Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
XPO Rolls out Robots in the UK
November 27,
2019 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), a provider of last-mile delivery, freight forwarding and other logistic services, has increased its use of intelligent robotics in the U.K. in anticipation of holiday retail volumes.
The robots work alongside XPO’s employees to help manage inventory for distribution during the seasonal peak. The automation is manufactured by 6 River Systems, Inc., part of leading global commerce company Shopify and one of XPO’s key robotics partners in the U.S.
The autonomous, mobile robots collaborate with employees and adapt quickly to changes in fulfillment. The robots guide employees to the correct inventory area, validate the items picked and transport them to designated packing stations. The technology uses machine learning to double productivity rates on average and improve accuracy by as much as 40%. Safety is enhanced by reducing repetitive employee movements and time spent walking.
“Our successful collaboration with 6 River Systems in the U.S. has led to a seamless roll-out of the robots at our U.K. sites,” said Mario Harik, chief information officer at XPO Logistics. “Based on our pilots with retail apparel, the system handles peaks in consumer demand with near-perfect accuracy by complementing the work performed by our employees. The synergies are ideal for retail and e-commerce fulfillment this holiday season.”
“Our collaborative fulfillment robots are a strong fit with XPO’s high-volume warehouse environments,” said Jerome Dubois, co-founder and co-CEO of 6 River Systems. “This partnership has already delivered significant benefits for XPO customers.”
XPO invests approximately $550 million annually in innovation, with a global technology organization of 1,800 professionals focused on applying cutting-edge thinking to commercial practices.