Case Study:
Background: JD Logistics is a self-operated e-commerce enterprise in China. It was officially listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in the United States in May 2014, becoming the first large-scale comprehensive e-commerce platform to successfully list in the United States. Operating a wide range of products including traditional home appliances, consumer electronics, department store items, daily necessities, books, virtual products, etc., JD Logistics has always been at the forefront of the industry. In Hubei, an important logistics strategic location, the JD Logistics Center faces the dual challenges of explosive growth in order volume and bottlenecks in sorting efficiency.
Peak Period Pressure: During major promotional activities or holidays, order volumes surge, and the manual processing capacity struggles to cope with the sudden influx of orders, resulting in delayed shipments, reduced logistics efficiency, and severely impacting the customer shopping experience.
Low Picking Efficiency: The current picking operations mainly rely on manual operation. Faced with a large number of SKUs and complex order structures, the processes of finding product locations, packaging, and outbound operations are time-consuming.
Accuracy Issues: Due to human factors, picking errors are common, increasing the rate of returns and exchanges, and negatively impacting brand reputation.
Cost Pressure: With the annual increase in labor costs and rising warehouse leasing expenses, logistics operating costs remain high, squeezing the profit margins of enterprises.
Inconsistent Service Quality: Inconsistent manual logistics operation standards make it difficult to achieve uniform, high-standard service quality, constraining the overall improvement of enterprise service levels.
Solution:
After in-depth site surveys and needs analysis, Realkey recommended the adoption of cross-belt sorters as the solution for the JD Logistics Center in Hubei.
Project Scale: 220 trolleys, 240 sorting destinations, 8 induction stations
Implementation Time: From May 8, 2020, for planning and design to project completion on July 6, 2020, it took 58 days.
Effect Display: After the introduction of cross-belt sorters, the JD Logistics Center in Hubei achieved significant breakthroughs and benefits.
Efficiency Improvement: Picking efficiency increased by 40%, with the ability to process 23,000 orders per hour, greatly enhancing logistics processing speed.
Accuracy Improvement: Picking accuracy reached over 99.99%, ensuring accurate delivery of parcels and significantly reducing customer complaints and disputes.
Reduction in Labor Demand: Labor demand decreased by 30%, reducing reliance on manual picking and alleviating employee workload.
Cost Reduction: Operating costs decreased by 20%, saving a significant amount of costs for enterprises and improving overall profitability.
Manual picking speed and accuracy are limited by the personal abilities and operational experience of sorting personnel. When dealing with a large number of orders and goods, manual picking often fails to meet the requirements for rapid delivery, resulting in low sorting efficiency and affecting logistics efficiency.
Sorting personnel are in short supply, and the cost and time of training are high due to staff turnover; the continuous increase in labor costs puts pressure on the profits of e-commerce enterprises.
During manual picking, sorting personnel need to manually identify product information and classify and pick items. However, due to the variety of products and complex information, sorting personnel are prone to classification errors, omissions, or misplacements, leading to order errors and customer complaints.
During manual picking, sorting personnel need to manually identify product information and classify and pick items. However, due to the variety of products and complex information, sorting personnel are prone to classification errors, omissions, or misplacements, leading to order errors and customer complaints. User Experience: Inadequate service standards, difficulty in supervising the safety and storage transportation process of goods, resulting in disputes over damaged or lost goods.