Counselor Top 40 supplier S&S Activewear (asi/84358) is executing a robotics revolution.

The multibillion-dollar firm this year began implementing Geekplus’s PopPick advanced mobile robotics (AMR) solution in three of its distribution centers and has plans to roll the AI-powered bots out to two more warehouses in early 2025.

PopPick robots from Geekplus at this S&S Activewear (asi/84358) facility move through the system of tote stacks, operating on AI to transport product-packed totes to human workers who pick the items and package them for shipping.

Adding to S&S’s AI promotional products arsenal is a different AMR system, this one from Locus Robotics, that’s active in distribution centers of alphabroder (asi/34063) – another multibillion-dollar Counselor Top 40 supplier, which S&S acquired officially at the end of September.

With the deal, the Locus bots that alphabroder had already been using prior to the acquisition came under the S&S umbrella too.

Taken in totality, the robust presence of AMRs in S&S-owned warehouses has put the company at the forefront of distribution center technology in the promotional products industry, executives say.

“It was no longer feasible to grow through hiring alone – we needed the productivity improvements that come with automation,” says Brian Beale, S&S’s chief technology and transformation officer. About PopPick in particular, he adds: “The system has enabled us to provide our customers with much quicker turnaround on orders. We’re able to scale to keep up with the consistent growth we’ve been experiencing.”

An Automated Dance

Imagine if the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline started moving in a choreographed dance up and down the avenues of New York City, never colliding, working in easy unison. That’s a bit what it’s like to watch PopPick robots go to work in S&S’s distribution centers.

ASI Media witnessed it firsthand on a recent visit to the supplier’s warehouse just outside Reading, PA. The bots aren’t humanoid, but rather somewhat oval-shaped wheeled platforms that rise a foot or two off the ground.

PopPick robots waiting to go into action at S&S Activewear’s (asi/84358) distribution center near Reading, PA.

Powered by artificial intelligence, they swiftly move through a city-like series of high-reaching stacks of apparel-packed totes, selecting the stack with items needed for a particular order.

Then, following a trail of QR codes printed on the floor, the bots transport the stack to a station where a pick-to-light (PTL) button system directs a waiting employee on which products to select and how many. From a tote that the AI-driven system puts right at their fingertips, the employee quickly packs up the T-shirts or hoodies or other apparel and sends them on their way for shipping.

Executives say the advantages of the system are manifold – for S&S and its distributor and decorator customers.

ASI Media Executive Editor Christopher Ruvo chats with RJ Gilgore, operations manager at S&S Activewear’s (asi/84358) Reading, PA, distribution center, about the Counselor Top 40 supplier’s use of PopPick – an advanced mobile robotics solution that streamlines warehouse operations.

“In our old method of picking, an associate had to drive to the correct location in the facility, select the right product from racks full of different items and put them into the proper box without the use of a PTL system,” explains Beale. “Presenting the proper tote to the picker simplifies the task requirement and tremendously increases picking accuracy.”

Expanding on that, S&S executives say the bots have vastly improved operational efficiency, enabling S&S to better serve customers, all while helping to create a better employee experience through simplifying the job, reducing physical strain and making warehouses safer through less movements of forklifts and the like.

“Since deploying the PopPick system, we’ve seen picking production rates increase from 40 picks per hour to more than 150 picks per hour,” says Cole Lohman, director of automation at S&S. “The system has also empowered us to offer better designed and safer jobs, which as a result, has reduced turnover by 75%. Additionally, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in order picking accuracy.”

275%
The percentage increase of picks per hour (from 40 to 150) in facilities where S&S Activewear has introduced PopPick.

Training time is accelerated, too. “It used to take about 90 days to get a new team member up to speed,” says RJ Gilgore, operations manager at S&S’s Reading facility. “Now, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes.”

It has cost S&S about $26 million per facility to implement PopPick, but the gains in efficiency, accuracy and, with time, savings over the long haul make the investment worth it, executives say. “We’re reducing our costs to fulfill orders,” says Gilgore.

