How to Increase Warehouse Productivity and Improve Order Accuracy with Locus

As a warehouse manager, your daily focus is to improve associate productivity and safety, while getting orders out the door quickly and correctly. We’re here to help you do so with our latest LocusNet software release, which is part of our LocusOne solution. This release expands picking workflows; improves order accuracy; and allows the LocusBot to carry multiple totes. 

One Bot. Multiple Totes

Our software now supports inducting multiple totes for picking batch singles. With this new feature, the LocusBot can carry multiple totes and drop them all off at a conveyor. At that  point, each tote can go to separate associates to be packed. 

Improve Pick Accuracy

Want an extra level of accuracy that picks are coming from the correct spot? Our UI can now be optionally configured to validate picks. How? The LocusBot display screen instructs associates to use Aila or ProGlove scanner tools to scan the barcode identifier at the pick location or the container ID. Once the pick is scanned, the LocusBot UI validates the location or ID and the associate then confirms the quantity of units picked to complete the transaction. If an invalid location is scanned, the screen prompts the associate to scan again or to enter the location manually until the correct location is validated.

Ship Ready Picking

We can now support picking Ship Ready orders. Ship Ready units do not need to be packed into cartons and can be shipped as is. Associates can pick a unit, apply the shipping label, and the LocusBot will drop it off directly at outbound conveyors.

Short or Split Picks 

If a picked order quantity is reduced, the display screen on the LocusBot asks the associate to confirm if the order is short due to items available in the target lot or if the pick is being split across multiple lots. If an order is short, the pick is considered as such. If the order is split, the remaining quantity gets separated into another pick task for the same robot and mission, and the associate is prompted to scan the next lot and enter the quantity picked from that lot.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? 

When an associate confirms a pick or putaway task, the display screen previously only showed three LocusBots that were nearby waiting on an associate. Now, the display screen indicates whether an associate should stay with their current LocusBot. With this new feature, the LocusBot leads the associate to their next nearest task location to complete the next task. 

Quickly Pause Bots in an Emergency

Warehouse sites can now be configured to trigger Fleet Pause, which pauses all of the LocusBots at once, via a building management system such as a fire panel. This feature mitigates operational disruptions in the event of an emergency and ensures a safe working environment for associates, who can safely leave the facility without having to navigate around moving bots. 

Interested in these new offerings and how they can drive productivity in your warehouse? Talk to us and we’ll tell you more!