In an effort to stay ahead of rising labor costs and increased customer expectations, Ryder recently conducted an extensive survey of the market to identify the most innovative technologies in the market capable of advancing the company’s goal of improving productivity, efficiency, and profitability on behalf of its customers.

Early on in its examination of what the market had to offer, Ryder realized that traditional automation such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and conveyor-based solutions did not meet their needs for ultimate flexibility. Both require significant fixed infrastructure to be installed, a significant amount of floor space, and material changes to process flows, which can be both expensive and time consuming.

What Ryder really wanted was warehouse automation on-demand, flexible enough to be up in running in hours and adaptable to handle multiple workflows within the smart warehouses. So they turned to the Fetch Cloud Robotics Platform which not only provided an easy point-of-entry, but offered the true flexibility Ryder required make immediate productivity impacts on their operations and demonstrate a return on investment.

Ryder deployed multiple types of Fetch AMRs in several different sites.  The value provided was to unburden warehouse associates from repetitive, labor-intensive tasks like cycle counting and eliminate long haul travel from order picking or putaway tasks. 

The startup process with Fetch was  very simple and quick – the facilities were mapped, associates were trained, and robots were up and running within a day. Ryder wanted to deploy in an active warehouse, where associates, traditional material handling equipment such as forklifts  and electric pallet jacks, and AMRs would work in the same space.  Safety was paramount, which made Fetch’s safety certifications critical. The targeted workflow was case and each picking, with HMIShelf AMRs moving from one pick zone to another.  Completed picks were delivered were delivered to packout or directly to the shipping dock for loading onto outbound trailers.