make custom framing easy, seamless, and affordable. With this innovative approach, Framebridge experienced significant customer growth, and the challenge became how to scale operations and make faster deliveries while still preserving the quality and craftsmanship of building handmade goods, while always prioritizing first and foremost the safety of customer art.

Prior to deploying on-demand factory automation with Fetch Robotics, workers at Framebridge had to manually move material from area to area, which took up to forty round trips per day between stations. In a large facility, this wasted movement can bottleneck an entire operation, since one station could be waiting for parts from another area, while another station could be sitting idle due to the missing operator running the floor as a material delivery person.

Printed artwork is now automatically picked up by one of Fetch’s CartConnect robots, which self-navigates from matting to framing, to finish. Once the frame is completed, the item is again picked up by a robot and autonomously travels to quality control before finally arriving at the packaging and shipping area.

Another vital part of Framebridge’s business is framing physical objects sent in by customers. These prized possessions can range from diplomas to canvas art and family heirlooms.

“Our customers trust us with their most precious, uniquely and deeply personal items, so we ensure we know where every single piece is, in real-time.”

Susan Tyan
Founder and CEO, Framebridge

Protecting and tracking these precious pieces is central to all operational decisions at Framebridge. In order to properly track and secure these items, Framebridge chose Fetch Robotics’ TagSurveyor robot to provide fully automatic, physical inventory counts several times a day in their expansive storage warehouse. Framebridge attaches a unique RFID tag to each item received, which the robot can read up to 25 feet away. TagSurveyor self-drives inside a designated area in the warehouse and sends location-based coordinates to Fetch’s cloud software.

The Results

By partnering with Fetch Robotics, Framebridge was able to:

• Redirect highly-skilled artisans back to frame building instead of transporting parts.
• Gain operational efficiency while still preserving craftsmanship needed to produce a custom product.
• Allow humans and robots to collaborate effectively, to work side-by-side, with each contributing to improving the overall customer experience.

Being able to conduct continuous cycle counts of customer-owned inventory, tracking customer items in real-time, and autonomously transporting parts, work in progress, and finished goods within a factory are all part of Fetch Robotics’ mission: to deliver on-demand automation in any facility, at any scale, with any payload, using the world’s first cloud robotics platform.