NRF 2021

Tompkins Robotics

Orlando,  FL 
United States
http://www.tompkinsrobotics.com
  • Booth: 1545

Tompkins Robotics is a global leader focused on the robotic automation of distribution and fulfillment operations. Our primary system, tSort, consists of autonomous mobile robots that sort a wide range of items and parcels to consolidation points for order fulfillment, store replenishment, returns, parcel distribution – virtually any process in the supply chain. tSort is the world’s first portable, automated material handling sortation system that is creating a huge paradigm shift in the supply chain and how the basic distribution function of order fulfillment and delivery is accomplished. We also have other proprietary solutions such as the xChange, a robotic sortation order removal and replacement system for orders and shipping systems, and tSort3D which is a new, very dense sortation system ideal for ecommerce and provides as much as 10 times the sort destinations and volume compared to competing solutions.  For more information, please visit tompkinsrobotics.com.


 Press Releases

  • ORLANDO, Fla., March 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tompkins Robotics has created a new robotic application to automate the exit process on a unit sortation order fulfillment system. This innovative system, called xChange, uses a robot to remove completed order containers from a sortation process and place empty order containers in position. Now, for the first time ever, xChange, combines a fully-automated unit sortation system with an autonomous container removal system, reducing the costs and labor requirements of distribution in a fulfillment center. Tompkins Robotics teamed with IAM Robotics to provide an original line of industrial robots to fulfill the vision of xChange based on IAM Robotics' latest robot model, Atlas. This robot joins the Tompkins Robotics' automation fulfillment line as a solution designed for high-demand throughput requirements. With its revolutionary industrial design and capability, companies can reap the benefits of a truly automated sortation system. Typically, a unit sorter system utilizes an associate to manually sort items from an accumulation chute to unique order containers and place the containers onto a takeaway conveyor. By contrast, our robotic sortation system allows most orders to be sorted directly into an order container, and xChange automatically removes and replaces the container, completely automating the sortation/ order fulfillment exit process.

    Tompkins Robotics can now deliver end-to-end fulfillment capabilities, including goods-to-person inventory delivery, pick-and-place induction robotics, t-Sort robotic sortation, the new xChange system, and automated packaging. This end-to-end automation of the entire fulfillment operation from storage to packaging—creates tremendous cost, labor, and space savings while optimizing performance through increased capacity, improved accuracy, 24/7 capability, faster cycle times, and industry-leading ROI.

    Mike Futch, CEO and President of Tompkins Robotics shared, "We are proud to unveil this breakthrough automation technology with our partner, IAM Robotics. This collaboration combines the strengths of both companies to put the final puzzle piece together to maximize fulfillment automation for our industry."

    The Atlas robot used for the xChange system is packed with innovative features, including a robust design with a fully-configurable tote tower and a mobile base with rechargeable Lithium-ion battery technology and direct drive wheels. The wheels provide unmatched force/torque compliance for safety (able to be effortlessly moved even when unpowered).

    "We are excited to partner with Tompkins to provide a fully-automated sortation/order fulfillment exit process," said Tom Galluzzo, CEO and founder of IAM Robotics. "The collaboration between our robotic systems will be a game-changer for logistics."

  • Tompkins Robotics tSort Automation Delivers Big Benefits for Kmart Australia

      Best-in-Class Automation Solution Implemented in Less than Five Months


     Tompkins Robotics, a global leader in the robotic automation of distribution operations, today announced Kmart Australia, which features more than 300 stores in Australia and New Zealand, selected Tompkins Robotics’ tSort automation solution to optimize its Auckland fulfillment operations. Implemented in less than 5 months, Tompkins Robotics’ tSort System immediately improved the scalability of Kmart’s distributed logistics network, requiring a lower investment and utilizing 60 percent less operational space.

    Click here to read a full case study on Kmart Australia’s robotics implementation.

    “The initial challenge was finding a cost-effective solution that improved safety and increased output in our facility to support our growing store network and volume,” said Justin Boyd, Kmart Head of Assets, DC Design and Automation. “Tompkins Robotics’ tSort system offered an optimally aligned solution that we were able to deploy rapidly to sustain our evolving distribution network.”

