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Kiva Systems ranks #6 on 2009’s Inc. 500
list of the fastest growing companies in America.
- Kiva Systems' robots, software fulfilling orders
Mass High Tech
September 1, 2010
Kiva’s Mobile Fulfillment System (MFS) is a next-generation automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) that uses a simple set of equipment and powerful control software to provide a complete order fulfillment solution: storing, moving and sorting inventory, bringing it to workers instead of making workers go get it.
- Office Depot: Flexible automation
Modern Material Handling
August 2010
Mobile robotics is powering Office Depot’s new demand-driven distribution center.
When Office Depot decided to consolidate three distribution centers and a crossdock facility into one, new state-of-the-art DC in Newville, Pa., the office supplies retailer looked for an automated materials handling solution that was efficient and flexible. More importantly, they wanted a system that would deliver a competitive edge in the marketplace.
- The robots are coming
Modern Material Handling
August 2010
Robotic materials handling technology is changing the way we move products in the plant and the distribution center.
Back at ProMat 2007, small crowds gathered around the booths of Kiva Systems, Seegrid and RMT Robotics even though all three had relatively inconspicuous booths. The crowds gathered because each supplier was demonstrating something new: small mobile units that ran around the limited floor space.
- Although Kiva displayed an integrated picking solution that included portable storage units, most people didn’t quite know what to do with these gizmos.
- The Founders Behind Diapers.com Launch Soap.com:
“All The Robots Are In Place”
TechCrunch
June 3, 2010
Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara have figured out a formula for selling low-margin goods online and shipping them overnight to customers. The two entrepreneurs have built Diapers.com into the largest seller of diapers and other baby products on the Web. Diapers.com is on track to bring in $300 million in revenues this year. Now the two are getting ready to launch a new e-commerce site, Soap.com.
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- Soon, That Nearby Worker Might Be a Robot
Business Week
June 1, 2010
One of Linda Muniz's newest colleagues is a robot that makes deliveries. On a recent morning, Muniz greeted the robot as it rolled up to the nursing station at El Camino Hospital in the Silicon Valley community of Mountain View, Calif., and announced its presence in a polite female voice.
View Slideshow
- Responsive Supply Chains Thru Flexible Warehouses
ChainLink Research
May 21, 2010
Warehouses have been considered a necessary “evil”' in the supply chain. In reality, they are a critical necessity in the global chain to fulfill customers all over the world. And done well, they can be an essential element to improving customer service. However, the challenges associated with warehouse design, as well as determining picking techniques and technology, are challenging.
- Luxury Brand Milly Implements Robotic Order Fulfillment
Multichannel Merchant
May 21, 2010
Milly has gone robotic. The luxury apparel and accessories brand in late March implemented a robotic order fulfillment system through Quiet Logistics. The automated robotic technology will assist Milly in fulfilling online orders more accurately and efficiently while reducing costs.
- Kiva Systems robots now pick up trash
DC Velocity
May 5, 2010
Kiva Systems, the manufacturer of robots that bring shelves to order pickers, announced a new product, a new customer, and a new executive at the NA 2010 Show.
- Diapers.com Rocks Online Retailing
Forbes.com
April 26, 2010
It started with selling diapers online. Now Vinit Bharara and Marc Lore aim to be the one-stop shop for baby gear.
Two guys start an online retailer. In five years they raise $59 million from outside investors. The company rises to 300 employees, with annual sales of $180 million. This is no wistful memory of the Pets.com era. This is for real.
- Retailers Spending More To Woo Customers
CNBC
March 29, 2010
Starting this July, you may notice your latest online splurge from Saks Fifth Avenue arrived at your doorstep a bit quicker than in the past.
That's because the luxury retailer recently invested in a sophisticated order fulfillment system, which will eventually reduce the time it takes to package and load online orders by as much as 17 hours, according to the company.
- Crate & Barrel Warehouse Robots Cut Carbon Footprint of Retail
Triple Pundit
February 18, 2010
Can robots from MA-based Kiva Systems turn warehouses green?
Crate and Barrel thinks so.
So far, most companies have installed Kiva warehouse automation systems because they want to improve efficiencies and cut costs.
- Using Robots To Get Saks Web Orders Out A Day Faster
Storefront Backtalk
February 11, 2010
When Saks CIO Michael Rodgers was tasked with trying to accelerate the $3 billion apparel chain’s Web order deliveries, he knew needed help, and he opted for a non-traditional form. Rodgers made arrangements to command an army of 700 robots—each one capable of transporting a half-ton of merchandise at a time.
