a national consumer electronics and home appliance retailer operating a central distribution center in Western Europe
How a Consumer Electronics DC Doubled Pick Rates From 120 to 250+ UPH With AMRs
A documented European electronics DC shows AMR picking rising from 120 to 250+ units per hour in six weeks, with rapid fleet scaling when orders surged.
- 250+ UPH
- Peak pick rate
- 120 UPH
- Pre-AMR baseline
- 6 weeks
- To doubled rate
- 9M units
- First-year volume
Based on a documented real-world deployment. Figures are from public reporting; the organization is not named.
Peak promo volume outran manual picking
A national consumer electronics and home appliance retailer runs a central distribution center that feeds more than two hundred stores. Online and store replenishment orders kept climbing, and cart-based picking could not keep pace without adding a large night crew.
Promotional waves and anniversary sales created sudden volume spikes. Leadership needed pick rates to rise without doubling headcount or rebuilding the entire warehouse layout.
- Manual picking held near 120 units per hour
- Order spikes arrived with little lead time
- Store network coverage could not slip during campaigns
AI-directed AMRs on a phased warehouse rollout
The operation chose an AI-directed AMR picking platform and integrated it with existing warehouse processes. Deployment at the central site finished in under five months, including software hooks and floor training.
Associates learned to work alongside robots that met them at pick faces instead of pushing heavy carts across the building. When a campaign drove a sharp order increase, leadership expanded the active robot fleet within days rather than weeks.
- Map pick paths and slot fast movers for robot handoffs
- Run parallel manual and AMR picks during cutover
- Train supervisors on fleet scaling when volume jumps
Measured pick rates and volume throughput
Within six weeks of go-live, reported picking productivity more than doubled, rising from about 120 units per hour to more than 250. The site processed nearly nine million units in under a year while keeping service to the store network.
When orders jumped about thirty percent during an unexpected surge, the team increased the robot fleet by roughly thirty percent in days and held throughput. The project stayed on track for additional transport use cases as promotional load kept growing.
What this means for US distribution leaders
This documented deployment is not a Service Robot Co. client story. It shows what a vendor-neutral AMR rental or lease program can deliver when integration, training, and fleet scaling are planned up front.
Service Robot Co. selects AMR picking platforms that fit your slotting and WMS, finances units monthly, and services them through a nationwide network of regional service engineers. A free site assessment and robot pilot program let you prove pick rates on your SKUs before you expand the fleet.