    The award-winning AMR solution, tSort, provides a wealth of benefits for retail replenishment, including:

    • Rapid deployment: This allows for faster installation between peak seasons for minimal disruption to Kmart’s operations
    • Low capital investment: The tSort solutions cost approximately half the cost of large tilt tray or crossbelt sorters and additional robots
    • Scalable & portable: All elements and robots can be easily added, removed or relocated at any time to meet changing demands
    • Wide range of capabilities & applications: Kmart has a wide range of products and varying packaging. tSort processes a wide variety of products and packages in many different environments and applications

    “The Tompkins Robotics and Kmart teams came together to apply this exciting technology for a set of requirements and challenges that would have been difficult to meet with traditional automated solutions,” said Thompson Brockmann, VP Operations, Tompkins Robotics. “Implementing tSort to redefine item and case sortation provided Kmart with a 100 percent modular, scalable, configurable and portable robotic solution to process goods to orders.”

    Tompkins Robotics’ tSort solution was installed, tested and commissioned utilizing mostly remote resources while in the midst of the pandemic, and has successfully supported the operation since its go-live in May 2021. Supporting the reduction in manual handling activities on site, the solution increased production to meet Kmart’s store growth and volume and improved inventory accuracy.

    About Kmart

    Kmart opened Australia’s first discount department store in Burwood, Victoria in 1969. It was the beginning of a proud Aussie icon that has revolutionized the way Australians and New Zealanders shop. Today, Kmart has more than 240 stores across Australia and New Zealand and is recognized as one of the most profitable discount department stores in Australia. Kmart employs approximately 30,000 team members who mainly work in its retail stores. Kmart’s vision is to provide families with everyday products at the lowest prices.

    About Tompkins Robotics

    For more information, please visit www.tompkinsrobotics.com.

  • Tompkins Robotics Partners with GreyOrange for “Zero Walk” Fulfillment at Unprecedented Rates

    —New joint offering dramatically increases ecommerce order fulfillment rates across a broad assortment of SKUs, creating a scalable, end-to-end automated takeaway solution—


    ATLANTA, April 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tompkins Robotics (Tompkins), a leading provider of flexible, scalable, portable, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), today announces a strategic partnership with GreyOrange, a global software and robotics company that leverages AI and machine learning to optimize supply chains, to offer a new “zero walk” solution which eliminates all walking previously required by human pickers in the distribution center while dramatically increasing order pick rates. By integrating Tompkins’ tSort™ with GreyOrange’s Ranger™ Goods-to-Person (GTP) system, a warehouse pick station operator can fill hundreds of orders simultaneously and safely from a single picking station. The efficiency driven by the solution allows companies to fulfill 10 times the ecommerce order volumes that are achieved with other traditional automated picking solutions.

    “This ‘zero walk’ collaboration takes ecommerce order fulfillment to pick rates never seen before by the retail industry,” said John Seidl, Retail Consulting Partner at GreyOrange. “With this new joint solution, ecommerce retailers can achieve picks rates exceeding 500 to 1,000 units per hour while also providing a more ergonomic work environment for associates, helping them attract and retain the best people. It’s really the perfect solution for all retail segments.”

    The efficiency and productivity achieved from this collaboration is a direct result of the ergonomics produced by pairing GreyOrange’s Ranger GTP system, which brings inventory to warehouse associates at a picking station, with the Tompkins’ tSort, a modular and flexible sorting solution that travels freely to deliver picked inventory for packing. The "zero walk" effect this solution creates is a desirable alternative to traditional and other solutions that require human associates to walk a large warehouse picking area to access a broad assortment of SKUs, then walk to a put wall to sort the SKUs to orders for packing. Integrating these solutions through GreyOrange GreyMatter™ software, the intelligence and decision-making engine powering and connecting the robots, creates a solution that completely eliminates time-consuming and labor-intensive walking for associates. Retailers can fulfill thousands of orders faster, increasing customer satisfaction while also significantly improving the work environment for associates.

    By adopting this joint solution along with automated packing, retailers can create an end-to-end fully automated solution.

    “This partnership demonstrates that Tompkins Robotics and GreyOrange are expanding to deliver the leadership and expertise their clients need to transform their businesses for the future,” said Mike Futch, CEO and President, Tompkins. “From solution detailing to implementation and collaboration on specific projects, the GreyOrange and Tompkins Robotics teams work to provide their partners with business, technical, sales and marketing resources to enable them to grow their business and better support their customers.”

