Case Study: Acumen Brands Uses Robots to 
Cut Warehouse Costs

It did so in rapid fashion. Acumen Brands went from designing the system in February to it being fully operational in late May, an unheard of three-and-a-half month turnaround. Even more remarkable, Acumen Brands did all of this with only three people devoted to the project (compared to the average 10- to 12-person teams that most retailers have).

Idiot-Proof Solution
Acumen Brands’ system has proven to be quite easy to operate. The retailer’s warehouse employees are trained and comfortable using it within just a few hours.

“It’s so easy to use that they’ll even let me pick orders,” jokes James. “It truly is idiot proof. You bring a new guy in and by the end of the shift he’s 80 [percent], 90 percent up to speed. It allows us to be able to, with confidence, start a second [shift] or third shift with one or two guys that are really familiar with it and the rest of them newbies that are learning the system.”

There are three parts to the Kiva system — mobile inventory shelves, pick and replenish stations, and robotic drive units. Each one of those scales independently of the others. So if you need more storage capacity you add shelves; if you need more pick throughput, you add a picking station. It’s infinitely scalable in chunks depending on the particular needs of the business.

That scalability was vital to Acumen Brands’ future. With plans to grow to 20-plus e-commerce sites by 2012, the retailer needed an order fulfillment solution that could grow with it. Generating nearly $10 million in revenue now, Acumen Brands has plans to ramp that up quickly — and without having to move from its 60,000 square-foot warehouse. Acumen Brands will max out that space with shelves, pick stations, and Kiva’s system and robots. As the company grows the goal will be to turn inventory faster vs. taking on more inventory, says James.