Pick and Pack: Goods-to-Person (G2P) and Cobot Integration

Pick-and-Pack (P&P) is the highest labor cost in a fulfillment center. Modern automation aims to reduce the "travel time" of workers by moving the inventory to the human, or by deploying robots that work alongside humans.

1. Goods-to-Person (G2P) vs. Person-to-Goods (P2G)

Person-to-Goods (P2G)

The traditional method where a worker walks with a cart to a static rack.

- **Inefficiency:** 60-70% of a worker's shift is spent walking, not picking.

- **Automation Shift:** AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots) act as "lead-follow" carts, reducing the worker's fatigue but not eliminating the walking.

Goods-to-Person (G2P)

The inventory comes to the worker's station.

- **Example: AutoStore or AMR Shelves.** A robot retrieves a bin or an entire shelf and delivers it to a fixed "Pick Station."

- **Benefit:** Worker productivity increases from 60-80 lines per hour (P2G) to **300-600 lines per hour (G2P)**.

2. Cobot Integration in Packing and Kitting

**Collaborative Robots (Cobots)** are designed to work safely in the same physical space as humans without safety cages.

Usage in Fulfillment

1. **Kitting:** A cobot picks small, repetitive items (e.g., screws, stickers) while a human handles the complex, variable item in a gift set.

2. **Case Packing:** Cobots handle the repetitive motion of loading boxes onto pallets (Palletizing), reducing repetitive strain injuries (RSI) for humans.

3. **Vision-Assisted Picking:** Cobots equipped with 3D cameras can identify "bin-stock" and orient items correctly for the packer.

Concrete Example: AMR-Assisted Zone Picking

In a large apparel warehouse:

- **The System:** 50 AMRs (like Locus or 6 River Systems) roam the zones.

- **The Workflow:** A human stays in a 2-aisle zone. An AMR arrives with a screen showing what to pick. The human picks, places it on the AMR, and hits "Confirm." The AMR then travels to the next zone or directly to the packing station.

- **Result:** The human never leaves their zone, eliminating miles of walking per day.

3. Optimization Metrics for P&P

| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |

| **Units Per Hour (UPH)** | Total items picked / hours | 80 | 400+ |

| **Mis-pick Rate** | % of incorrect items | 1.5% | <0.1% |