    This software integration between the GreyOrange GreyMatter AI solution and the Tompkins Robotics WES is the key to making the joint solution work. Tight integration is essential for businesses whose growth, like Tompkins and GreyOrange, has been fueled in the past year by the massive increase in online orders due to the pandemic.

    Tompkins Robotics and GreyOrange will each present a showcase at the virtual PromatDX 2021 April 12-16. Register today for free to see how GreyOrange and Tompkins Robotics can help your business achieve your goals and satisfy your customers. Once registered, visit the PromatDX showcase page for Tompkins Robotics here and GreyOrange here

    About Tompkins Robotics

    Tompkins Robotics is focused on the robotic automation of distribution operations. Our primary system, tSort, consists of autonomous mobile robots that sort a wide range of items and parcels to consolidation points. tSort is a portable, automated material handling sortation system that is creating a huge paradigm shift in the supply chain and how the basic distribution function of order fulfillment is accomplished. We continue to expand this core system with complementary robotic systems to automate processes in fulfillment operations. Our systems maximize performance with mobile, scalable, and flexible robotics solutions that grow and change on demand to meet customer needs. We create profit and value for our clients, making them more agile and adaptable to the highly dynamic changes in the marketplace. For more information, please visit www.tompkinsrobotics.com.

    About GreyOrange

    GreyOrange is a global company delivering an advanced software and robotics platform that unifies artificial intelligence, machine learning and Maximum-Life™ robotics design to optimize supply chains and warehouse operations in real time. The company’s always-solving application platform, GreyMatter, orchestrates robots, people, promises and inventory to continuously adapt and accelerate accurate fulfillment in distribution centers and warehouses. GreyOrange experts work closely with organizations to master complex supply chain challenges so they can advance commerce and help employees thrive. The company has core operations in the United States, Singapore, Germany, Japan and India. www.GreyOrange.com


 Products

  • tSort
    tSort™ is a game-changing unit and parcel sortation system that performs much like a tilt tray or crossbelt sorter without a fixed track, allowing independent robots to travel freely to any divert or induction station along the shortest path,....

  • tSort Solution Overview

    Revolutionizing Unit and Parcel Sortation

    tSort™ is a game-changing unit and parcel sortation system that performs much like a tilt tray or crossbelt sorter without a fixed track, allowing independent robots to travel freely to any divert or induction station along the shortest path, greatly enhancing efficiency and maximizing operational capabilities.  Unlike traditional sortation systems that require a large upfront investment and have excess capacity that may be underutilized for years, the tSort™ system is fully modular and allows robots, chutes or induction stations to be added or removed instantaneously without any interruption or downtime.  A typical installation takes five to seven months to go live, and the completely portable system can be relocated to another nearby location overnight, providing an added level of versatility. Our tSort™, xChange™ and xPress™ robots combine with our tSort™ Tompkins Warehouse Execution System (TWES) software to ensure a robust, collaborative solution for your business.

    Click to view our product brochure

     

    tSort Advantages

    • Maximum efficiency – Robot navigation via real-time control to ensure movement along the most efficient path.
    • Space utilization – Requires 25 percent or less space when compared to traditional sortation systems.
    • Labor productivity – High sort density in compact space results in larger batches for greater picking efficiency and productivity.
    • Complete modularity – Robots can be easily added at any time to increase throughput and all system components are modular for simple expansion and reconfiguration.
    • Ultimate flexibility – Unit and parcel sortation can be used separately or simultaneously, and the system is fully portable, configurable and scalable with no fixed infrastructure or permitting.
    • Lower capital investment – Robots cost 40 to 50 percent less than a traditional tilt tray or crossbelt system and can be purchased and installed as needed to postpone investment and enable complete utilization of the asset.
    • High capacity – Multi-level design can more than double the volume, sort points and capacity in a single footprint.
    • Faster startups – Implementation is typically ½ the lead time for traditional fixed track systems.
    • Higher ROI – Lower investment, shorter lead times, faster implementation, reduced space, lower headcount, and incremental expansion/capital expenditures – all drive greater than 2X increase in ROI.
    • Redundancy & risk mitigation – No single point of failure anywhere in the system. The system has mirrored servers, redundant infrastructure and an uninterruptable power supply backup.

