Re-inventing the warehouse by inverting the roles of humans and robots: Kiva Systems

Today, eCommerce requires that global product companies have the ability to deliver their product to the customer at the very least, on an expected delivery date. Reducing the time of that expected delivery date while still maintaining accurate predictions is the key to winning market share in many industries. One new technology helping businesses reduce their expected delivery time is the Keva System. 

As shown in the video below Kiva Systems is deviating from the traditional warehouse model by inverting the usual roles humans and products take on. In a traditional warehouse, products are stocked on shelves in aisles of large buildings and when orders are received humans walk the aisles and retrieve the particular product for shipping. In the Kiva Systems model, human employees stay stationary packaging products for shipment while robots continuously bring them inventory. The process is more efficient and allows for warehouses to actively organize themselves bringing more popular items to the front and keeping less popular items toward the back or even in mezzanine floors for more storage. 

The Kiva System represents a futuristic technological solution existing in the present to tackle the immense challenge of constantly cutting costs and improving the speed at which companies deliver products to customers. In the future, technology will likely be used in other increasingly innovative ways to work towards that goal of instantaneous delivery of goods to customers.