Kerry adds robots to Hong Kong warehouse

Kerry Logistics has introduced six robotic butlers at its flagship facility in Hong Kong to speed up the picking process in line with trends in e-commerce.

The robots operate 24/7 and can pick 280 items per hour compared to 50 items normally, and the pick rate is four times faster.

Kerry said this made ideal for retail brands which sell a wide variety of consumer products with potentially expanding e-commerce business as speed-to-market was key to their success.

Real time sales orders are transmitted from retailers and e-commerce providers to Kerry’s warehouse management system and then to the robotic butlers.

The system indicates the right items to be picked for shipments using a simple lighting system in which every item is tracked via barcodes.