e-Grocery Micro-Fulfillment Center
Online grocery sales surged 40% in 2020 and are likely to comprise 15% or more of your sales years sooner than you thought. When that happens, it will no longer be feasible – financially or logistically – to continue to manually pick orders from your store shelves, no matter who does the work. You need an e-Grocery micro-fulfillment center solution that automates the process today – and anticipates your needs as online order penetration grows. Alert Innovation’s Alphabot platform provides a proven solution that is already working for Walmart® – and can work for you, too.
Alphabot® meets your needs now
- Picks and stores in three temperature zones.
- Supports one-hour or less pickup model.
- Enables order capacity expansion simply by adding bots.
- Dispenses directly to customers outside – even at their cars – via automated bots.
- Delivers ROI in as few as 24 months.
- Our parking-lot based micro-fulfillment option allows for rapid piloting and deployments without having to clear space in your stockroom.
Why choose Alphabot®?
Fast Order Completion
A 40-item order can be picked within 5.5 minutes.
High Reliability
No single points of failure; every bot can access every location via multiple paths.
Scalability
Because throughput assets are not captive within storage assets, throughput and storage capacities can be scaled independently.
Cost Efficiency
Mobile bots eliminate the need for – and cost of – conveyors, lifts, cranes, and all automation hardware.
Built-in Order Staging and Consolidation
All completed orders are held in the system, in the proper temperature zone, until time to dispense.
Battery-free Operation
Supercapacitors enable 100% duty-cycle from each bot – no chemical batteries to catch fire.
A solution that can grow with you
- Automated replenishment in less-than-full-case quantities increases storage capacity and significantly reduces decant labor.
- Robotic arms perform automated each-picking.
- AlphaRack™ technology automates the dispense of 20+ totes onto a rolling rack for transport to “spoke” location or onto delivery van.
- 30-hour chilled totes eliminate the need for temperature-controlled trucks or refrigerators/freezers at “spokes”.
- Alphabot-automated remote pickup hubs make Hub-and-Spoke strategies work.
- Alphabot technology enables a new, automated-service supermarket – Novastore™ – the next paradigm in food retailing.
Case Study
Alphabot is leading a Walmart supercenter in Salem, New Hampshire into the future. Its goal? To revolutionize the online grocery pickup and delivery process for associates and customers.