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Valu accuracy gains.“ One of our key investments in automation is the implementation of a piece picking solution from AutoStore in our new Greater Toronto area facility, which is one of the largest installations in Canada,” Nico reveals.“ We’ ve added over 4000 SKUs into our AutoStore system and have about 100 robots to automatically pick these items. By using AutoStore, we were able to fold one of the four Ontario warehouses entirely into the automation and increase our storage density at the Greater Toronto Area site, with the current system using just four percent of the footprint of our largest facility. We’ re also seeing increased pick productivity and 99.9 percent pick accuracy, as well as being way ahead of our competitors in terms of automation.
“ AutoStore has been working remarkably well since it went live in July 2024. We’ re blending the system with a manual solution
for our heavy and large items like aquariums or dog beds. Finding an automated system for these items proved challenging and extremely expensive, but the combination of both drives the most value for our business without being excessively capital intensive.”
Nico turns his attention to the benefits of automation.“ Implementing automated processes within our transformation project is driving strategic, operational, and financial benefits, and has dramatically increased the flow through the facility,” he states.“ There are also key benefits for our employees, as our 14 automated workstations provide ergonomic gains compared to employees manually picking items using push carts.
“ To involve our employees in the automation process, we asked them to submit their pets’ names for each of our robots. It’ s a unique way to engage our people and it’ s fun to essentially have 100 pets driving around the
MAKING
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