- Using Distribution and Fulfillment as Strategic Weapons
Inboundlogistics.com
January 2010
Distribution center (DC) assets in the supply chain are often relegated to cost center, necessary evil, or even non-value-added status. But focusing only on costs overlooks distribution and fulfillment's value to the corporation.
- Kiva’s Robots Go to Work Sorting Medical Devices at Boston Scientific
Xconomy | Boston
January 19, 2010
Robotics startup Kiva Systems of Woburn, MA, and medical device giant Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) said today that Kiva’s robots will be used to automate order fulfillment in two Boston Scientific warehouses, one in New England and one in the Netherlands.
It’s a big win for Kiva, whose shelf-toting robots are increasingly common in the warehouses of consumer goods distributors like Zappos, Staples, and Diapers.com, but which has never before landed a customer in the health or medical sectors, where there’s less room for error.
- The Amazing Kiva Robots That Secretly Run Gilt Groupe - video
The Business Insider
December 11, 2009
- Big picture: From products to solutions
Modern Materials Handling
December 1, 2009
For years, materials handling equipment manufacturers focused on selling products. Now, they're selling preconfigured solutions.
- 60 Seconds With... Bruce Welty, Quiet Logistics
Modern Materials Handling
December 1, 2009
Modern: What makes Quiet Logistics different from other third-party logistics providers?
Welty: Like our competitors, we receive, label and putaway our customers products, and then pick, pack and ship orders. Two things are different. One is that we're using our own warehouse management system (WMS). I was the founder of AllPoints Systems (now part of Infor), and we had a lot of experience supporting third-party logistics providers (3PLs) including returns processing. And, we're handling everything but non-conveyables with a Kiva (www.kivasystems.com) robotic fulfillment system for storage and picking. Automation is our competitive advantage.
- New Business, Not Small Business, Is What Creates Jobs
Unmanned Systems Magazine
October 2009
Nearly all net job creation since 1980 occurred in firms less than five years old.
While a slight improvement over last month's numbers, today's employment update from the Bureau of Labor Statistics presents a dismal picture for American workers. As policy makers search for the best remedies to strengthen our economic performance, they can't afford to overlook new firms and young firms.
- Will work for Grease
Unmanned Systems Magazine
October 2009
Reports from Japan warn of a significant drop in the use of industrial
robots, possibly hinting at the future of the market in Europe
and the United States. Does the tough economy spell doom
for industrial robotics? Some say the economic trend simply highlights
a shift in the market and points to new opportunities for companies
that know how to take advantage of the changes in manufacturing.
- For fashion-forward Gilt Groupe, robots help get the orders shipped on time
Internet Retailer
October 22, 2009
Gilt Groupe Inc., a web-only retailer of fashion apparel and home furnishings that it offers in timed sales, has found that a robot-supported fulfillment warehouse is four times as productive as its traditional warehouse, chief operating officer Jennifer Carr-Smith says.
- Kiva robots save Zappos shoe leather
Material Handling Wholesaler
October 15, 2009
Kiva, based in Woburn, Mass., turned order picking around. Instead of pickers going to a shelf and getting the item they need, the bots bring the ordered item to them.
The inventory is mobile and the picker is stationery.
This means productivity can easily double, perhaps quadruple, according to Kiva. And because system components are mobile and modular, the system is flexible – able to add new products without disrupting operations.
- Investors Pick the Best 2009 Inc. 500 Companies
Inc. Magazine
October 1, 2009
Venture capital is hard to come by; investors explain what makes a company a good investment.
VCs put up just $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2009 -- less than half the amount they invested during the same period in 2008. But that doesn't mean investors aren't still out hunting for great companies.
- The Way I Work: Mick Mountz of Kiva Systems
Inc. Magazine
September 1, 2009
Mick Mountz is a caffeine junkie. On any given day, he downs three or four cups of coffee and a few cans of Mountain Dew. Perhaps Mountz, founder of Kiva Systems, is trying to keep up with his company's indefatigable orange robots, which are rapidly replacing conveyor belts and carousels at the order fulfillment warehouses of retailers such as Zappos, Staples, and Diapers.com.
