Murata Machine joins forces with a US startup to launch "Robo Warehouse" in October

Adopted by Walmart in the US, spread in Japan

August 20, 2019 Technology robot warehouse system "Alphabot" (image) and transport robot in operation (upper left) Murata Machinery is a robot warehouse Signed a strategic partnership agreement with Alert Innovation (Massachusetts), a US startup that developed the system "Alphabot". The system has been adopted by Walmart, the world's largest retailer, for the integration of real stores and online sales, and is planning to expand nationwide. Murata Machinery Co., Ltd., a major automated warehouse company, will launch the system in Japan in October. The distribution industry, including e-commerce (electronic commerce), is seeking a logistics system that can efficiently handle a large number of small orders. Murata was able to achieve both high-density mass storage and highly efficient picking of a wide variety of products, and received technology transfer from Alphabot, which has a simple mechanism. In Japan, we customize to Japanese specifications, and sell, design, manufacture, and service. The sales target is 20 billion yen over the five years until fiscal 2023. Alphabot is characterized by a transport robot that can autonomously travel, ascend and descend to access all shelves, and move freely inside and outside multiple arrays of storage shelves. The robot picks up product containers from the shelves and delivers them to workers on multiple sorting workbenches. After the worker picks up the necessary commodities for each individual customer's order, the commodity container is re-stored on the shelf. The price can be reduced by about 30% compared to conventional automated warehouses, and the drive mechanism is the same robot alone, so maintenance is easy. Walmart plans to add warehouses using Alphabot to its stores. This is a new system that allows customers to collect daily necessities ordered online while shopping at the store and pick them up at the parking lot when they leave the store. Recently, trial operation has started at two stores, and it will be gradually expanded. Alert is a fabless company established in 2016. Using Murata's global production, sales, design, and service resources, the two companies aim to expand their business globally in addition to Japan and the United States.

Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun August 19, 2019 (Machinery)