ChinaLogistics and transport2017 – ongoingJD.com (JD Logistics)
Unmanned warehouses near Shanghai
JD.com built robot-run warehouses near Shanghai, reported to handle up to 200,000 orders a day with a few staff
Problem
JD.com runs its own delivery network and promises fast delivery, including same-day delivery for morning orders. Its warehouse space almost doubled in a year, and receiving, storing, picking, packing and sorting goods by hand limited how fast and how cheaply it could grow.
Approach
In October 2017 JD.com completed an automated section of its "Asia No. 1" logistics centre in Jiading, Shanghai: 40,000 square metres in which robot arms and automated guided vehicles with 2-D and 3-D vision handle receiving, storage, packing and sorting, and an algorithm chooses packaging to cut waste. In 2018 FreightWaves reported a JD facility in Kunshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, handling up to 200,000 orders a day with four employees who service the machines.
Results
Takeaway
The automated warehouses still depended on people elsewhere for maintenance, supplies and supervision. The reported capacity and staffing figures may describe two sites in different towns.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Logistics and transport
- Business function
- Logistics and supply chain
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Robotics and automationComputer visionOptimization
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
China Daily reports that JD.com completed a fully automated warehouse at its Asia No. 1 logistics centre in Jiading, Shanghai, on 9 October 2017. The 40,000-square-metre site uses nearly 1,000 robots, including robot arms and guided vehicles with vision systems, and company insiders expected it to handle more than 200,000 orders a day. It says the robots sort 3,600 items an hour.
FreightWaves reports a JD.com warehouse in Kunshan, near Shanghai, that handles up to 200,000 orders a day with four employees whose work is servicing the robots. It describes conveyors, image scanners, a routing system that assigns packages to drop-off points and driverless forklifts, and notes that JD's warehouse space grew from 5.8 to 10.9 million square metres in a year.
Full details are in the original sources.
