United StatesLogistics and transport2023 – ongoingPitney Bowes
AmbiSort B-Series robotic parcel sorters in ecommerce hubs
Pitney Bowes' AI sorting robots handled about 1,250 parcels an hour, against 275 to 300 for a person
Problem
Pitney Bowes' ecommerce hubs sort parcels for middle-mile delivery providers, and the work relied on manual labor. Manual sorting also risked mis-sorted parcels and slower loading of trucks.
Approach
Pitney Bowes deployed AmbiSort B-Series systems from Ambi Robotics, which use robotic arms for parcel induction and sortation. Four systems ran at its Monroe Township, New Jersey, and Ontario, California, hubs, two at each. The deal built on a partnership that began in 2021.
Results
Takeaway
The throughput comparison came from the operator's own operations executive and was a rate per sorter, not a measure of total hub cost.
Categories
- Industry
- Logistics and transport
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Robotics and automationComputer vision
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Supply Chain Dive reported the deployment of four AmbiSort B-Series systems at two Pitney Bowes hubs. Ambi's CEO said they sorted over 3 million parcels in about four months. Pitney Bowes' operations executive gave the 1,250 per hour rate against 275 to 300 for a person and said automated induction should reduce mis-sorts.
Full details are in the original sources.