E-fulfilment company Active Ants has announced its partnership with beauty brand Oriflame, with its automated operations said to process orders ‘50% faster’ than traditional methods.
Active Ants uses an automated system for storage, order picking, packing and sorting, where employees work together with robots. The company states this improves efficiency, quality and reduces CO2 emissions.
Oriflame began operations at Active Ants’ UK facility on August 22nd. The partnership will see the Active Ants robots handle 85% of the picking and packing processes across the beauty brand’s range of products, reportedly processing orders more accurately and 50% faster than traditional methods.
Apparently, Active Ants’ AutoStore solution means the warehouse storage takes up six times less space than a traditional warehouse. Automated packaging machines make bespoke boxes to fit products, aiming to eliminate the need for box filling, reduce space during last mile transport and significantly reduce waste.
The company adds that its UK warehouse in Northampton has an A+ rating and an ‘outstanding’ BREEAM certification.
Khalil Ashong, country director at Active Ants UK, said: “Our proficient and highly efficient processes, which successfully and seamlessly bring together the work of humans and robots, combined with our 252,000 sqft UK warehouse, means every year we have the capacity to ship up to 10 million parcels. In the long term our UK facility, operating in full capacity, would see more than 250 people working alongside more than 400 robots, which would make our Northampton site the most sustainable and efficient in the UK.”
Oriflame’s UK managing director, Sofia Radomska, added: “We are very excited about our partnership with Active Ants. Providing world class service is key for us hence this decision for faster delivery and Active Ants’ advanced technology will enable our company to grow in a sustainable and prosperous way – I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!”
Last year, we spoke to Khalil Ashong, country director at Active Ants UK, as part of our article on the roles and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the packaging industry. Ashong explained the company’s use of AI to monitor and track products through the supply chain and the challenges involved in having humans and robots working side by side.
In June, ABB Robotics launched OmniCore, an intelligent automation platform designed for gluing, laser cutting, and other precise processes. It claims to operate up to 25% faster with 20% less energy than the previous ABB controller, and is set to fully integrate AI, sensor, cloud, and edge computing systems into advanced and autonomous robotic applications.
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