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News on the e-logistics market: Generix Group and Boa Concept launch the first WMS / automation plug & play

25.03.2013

Generix Group and Boa Concept, designer of intelligent modular systems for retail order picking, announce the creation of a flexible and innovative joint solution allowing for the self-adjustable automation of e-commerce logistics.

Chantal Ledoux, Managing Director of Boa Concept, presents the context: “Automation has brought many advantages to traditional logistics, including increased productivity. This choice engenders inflexibility in terms of processes and an investment that is sometimes costly, with return on investment difficult to achieve. The emergence of e-commerce logistics and its specificities (flexibility, agility unit picking, upgradeability requirements, etc.) thus dismissed automation by its very nature, until now. »

As French people are putting more and more pressure on delivery fees and consumption forecasts announce a further increase in the frequency of online purchases, this year exceeding 15 orders per month on average per buyer, logistics providers are especially concerned with processing high volumes, characterised by erratic seasonal peaks. This field appears to be adverse to traditional automation solutions, which are too rigid, but which are essential to handle the load and ensure profitability.

Today, Boa Concept and Generix Group are proposing a connector to provide an automated system without the inflexibility: this is genuine progress in the e-logistics field.

To allow them to keep up with increased sales and to enhance their delivery services for cyber-buyers, the GCS WMS – Boa Concept connector offers e-retailers a supple and innovative logistics solution that significantly improves their productivity.
A lack of reliability in forecasting volumes, short delivery time-frames, extensive demand for services and the need to manage multi-channel logistics govern the decisions for moving logistics forward for e-commerce:

• Rapid return on investment based on a short investment cycle,
• The necessity to adjust the expense to the actual requirement,
• A non-restrictive investment in relation to future developments: the agility of the solution is decisive.

A new offer in two parts

• A WMS by Generix Group that processes B2B and B2C flows end-to-end:
  • New methods of goods-in, storage and picking adapted for e-commerce, which optimise overall productivity of the site processing “multi-channel” flows;
  • An intelligent scheduling engine, capable of choosing the best picking mode in line with objectives and constraints related to each order portfolio by processing them in real time.
  • A connector with an innovative automation solution to industrialise processes on demand, totally or partially.
• Incredibly flexible, upgradeable and profitable automation by Boa Concept:
  • Conveyor belts, sorting furniture with LEDs, packaging robots, labelling robots, weighing robots, etc. An adjustable solution for each type of warehousing operation.
  • Modules that can be assembled, disassembled and maintained autonomously, exploiting the artificial intelligence concept.
  • Extremely low total cost of ownership in relation to a traditional solution.

A connector based on real-time exchanges

The GCS WMS – Boa Concept connector is based on real-time exchanges between the WMS and the robot steering engine, as with voice picking. The WMS can self-configure itself depending on physical modifications made to the automation chain.

The connector boosts operational performance, notably for managing parts by the unit:

• In direct picking mode, with multi-command forklift trucks with LEDs and conveyor belts,
• In reverse picking, general picking and cross-docking mode with the use of sorting furniture fitted with LEDs and sensors,
• In single-item picking mode,
• For packaging and shipping, with processing robots,
• For goods-in, reverse and storage.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our customers a turnkey solution with modular plug & play elements adapted to the specifics of e-logistics", concluded Isabelle Badoc, Product Marketing Manager of the GCS range by Generix Group.