OSARO, provider of machine-learning-enabled robotics for e-commerce, has launched the OSARO Robotic Kitting System. This addition to its range of e-commerce robots is equipped with piece-picking skills and end effectors to handle the constantly changing array of product SKUs that must be organized, placed, and packaged into custom kits.
The new system addresses the exploding market for subscription products that require kitting. Kitting is both a merchandising strategy and a logistics technique whereby curated boxes of complementary items are packaged and shipped together as a single ‘kit’ with a unique SKU.
Recurring subscription product kits have become increasingly popular with consumers. E-commerce retailers — in sectors from cosmetics, toys, food and beverage, health, baby goods, and fashion to pet products — have embraced the trend because kits can grow revenue and increase sales of slow-moving items. They also provide improved revenue predictability and inventory management for both retailer and fulfillment operator alike.
However, while many of today’s consumer product warehouses are humming with mobile robots and automated storage retrieval systems, the task of kitting is typically still handled by humans who carefully select, place, and package different items from multiple sources into a single box.
