Home furnishings company Four Hands uses Slip Robotics’ SlipBots to drive a 4x increase in throughput, a 75% reduction in trailer unload time and a 50% reduction in loading time.
Slip Robotics SlipBot preparing to load trailer
While scaling their operations to meet growing demand, Four Hands faced the challenge of managing a diverse product mix — ranging from 2-lb. lamps to 400-lb. coffee tables — across a growing network of warehouses. This created several issues related to loading and unloading of trailers, requiring Four Hands to use anywhere from 8 to 10 people and up to 90 minutes to fill a single trailer.
To address this challenge without having to deal with extensive IT integrations or infrastructure changes, Four Hands began using Slip Robotics’ SlipBot autonomous loading robots. According to Slip Robotics, its SlipBots do not require Wi-Fi or IT integration. The robots are controlled using a SlipController which connects via radio signals to a SlipBot, allowing a worker to command it to auto-enter/exit a truck or direct it to where the user needs it to go.
SlipBot handheld controller
Michael Leuckmeyer, process engineer at Four Hands, explained that SlipRobotics provided the support to help Four Hands reimagine how they manage loading/unloading of trailers. By loading the bots on the dock, the team can load faster and maximize trailer space to fit more product into each trailer.
“Before deploying the SlipBots, moving heavy products across eight buildings created significant wear and tear on our employees and processes. It was a Tetris puzzle of being able to efficiently load and unload between those facilities," said Jim Anderson, chief operating officer at Four Hands.
Billy Malady, vice president of operations at Four Hands, noted: “We’ve reduced unloading time by almost 75%, loading times by 50% and product touches by 50%.” This 50% reduction in product touches has also delivered significant safety improvements, according to Four Hands. The decrease in manual handling reduces the physicality required of employees and allows them to stay on the dock to avoid the heat inside the trailer.
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