     

    tSort Range of Capabilities

    • Wide Range of Unit Handling – The variety of unit loads tSort™ can process is much broader than traditional sortation systems.  This includes apparel, shoe boxes, general merchandise, shipping bags, small-to-medium boxes and a wide range of additional products.  tSort™ offers multiple tray and crossbelt designs, optimized for different products, that can be easily changed.  tSort™ can handle anything traditional unit sorters process and more.
      • tSort™ can process delicate, cylindrical, round, extremely light, liquid, static prone, and other difficult items for tilt tray, crossbelt and bomb bay sorters. tSort™ is even capable of sorting glass containers and other fragile, breakable items.
      • The items found in a retail store can be sorted in a special store-based mode for buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) and local e-commerce orders. Most grocery and retail merchandise items are sortable with tSort™.
    • Wide Range of Sortation Destination – As each robot makes a complete stop at the sort destination, tSort™ can perform a positive and accurate sort to a variety of destinations, including shipping cartons, totes, gravity conveyor lines, chutes, bags, and gaylords. Additionally, the destination receptacle/accumulation device and system configuration can be customized to a client’s specific requirements to ensure the design best fits the application.
    • Ease of Configuration and Expansion – All components are modular, allowing the system to grow and increase its operational functionality as needed. This includes easily expanding the number of robots, sort points and induction stations, and reconfiguring the system size, shape and sort functions.

    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System

    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System builds software solutions that enable the automated environments of tomorrow’s supply chain.  Our products leverage leading digital technologies that bring together people, processes and systems to improve performance and drive operational excellence.  Combining our products with the latest in automation yields solutions that empower businesses to meet growing demands and gain a competitive advantage in today’s ever-changing world.

  • xChange
    xChange™ – Tompkins Robotics has provided another industry original, xChange™ robot. Now, for the first time ever, a fully automated unit sortation system can be paired with our autonomous tote exchange robot....

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    Tompkins Robotics' Revolutionary xChange™ Automates the Removal & Replacement of Order Containers

    xChange™ – Tompkins Robotics has teamed with IAM Robotics to provide another industry original, xChange™ robot. Typically a unit sorter system has an associate take the items out of an accumulation chute or mixed order destination, place the units into unique order containers and then place the containers on a takeaway conveyor. Now, for the first time ever, a fully automated unit sortation system can be paired with our autonomous tote exchange robot, further reducing the costs of distribution in a fulfillment center. When combined with Tompkins Robotics’ end to end fulfillment capabilities, including goods to person inventory delivery, pick and place induction robotics, tSort™ and the new tote exchange system we can now deliver major labor savings, better fulfillment control, and the industries quickest ROI.

    Watch the video below to learn more about the Tompkins Robotics xChange™ System

        

    MarketWatch has published the Tompkins Robotics press release:

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  • Tompkins Warehouse Execution System (TWES)
    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System builds software solutions that enable the automated environments of tomorrow’s supply chain....

  • Tompkins Warehouse Execution System

    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System builds software solutions that enable the automated environments of tomorrow’s supply chain.  Our products leverage leading digital technologies that bring together people, processes and systems to improve performance and drive operational excellence.  Our tSort™, xChange™ and xPress™ robots combine with our tSort™ Tompkins Warehouse Execution System (TWES) software to ensure a robust, collaborative solution for your business.

    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System (TWES) enables advanced warehouse functionality:

    • E-commerce Order Fulfillment
    • Store Replenishment
    • Wave-less or Wave based
    • Discrete and Batch Picking
    • Dynamic Work Assignment
    • Container and Unit Sortation
    • Productized solution with configurable business rules
    • Digital Platform integrates with any WMS and automation
    • Cloud based and multi-tenant solution
    • Adjustable parameters to manipulate workflow
    • Enterprise Visibility from any device browser
    • Role based access to information and control
    Tompkins Warehouse Execution System

    TWES enables robotic sortation:

    • Create Logical “Routes” for each sorter
    • Each sorter has its own list of routes
    • Create Groups of Routes for easy management
    • Sort criteria determines which route is selected
    t-Sort
    • Manage every sorting location
    • Create multiple sort plans for each sorter
    • Activate sort plans on the fly
    • Assign multiple routes to same lane
    • Assign same route to multiple lanes
    • Priority options available
    t-Sort and RightHand Robotics
    • Cloud Digital Platform integrates all systems and devices
    • RESTful API
    • Transformation enables legacy system interfaces
    • tWES manages operation of tSort and other MHE
    • Data Warehouse enables visibility into operations and performance