Austin Lighthouse Empowers Employees, Doubles Productivity
Austin Lighthouse is a non-profit organization that offers education and training to people who are visually impaired. Through its warehouse and distribution space, the organization provides logistical support to the federal government and offers commercial warehousing services.
Zebra Success Story: Austin Lighthouse
Overview: Warehouse, Distribution & Manufacturing Challenge
Improving productivity to stay competitive.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Fetch Robotics CartConnect100
- Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) System
- FetchCore Enterprise Software
- Zebra TC8300 Mobile Computers
Customer
Austin Lighthouse
Austin, Texas/USA
Industry
Warehouse, Distribution & Manufacturing
Solutions
About Austin Lighthouse
Empowering Warehouse Employees While Improving Productivity
Austin Lighthouse, a non-profit organization offering education and training to people who are visually impaired, has been at the forefront of technology from the very beginning. With a warehouse and distribution space spanning a million square feet, its operations can be complex and involve substantial travel time for workers. In an effort to help its workers become independent, the organization introduced Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) from Fetch that not only considerably reduced travel time for workers but also improved their picking productivity by 2.5 times.
About Austin Lighthouse
Austin Lighthouse, also known as The Travis Association for the Blind, was founded in 1934 to offer skills-based training, education and a community for people who are blind and visually impaired. Through its Warehousing and Distribution Center, it provides logistical support to the federal government, primarily to the Department of Defense, as well as offers commercial warehousing services. Austin Lighthouse also has a manufacturing division that serves the needs of the U.S. Military.
The Challenge
With increased competition from large companies, Austin Lighthouse was finding it difficult to manage its rising order volumes. Annually, it completes more than 500,000 orders to over 10,000 locations globally while receiving shipments from around 20 trucks every day.
To stay competitive, Austin Lighthouse realized it would need to process these orders faster than its existing capability. Moreover, the organization also wanted to make it easier for its 450 workers (250 of them are legally blind) to handle orders, and spend less time walking around.
We were drawn to robotics as a way to enable all of our employees to work smarter, not harder. Reducing the amount of walking they have to do to complete a task, in turn, reduces wear and tear on the body and opens up job opportunities to those with limited mobility.
The Solution
Once Austin Lighthouse realized that it needed to change the status quo to remain competitive, it began its search for the right solution. The Lighthouse consulted with subject-matter experts, such as warehouse designers and industrial engineers, to reach a conclusion. It selected Fetch AMRs (CartConnect100) as this was the only robotic solution that was accessible and met its facility’s safety standards.
Austin Lighthouse integrated four AMRs into its facility with the support of Fetch engineers and mapped a route for cart pick up and drop off aligned with its warehouse design. Since implementing this solution, the organization has been using these robots every day to transport empty carts from one location to another as well as for case picking.
Because of specific accessibility features, like text-to-speech RF guns, voice system for case picking and custom robot sounds and paths, Fetch Robotics was a clear choice for Austin Lighthouse over other market players. Our AMRs integrate seamlessly with external devices that were instrumental for the success of this project.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
One of the main reasons Austin Lighthouse integrated robots was to stay competitive by processing orders faster. With AMRs, it has been able to tremendously improve its productivity across its distribution operations. Let’s see how it has helped them.
- Using robots has eliminated the travel required for picking up empty carts and transporting them to other locations.
- The FetchCore software helps Austin Lighthouse control these robots, change routes and always keep a track of their position.
- The biggest benefit has been the significant improvement in productivity. The organization’s pick totals increased 2.5 times after introducing AMRs.
- By introducing inclusive robotics technology, Austin Lighthouse has made work accessible for its workers.
- Working with robots adds to the skill repertoire of its workforce who are now managing both the robots and the software.
In addition, as career development of employees has always been a focus for Austin Lighthouse, its employees could get the opportunity to work with and learn about AMRs which prepares them for the future.
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