Home Bargains Amesbury Distribution Center

Project Overview

Home Bargains, a leading high-street discount retailer offering branded products at reduced prices across the UK, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, faced significant operational challenges at their regional distribution center in Amesbury. The facility's remote location created persistent recruitment difficulties, particularly for manual, repetitive tasks that are essential to distribution operations but challenging to staff in areas with limited labor availability.

The company partnered with Lowpad to implement a large-scale, fully automated marshalling solution designed to address these workforce challenges while improving overall warehouse efficiency. The project focused on automating the movement of roll cages from low bay storage areas to loading bays, a process that previously required substantial manual labor.

The solution was not only about cost savings and project payback but specifically aimed at easing the recruitment challenges that Home Bargains experienced in the remote Amesbury area, creating a more sustainable operational model.

Technical Solution

Autonomous Mobile Robot Fleet

The core of the solution involves 91 Lowpad Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) that handle the marshalling and transportation of roll cages throughout the distribution center. These robots operate 24/7, providing continuous material movement without the limitations of human shift patterns.

Key Features

The deployment of 91 AMRs provides substantial automation capacity to handle the high volume of roll cage movements required in Home Bargains' distribution operations, replacing manual marshalling with consistent robotic performance.

The 36 automated handover locations ensure smooth transitions between different stages of the material handling process, creating a fully integrated system that connects existing warehouse infrastructure with new automation technology.

The 24/7 operational capability enables continuous processing without the limitations of human shift patterns, supporting the high throughput requirements of retail distribution while addressing recruitment challenges in remote locations.

Results & Benefits

The system now processes approximately 200,000 roll cages per week, all of which previously had to be delivered manually by operatives across the warehouse floor. This represents a significant automation achievement for high-volume retail distribution.

A substantial headcount reduction has been achieved in manual marshalling roles, specifically reducing the number of lift marshals and personnel responsible for marshalling cages from low bay areas to loading bays.

The automation has effectively eased recruitment challenges in the remote Amesbury area by reducing dependency on manual labor for repetitive, physically demanding tasks that are difficult to staff in locations with limited labor availability.

Challenges & Solutions

The recruitment difficulties stemming from the remote locality of the regional distribution center were addressed through the implementation of an automated marshalling solution with AMRs, reducing dependency on manual labor for repetitive tasks.

The manual marshalling of cages from low bay areas to loading bays, which required significant personnel, was automated through the deployment of 91 AMRs and 36 automated handover locations, creating a seamless automated process that minimized manual intervention.

System Integrator

Lowpad served as the system integrator, working closely with Home Bargains to create automated handover solutions that integrated with existing equipment. Their responsive support during implementation allowed the project to go live successfully without requiring scale-backs or rollbacks, which Home Bargains had initially concerned might be necessary. The collaborative approach between Home Bargains and Lowpad teams resulted in a major achievement of implementing effective 24/7 automation that addressed core operational challenges.