Tokyo-Area DC Automates 90% of Case Handling and Cuts Picking Staff to One

A case line that depends on repetitive hands

Distribution centers that move electrical-infrastructure materials handle a steady stream of cases that must be picked, stacked and staged for outbound trucks. Every case that passes through a person's hands adds labor cost, repetitive strain and a dependence on shift coverage. When experienced pickers are hard to schedule, the whole line feels it.

The operator's problem was not a single bottleneck. It was the accumulated load of moving cases by hand from the picking point through to palletizing, shift after shift. Automating that flow meant selecting equipment that could handle variable case handling without pulling the line apart.

Transport robots and arms share the flow

The installed workflow combines automated guided vehicles for transport with robot arms for case picking and palletizing. The vehicles carry material between stations, and the arms take over the physically demanding handling at the points where cases are picked and built into pallets. The work is divided by task rather than by shift.

The operation is running at a single branch in the Tokyo area, so the design reflects one building's layout, volume profile and staffing pattern. A plan of that kind starts with mapping the floor and the case flow before any equipment is placed.

• Map the case flow from receiving and picking through palletizing and staging.
• Assign transport to AGVs and case picking and palletizing to robot arms.
• Run the installed workflow at the branch and set picking staffing targets against it.
• Keep the people who remain on the line focused on exceptions and oversight.

What the operation reports

The supplier reports that about 90% of case-handling volume at the branch is now automated. Picking staffing is targeted to fall from four people to one. Those are the two headline figures, and both come from the supplier's own account of the installed line.

Staff remain on the line to supervise the workflow and step in where cases need attention. This is a line with people present, not an unattended warehouse. For a US operator, the useful reading is the shape of the change: most of the handling moves to machines while human effort concentrates on supervision.

What this means for US operators

A US warehouse weighing a similar change faces the same questions this site answered: which arms fit which cases, how transport vehicles share aisles with people, and who keeps the line running when a unit needs attention. Service Robot Co. is a full-service, OEM-neutral commercial robot integrator for US businesses. We select the right robots across manufacturers, then arrange financing, deploy and integrate them, train staff, and service every unit through a nationwide US engineer network.

Our robot leasing for business runs on a 3-year lease with one fixed payment quoted after a site assessment, so the decision does not start with a large upfront outlay. A site assessment maps the floor and case flow before any equipment is selected. Keeping selection, financing, integration and service under one vendor means one partner answers for the whole line.