April 7, 2019 – Chicago, IL

6 River Systems announces the general availability of Mobile Sort, a new solution that enables warehouse operators to intelligently generate and fulfill batched orders together with 6 River Systems’ autonomous mobile robots (AMR). Mobile Sort provides an order queuing station that can be positioned anywhere in the warehouse to help improve material workflow.

Mobile Sort stations consist of smart kiosks, mobile put-to-light walls with validation sensors that work with 6 River Systems’ cloud-based software and 6 River Systems’ AMRs, called “Chucks.” The system is designed to optimize workflow and minimize walking for the warehouse associates. Chucks deliver empty totes to associates in active picking areas and direct associates to complete picks within the warehouse aisles. Totes are then delivered to take-off points, where they are sorted into orders using the Mobile Sort stations. 6 River Systems’ intelligent allocation engine manages the entire process.

The Mobile Sort station uses product images and put-to-light to help direct associates in the sorting process. This minimizes training and reduces manual errors during the sort process. The 6 River system includes machine learning algorithms which optimize the entire process. Not only does Mobile Sort improve pick rates, but it is also used to consolidate picks across different areas or automation into discrete orders; for example across mezzanine levels or from goods-to-person automation solutions.

A novel solution for each-picking operation

“Each-picking operations are under bigger-than-ever market pressure to pick faster and scale for peak seasons with fewer seasonal hires,” Jerome Dubois, 6 River Systems co-CEO and co-founder said. “6 River Systems’ Mobile Sort improves throughput with a picking and sorting solution that is mobile and flexible, helping operators who are crunched for time, capital and resources balance performance and cycle times.”

“Mobile Sort is quick to setup and break down, and doesn’t require any permanent infrastructure,” Gillan Hawkes, 6 River Systems VP of Product said. “Unlike traditional automation, Mobile Sort can be easily scaled up or down to handle seasonality and to reclaim precious floor space.” 

With the addition of Mobile Sort, 6 River Systems extends the value that their solutions offer customers. The solution was derived by working with existing customers to address gaps in the workflow today, and Mobile Sort is a perfect fit to the 6 River Systems current AMR solution.  “Mobile Sort from 6 River Systems is a good example of an AMR vendor extending the capabilities and value of their products and offerings”, said John Santagate, Research Director for Commercial Service Robotics at IDC.

To see the Mobile Sort and Chuck in operation this week, stop by the 6 River Systems booth (S3983) at the ProMAT show in Chicago, April 8-11, 2019.