RackBot System Elevate – Slim High-Performance Solution for Semi-Automated Picking Warehouses

• SSI SCHAEFER combines robots, rack systems, work stations and IT environments to a high-efficiency complete solution

• New: Thanks to their combined climbing and driving capabilities, the agile ClimbBots optimize order processing

• Highest system availability thanks to full bot roaming

• Powerful picking performance with high storage density

• Short amortization period and flexible scalability

The new RackBot System Elevate option is a complete goods-to-person solution for the cost-effective automation of picking processes in rack systems with a height of up to 12 meters. With the expansion of their robotics portfolio, SSI SCHAEFER, a leading global solution provider for all areas of intralogistics, is living up to its claim of helping customers to meet growing demands with reliable and easy-to-integrate technology.

Full roaming – maximum flexibility and reliability

The process-related core of the new solution is a fully integrated swarm of autonomous mobile robots (AMR), ClimbBots. Thanks to their combined climbing and driving function, the ClimbBots be deployed on all horizontal and vertical routes in the warehouse. The roaming concept of the bot swarm allows each AMR to roam all aisles and areas in the warehouse and access any bin. If one of the bots fails, the remaining vehicles can take over its tasks at any time.

Since SSI SCHAEFER integrates the robots’ control into the warehouse's order management system, all required picking steps can be optimally sequenced and, if necessary, batched. As a consequence, the ClimbBots reduce the time between the creation of the order and the delivery of the bins to less than two minutes. In addition, the risk of picking errors is reduced to zero.

Thanks to their compact design, the bots can manage aisles as narrow as 900 mm. Their maneuverability makes transverse aisles unnecessary. And the available space can be used in the best possible way: For example, in a 12-meter-high system, up to 30,000 storage locations can be created on 1,000 m² of floor space. In such an environment, performance rates of up to 4,000 bins per 1,000 m² in one hour are possible. Depending on the contents being picked, 200 to 800 bins can be transported to the picking work station per hour.

Many years of industry expertise enable a wide range of use cases

“Until recently, semi-automated goods-to-person systems were primarily of interest to companies that could reliably forecast their picking processes. Anyone who wanted to invest in these solutions needed stable business development – usually over a period of seven to ten years,” explains Markus Külken, VP Product Line Material Flow at SSI SCHAEFER. “With RackBot System Elevate, this perspective changes fundamentally: We combine powerful, proven standard components to create a fully integrated solution with an extremely short payback period – in many cases, less than one year. This not only lowers the barrier to entry, but also enables sustainable business cases for semi-automated warehouse solutions in times of dynamic growth, seasonal fluctuations, or uncertain business conditions.”

Thanks to the high scalability of RackBot System Elevate, there is an extensive range of use cases are possible – from smaller rack warehouses with a few thousand bins to systems with six-digit bin quantities. This makes the option suitable both for entry into semi-automated warehousing and for business cases involving the integration of goods-to-person solutions into fully automated large-scale systems with high performance requirements.

“We can tap into decades of experience in the planning and construction of intralogistics systems. This means we can always offer our customers the solution that most sustainably meets their business goals,” explains Markus Külken. “This also applies to the goods-to-person environment, where, in addition to the new RackBot solutions, our proven miniload, shuttle and lift systems can also be used. What the layout of a new system ultimately looks like depends on the customer-specific needs.”

Comprehensive system integration

As a general contractor, SSI SCHAEFER supplies all components of the RackBot System Elevate solution and manages all sub-systems required to build a semi-automated picking warehouse. The automation experts pay particular attention to the integration of robot control with order management, regardless of which software solution the customer intends to use. In addition, there are numerous other integration services such as the connection of goods-in, distribution or production supply.

“Depending on customer requirements, we combine robots, rack systems, load types, work stations and IT environments to create powerful, overall solutions. Since we offer the necessary technologies and services from a single source, the customer has a single contact person for the entire system,” concludes Markus Külken, emphasizing how support is provided by local service teams. “The result is picking systems that can be quickly implemented and expanded, offering autonomous storage and retrieval of goods in different bins. This means that RackBot Systems can be ideally integrated into existing replenishment and picking processes.”