Shoe company Dansko looked for a different approach to increase efficiency in warehouse automation and in doing so, the company looked no further than from Kiva Systems.
The robots in Dansko’s new 200,000 square-foot facility which opened in November of 2012, aren’t taking anyone’s job, according to a press release from Dansko. 
The company boasts that it has in fact added employees to the distribution center bringing the total number of employees to 185 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Some of Kiva’s clients include diapers.com, Staples, Walgreens, Crate & Barrel and Gap.
For Dansko, Kiva installed 46 robots that are directed by operators to handle order fulfillment. The robots communicate wirelessly with the operators using an order-processing software.
The “bots” as they are referred to at Dansko, are equipped with on-board cameras, follow bar codes on the floor to locate and retrieve one of the 970 pods in the system containing the specific product needed for an order.
The Kiva system allows an operator to work on six orders at a time, according to the press release.
Mimi Curry, chief operating officer at Dansko said, “Previously the pullers had to go and get the shoes; now the shoes come to them,” according to the press release.
In July, Quiet Logistics also incorporated the Kiva robotic workforce in its order fulfillment center. The 100 Kiva robots at Quiet Logistics fulfill 30,000 orders a day which is an increase from 75 robots the company had months ago.