Locus Robotics announced enhancements to its mezzanine management capability designed to deliver highly optimized order picking management for multi-level mezzanines and vertical warehouses for increased productivity, flexibility, and maximum throughput.

“With Locus Mezzanine Management, operators have optimal control over order management and worker productivity, regardless of the number of mezzanine levels,” says Sophie Pagalday, Director of Product Marketing at Locus Robotics. “This powerful tool optimizes each task for throughput and productivity with smart, in-level task/pick clustering and directed pick-and-pass.”

As order volumes continue to skyrocket, warehouse operators have quickly outgrown floor space in today’s fulfillment and distribution warehouses. To stay ahead of demand, many warehouse operators are choosing to go vertical vs. building new buildings. However, efficiently managing workflow and personnel in multi-level operations has become a management challenge.

“Nearly 30,000 warehouses will be added over the next 5 years to help with the on-going shifts in consumer buying trends and changing supply chains. But that alone will not be enough to cope with growing SKU counts and retailers’ desire for better stock availability,” said Ash Sharma, Senior Research Director at Interact Analysis. “This mezzanine-style approach is finding strong adoption around the world as a way to easily provide additional warehouse capacity at existing facilities.”

Locus provides intelligent orchestration of tasks across multiple levels or mezzanines in very large centers, optimizing workflows and order consolidation for maximum throughput. The intelligent workflow optimization engine actively directs LocusBots and workers to follow the most efficient order picking sequence.

New features include:

• Intelligent, Multi-Level Orchestration: Optimize each task for throughput and productivity with smart, in-level task/pick clustering and directed pick-and-pass.
• Flexible and Adaptable: Easily add new levels, turn drop-off stations on/off, run simultaneous discrete and batch picking work streams, and reassign LocusBots across levels to meet shifts in demand.
• Configurable: Configure Locus to execute tasks to match your preferred workflows – including top-floor down and bottom-floor up – to facilitate seamless consolidation.
• Real-Time Visibility: Access a real-time view of activity on each floor as well as productivity rates, incomplete work, and more across your vertical warehouse.
• Ecosystem Integration: Connect your WMS and MHE such as takeaway conveyors, slides, putwalls, etc. to Locus for end-to-end workflow management.