The system also helps improve the ease of inventory management and gives leaders a single-glance insight into the operational movements and related goings-on in the warehouse.

On a computer screen in his office, Gilgore had a grid display of the entire warehouse’s operations, with information being fed in real time. “You can have a clear picture of what’s going on throughout the facility,” he says. “Your operational management can be very efficient, and I can monitor things from anywhere.”

This video produced by S&S Activewear focuses on the supplier’s operational automation and shows its PopPick robots in action.

2 Systems for Different Situations

Geekplus is a partner of Körber’s Business Area Supply Chain, which provides supply chain management solutions including software. S&S is a Körber customer, and the implementation of the PopPick system came about through these connections. While S&S is a big fan of PopPick, the company doesn’t plan to have the system supplant the Locus Robotics AMRs in action at alphabroder DCs.

“Both systems bring value and are optimal in different situations,” says Beale. “We’ve found that the PopPick system excels in improving picker productivity in larger footprint distribution centers of 500,000 square feet or more. Having enough space to dedicate to the storage grid and picking workstations while still maintaining adequate bulk storage is a determining factor. Since we are heavily involved in the automation integration, it gives us the flexibility to combine multiple solutions together as it makes sense.”

AMRs from Locus Robotics at an alphabroder (asi/34063) distribution center.

Like PopPick, the Locus Robotics system has robots working in tandem with people but does so quite differently. The Locus bots, also not humanoid, feature a front-facing main stem that connects to a wheeled base, upon which there’s an area for stacking items – like boxes – that the bots transport.

The Locus bots operate with coordinated dynamism, working on algorithms that enable them to find the most efficient routes as they travel to different pick points in a distribution center to collect products as directed. At a pick point, a human worker retrieves order-picking details from a smart tablet that extends off the back of the bot’s stem. The employee then retrieves the requested product and sends the bot along to its next programmed pick point.

“There’s definitely applications for both the PopPick and Locus systems under the same roof and we plan on using both systems moving forward,” says Beale. Post acquisition, S&S and alphabroder continue to go to market under their respective brand offerings backed by their existing distribution channels.

The use of the bots speaks to S&S Activewear’s history of tech-forward investment that began years before. The firm, for instance, created a proprietary enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Every interaction a customer has with S&S is directly or indirectly powered by the ERP, which has been essential to the success with automation. “Having full control of our ERP has allowed us to prioritize the technology and service offerings that are most important to our customers,” says Beale.

But What About the Jobs?

A major criticism of AI is that it puts people out of work.

A study from Brigham Young University asserted that 14% of workers say they’ve seen their job replaced by a robot. In 2020, economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo found that each new robot added in manufacturing in the United States between 1990 and 2007 replaced, on average, 3.3 workers nationally.

“Automation is allowing us to build better jobs that are safer for the employee, offer an easier training process and yield higher rates of job satisfaction.” Brian Beale, S&S Activewear (asi/84358)

Still, critics say such studies don’t provide a full perspective.

Other research suggests that while some jobs will certainly go away due to artificial intelligence/robotics and related technological advancements, others will emerge, created by new opportunities born from intelligent tech.

For instance, in its 2020 Future of Jobs Report, the World Economic Forum predicted 85 million jobs will be lost by 2025 through what it described as a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines. Still, 97 million positions will be created over the same period – a net increase of 12 million. The new roles will be “adapted to the new division of labor between humans, machines and algorithm,” the think tank says.

S&S officials say a similar dynamic is in play in their distribution centers. While the firm may need less pickers, other jobs are being created related to services like maintenance of bots and more. And, they point out, the robotics systems are not completely autonomous; they work in tandem with humans. S&S’s Pennsylvania distribution center had 180 employees when ASI Media visited, with plans to up that number to 200 as peak season intensified.

“Automation is allowing us to build better jobs that are safer for the employee, offer an easier training process and yield higher rates of job satisfaction,” Beale states. “Automation helps to limit the tedious and strenuous aspects of jobs that can be handled more efficiently with machinery, algorithms and better process control.”