GreyOrange announces Fulfillment Operating System driven by GreyMatter Software

GreyOrange releases its Fulfillment Operating System, which integrates GreyMatter software with the company’s series of mobile robots.

It integrates software and robots built together specifically to improve order fulfillment throughput, scale, accuracy and economics.  This release embodies capabilities that optimize fulfillment for companies with omni channel and e-commerce needs and increases store efficiencyby packing replenishment orders according to individual store layouts and preferences. It also expands the orchestration of data and actions across the Company’s series of Ranger mobile robots.

Ranger robots are developed in concert with GreyMatter software and use machine learning to adjust decisions and behavior based on real-time observations. Additionally, maximum-life engineering ensures every Ranger robot delivers ‘last and learn’ value. Communication among the robots and the GreyMatter central system incorporates that learning so the entire system continues to get smarter.  The robots are:

·         Ranger GTP (formerly Butler)–Goods-to-person mobile robots that transport inventory from 220 to 3,500 pounds to workers for picking and packing;

·         Ranger Mobile Sorter (formerly Flexo)– Mobile sortation robots that operate in fleets to efficiently and fluidly move parcels from receiving through dispatch to avoid sortation bottlenecks that can occur with rigid systems, especially during periods of peak volumes;

·         Ranger Picking (formerly PickPal) –A picking robot designed to work in tandem with goods-to-person robots to either assist humans with picking orders or to pick orders autonomously in manned or unmanned warehouses.

GreyMatter intelligence is incorporated as a learning layer in the Ranger robots so that as they operate, they can adapt to what is happening within the distribution center andexternally, as order patterns and fulfillment expectations fluctuate.The robots communicate with each other and with the GreyMatter central system so it can continuously recalculate order fulfillment priorities and inventory movement patterns based on real-time factors such as order fulfillment commitments, actual fulfillment speeds, available resources and time remaining in dispatch windows.

By adding numerous adaptive-learning, self-learning, collaborative decision-making and analytics enhancements to GreyMatterand the Ranger robotseries,GreyOrange can more intelligently connect people, processes and technology to modernize fulfillment for throughput speed, scale, accuracy and yield.

Samay Kohli, Chief Executive Officer for GreyOrange, says, “Many companies are struggling to keep up with expectations for same-day and next-day delivery along with store replenishment runs that are required two to three times per week or even daily. They are trying to meet modern fulfillment demands using software and hardware built for a time before Amazon changed the game for everyone by accelerating collective expectations. The idea that software and robots built together using the same intelligence is required in a modern Fulfillment Operating System is unique to GreyOrange, andrepresents the only solution built specifically to address modern fulfillment challenges.”

Many of the enhancements in GreyMatter are centered on data pattern intelligence and the ability of mobile robots to operate at scale across a distribution center, including retrieving and placing inventory racks on multiple floors or mezzanines using elevator access. Together, GreyMatter and Ranger robotscomprise a Fulfillment Operating System designedfor fast-paced, high-volume, high-product-variety operations, unlike disparate hardware and software solutions built for an earlier time and interfaced together in a complex technology system.

GreyMatter further enhances prioritized order fulfillment at scale, both predictively and in realtime, by continuously considering inventory positions, orders, promise dates, cost impacts, revenue implications, labor available, time available and fleets of robots available. The softwarethenorchestrates how the Company’s robots navigate across a distribution center, working autonomously or alongside people, to ensure the right inventory is at the right place at the right time to fulfill the decisions made in priority order, even during times of peak pace and volume.