- The Surprising Benefits of Robots in the DC
Supply & Demand Chain Executive
July 31, 2009
by Mitch Rosenberg
Lower worker fatigue, increased autonomy and greater safety help increase employee retention in the distribution center
Everyone expects an investment in automation to have operational benefits: reduced operating costs, increased order accuracy, faster cycle time. But one kind of automation also offers an unexpected strategic side effect: radically improved employee attraction and retention rates. For many distribution centers where scarcity of qualified workers is among the most serious challenges, a significantly improved work environment is the big and unexpected prize in the Cracker Jack box.
- Amazon’s Acquisition of Zappos Is “A Good Thing for Kiva,” Says Robot Company’s CEO
Xconomy
July 23, 2009
Much of the buzz about Amazon’s surprise announcement yesterday that it is acquiring popular online shoe retailer Zappos for more than $900 million is about whether the Las Vegas-based company really needed to sell, or was pressured to do so by its main venture backer, Sequoia Capital. But the first thing I wondered when I heard the news was what the acquisition might mean for Kiva Systems, the Woburn, MA, startup whose robots staff a huge Zappos distribution center in Louisville, KY.
- A Case for Technology as Strategy
Retail Systems Research
July 21, 2009
In May, RSR published our second annual report on IT Alignment. In that report, we found something somewhat controversial: in order to truly achieve IT/Business alignment, it's not so much about IT being aligned with the Business - IT has gotten pretty good at that. It's more about making sure that the Business knows how to make the most of technology.
- Six Months to Success
Chain Store Age
July 1, 2009
When online footwear retailer Zappos decided to add apparel to its merchandise mix, the biggest challenge was revamping its fulfillment processes to accommodate garments on hangers and in bags rather than shoeboxes.
- Annual Fab 50 + 1
WorldTrade Magazine
June 10, 2009
World Trade magazine names Kiva one of their annual “Fabulous Fifty” “list of the people, places, and innovations that are shaping global supply chains is more environmentally-driven than ever. A testimony to the long-term value and commitment to green and lean business practices, despite the current economic conditions.
- The Big Send-Off - To fulfill through an outsourcing partner,
first pick and pack the right criteria
InternetRetailer.com
June 2009
After a promising first year as an online retailer of strings, picks and other parts used to play and maintain guitars, Music Parts Plus stopped the music for several months to replace an in-house fulfillment operation that sent out too many wrong orders.
- Robots, software aid fulfillment service
Mass High Tech
April 24, 2009
Third-party fulfillment warehouses are nothing new, but outfitting those facilities with robots that quietly hum along, picking orders and delivering goods could be a disruptive change to the warehousing business model.
- Bot-In-Time Delivery
Forbes Magazine
March 16, 2009
Kiva's robots do the hard labor behind mail orders.
There's a generous swath of floor inside the Denver distribution center owned by office-supply king Staples (nasdaq: SPLS - news - people ) where humans aren't permitted to tread. This 100,000-square-foot space belongs to robots: 150 orange creatures that look like overstuffed ottomans and whiz around with uncanny accuracy--and politeness. A drone toting file folders stops to let another one carrying pens go by. They're making Staples employees here more than twice as productive.
- Zappos: Leveraging Customer Service, Culture, and Next-Gen Fulfillment
AMR Research Article
Bruce Richardson
March 6, 2009
On the carousel side of the warehouse, it takes anywhere from 48 minutes to 3.5 hours to fulfill an order. In the video, Craig Adkins, vice president of services and operations, explained that the sub-hour time came as a result of additional capital investment in material handling. Using Kiva, the time has been reduced to 12 minutes.
The carousel consumes 416,000 square feet. In contrast, the Kiva system takes 80% less space. The Kiva side is also much quieter, uses less energy, and requires half the labor. Productivity is at least double that of the carouse, and requires less training for new employees—under four hours, compared to four days.
- shhhh ... order fulfillment in progress
DC Velocity
March 2009
Some third-party logistics companies specialize in a particular industry. Others focus on certain types of service offerings or geographic coverage. Now, a new 3PL has come along with a unique angle—what you might call the "Look Ma, (almost) no hands" approach to order fulfillment.
- Warehousing and Distribution Centers: Zappos.com goes Space Age
Logistics Management
February 1, 2009
- Autonomous Robots Invade Retail Warehouses
Wired Blog Network | Wired Science
January 27, 2009
- Zappos: Delivers Service … With Shoes on the Side
Apparel Magazine
January 2009
- Kiva Systems, Sedlak Management Consultants form alliance
The Plain Dealer
January, 2009
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