Most of Kiva's sales staff have departed, though the company continues to hire in the engineering and manufacturing departments. The company has not announced any new Kiva customers and has stopped its marketing activities. Since the acquisition by Amazon, Kiva has remained quiet. At the time, this was Amazon's second-largest acquisition in its history. In March 2012, acquired Kiva Systems for US$775 million. Acquisition by Amazon An Amazon warehouse robot A Kiva Systems robot in 2015. The system is considered much more efficient and accurate than the traditional method of having human workers traveling around the warehouse locating and picking items. The mobile bots were battery-powered and need to be recharged every hour for five minutes. The maximum velocity of the robots was 1.3 metres per second (4.3 ft/s). The larger model was capable of carrying a pallet with loads as heavy as 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg). The smaller model was approximately 2 by 2.5 feet (0.61 by 0.76 m), 18 inches (460 mm) high, and capable of lifting 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Kiva sold systems based on two different robot models. The robot then carries the pod to the specified human operator to pick up the items. When the drive unit reaches the target location, it slides underneath the pod and lifts it off the ground through a corkscrew action. Each drive unit has a sensor that prevents it from colliding with others. The mobile robots navigate around the warehouse by following a series of computerized bar-code stickers on the floor. When an order is entered into the Kiva database system, the software locates the closest automated guided vehicle to the item and directs it to retrieve it. In Kiva's approach, items are stored in portable storage units. Traditionally, goods are moved around a distribution center using a conveyor system or by human-operated machines (such as forklifts). In 2003, Mountz became the founder and CEO of Kiva Systems, through his partnership with co-founders Wurman and D'Andrea. To accomplish his vision, Mountz sought help from Peter Wurman and Raffaello D'Andrea. These challenges inspired Mountz to create a method to pick, pack, and ship orders through a system that could deliver any item to any operator at any time. After those contracts ran out, Amazon did not renew them and Kiva's assets now work only for Amazon's warehouses.Īfter working on the business process team at Webvan, Mick Mountz concluded that the company's downfall was due to the inflexibility of existing material handling systems and the high cost of order fulfillment. Its automated storage and retrieval systems were previously used by companies including The Gap, Walgreens, Staples, Gilt Groupe, Office Depot, Crate & Barrel, and Saks 5th Avenue. Amazon Robotics, formerly Kiva Systems, is a Massachusetts-based company that manufactures mobile robotic fulfillment systems.
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