Brightpick, a leading provider of cutting-edge warehouse automation solutions for order fulfillment, has reported impressive global sales growth for its Brightpick Autopicker robots, initially introduced in February 2023. The privately-owned company, boasting a workforce of over 200 employees globally, has significantly expanded its operations to meet the surging demand and is currently manufacturing hundreds of these robots each year for installations across the globe. Notably, all manufacturing is carried out at Brightpick’s in-house production facility in Europe to ensure top-notch quality.
Brightpick Autopicker represents an autonomous mobile robot designed to navigate through warehouses, retrieving product storage totes from shelves, and autonomously selecting items from these totes to consolidate orders directly within the aisles. What sets this solution apart from other automated fulfillment systems is its unique in-aisle robotic picking capabilities, effectively eliminating the need for time-consuming back-and-forth trips to centralized picking stations. In addition to in-aisle robotic picking, Brightpick Autopickers can be applied to Goods-to-Person picking, stock replenishment, pallet picking, and dynamic slotting.
Jan Zizka, CEO, and co-founder of Brightpick, expressed his delight at the overwhelming demand, stating, “Demand for Brightpick Autopicker has far exceeded our expectations. E-commerce and e-grocery companies quickly grasp the operational enhancements that a fleet of Brightpick Autopicker robots can provide. Our most significant traction is in grocery and pharmaceuticals, probably because our robots excel at picking these items, including items from ambient and chilled zones.”
Brightpick Autopickers Revolutionize Pharmaceutical Replenishment
Brightpick’s initial foray into the pharmaceutical sector involves the installation of Brightpick Autopicker robots at a European pharmaceutical distribution center. These robots will efficiently pick orders for regular replenishment across the distribution center’s chain of pharmacies. The pharmaceutical company is among the largest in Europe, boasting thousands of pharmacies across multiple countries. The robots are slated to go live in the distribution center in October.
What’s particularly remarkable is Brightpick Autopicker’s ability to identify and pick pharmaceutical items that are set to expire soon or swiftly halt the picking process if any item is found to be defective.
Pharmaceuticals represent just one of the many applications of Brightpick Autopicker. These robots are equally adept at reliably picking ambient and chilled groceries, packaged goods, cosmetics, electronics, medical devices, polybagged apparel, and more.
Rohlik, a Major European E-Grocer, Embraces Brightpick Automation
In June 2023, Brightpick announced the successful completion of a nine-month pilot of its robotic solution at the Prague fulfillment center of Rohlik Group, one of Europe’s largest e-grocers with over 1.5 million e-grocery customers and 12 million orders annually. Subsequently, Rohlik has deployed Brightpick’s solution at its Munich fulfillment center and has plans to extend this implementation to Frankfurt, Vienna, Prague, and other fulfillment centers throughout the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. This comprehensive solution for Rohlik encompasses Brightpick Autopicker and Brightpick Dispatcher robots, enabling the full automation of picking, consolidation, and order dispatch.
Numerous additional pilot programs are on the horizon in both the United States and Europe, featuring prominent grocery companies, third-party logistics firms (3PLs), and medical distributors. The ability to swiftly and minimally disrupt existing warehouses during the Brightpick robot installation has received acclaim, particularly in a business climate where companies are prioritizing maximizing the performance of their existing facilities over constructing new warehouses.
