a national automotive aftermarket retailer and franchise headquarters running an east regional e-commerce distribution center
How an Automotive Parts DC Doubled Picking While Halving Floor Staff
A national aftermarket retailer linked seven collaborative AMRs to its WMS at an east regional DC and reported about double picking productivity with half the prior floor staff.
- 2x
- Pick rate
- 50%
- Staff level
- 7 AMRs
- Fleet size
- Sep 2024
- Go-live
Based on a documented real-world deployment. Figures are from public reporting; the organization is not named.
E-commerce swings outran manual picking
A national automotive aftermarket retailer and franchise headquarters running an east regional e-commerce distribution center ships car accessories through a high-SKU e-commerce department. Volume spikes and quiet weeks made staffing levels hard to hold.
Cart-based picking leaned on experienced associates, and accuracy varied with skill on the floor. Leadership needed steadier throughput without rebuilding the building.
- Fluctuating e-commerce order volume
- Hard-to-hold picking labor
- Accuracy tied to individual skill
- Need for trackless routes in existing aisles
Seven collaborative AMRs tied to the WMS
The operator introduced seven trackless collaborative AMRs at its east regional logistics center in September 2024. The units run without fixed floor guides, so aisles stayed largely as they were.
Shipping data flowed from the warehouse management system into the robots so pick paths stayed aligned with outbound orders. Associates picked into the mobile units while the fleet handled travel between zones.
- Pilot AMRs on live e-commerce picks
- Integrate robot tasks with the WMS
- Train mixed-skill teams on daily starts
- Monitor accuracy alongside rate gains
Published productivity and staffing shifts
After introduction, published reports cite picking productivity improving by approximately double compared with the prior manual approach.
The same coverage notes floor staffing for picking fell to about half the pre-deployment level while accuracy held across newer and veteran associates. Leadership planned wider rollout to additional regional centers and in-store logistics areas based on the east site results.
What US parts distributors can take from this pattern
This story is a documented example, not a Service Robot Co. customer claim. It still shows why US aftermarket and parts distributors compare collaborative AMRs to fixed conveyor projects when volumes swing.
Service Robot Co. selects OEM-neutral picking AMRs, then finances, deploys, integrates, trains, and services units through a nationwide engineer network. A free site assessment maps pick paths, WMS hooks, and phased go-live before you scale fleet size.