CA-HAI-ROBOTICS/SKECHERS
20.2.2024 12:01:30 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Skechers USA, a leading global footwear and apparel company, turns to Hai Robotics ("Hai"), a leading global provider of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), as they launch their new distribution center in Minato City, Tokyo, Japan. Using Hai’s automated goods-to-person system, Skechers is maximizing warehouse operational efficiency, fulfillment speed, and order accuracy.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240220854625/en/
A Hai Robotics Autonomous Case-handling Mobile Robot (ACR), one of 69 that pick and transport containers to fulfill orders within Skechers’ distribution center. (Photo: Business Wire)
Hai’s solution was chosen for its ability to condense storage — minimizing real estate needed — and easily adapt to changing demand, resolve labor shortage issues, and support long-term business growth.
Supported by material handling consulting company MHE Solutions, Inc., Skechers built their new facility to keep up with rapidly growing demand in the Japanese market and to advance operations that had historically relied on manually laborious tasks. Manual picking processes had been the standard to fulfill orders, but managing staff shortages coupled with expanding SKU variety contributed to high operating costs with limited outbound picking efficiency and speed. After evaluating several automation providers, Skechers ultimately determined Hai Robotics’ HaiPick System was the ideal solution for dependable and effective automated order fulfillment.
The HaiPick System is dense, adaptable to changes in consumer demand, and easily expandable as operations grow. It seamlessly integrated with other technologies in the facility to help Skechers quickly respond to customer orders. The system has also extended employee productivity while reducing physical demand on staff, helping to alleviate disruption from labor shortages.
Within Skechers’ facility, the HaiPick System covers 139,705 square feet and is operated by 69 HaiPick Autonomous Case-handling Mobile Robots (ACRs), which are integrated with Manhattan Associates' cloud-native warehouse management system (WMS). ACRs are highly intelligent, tall pieces of equipment that autonomously navigate narrow aisles of an ASRS constructed of almost any industry-standard racking or shelving with a vertical reach extending up to 32 feet. The robots pick containers off the shelving — transporting up to 8 at any given time for maximum order-batching efficiency — and deliver them to human-operated workstations.
Skechers’ HaiPick System contains 8 ergonomic workstations where operators receive clear instructions on a screen of the product and quantity to be picked to fulfill an order. The product is then scanned, and the system confirms order accuracy before the operator can proceed to the following order.
The HaiPick System is a vital part of the operational success in Skechers’ new distribution facility, helping Skechers maintain the high level of service and satisfaction their customers enjoy as they continue to grow.
“All automation projects have their challenges, but the Hai team has been a very good partner in maintaining a positive, can-do attitude and remaining committed to doing the right thing for the customer by delivering on their design,” said Sophie Houtmeyers, Vice President of Distribution Operations at Skechers, and Michael Pitt, MHE Solutions. “The Hai ACR system facilitated creative application to maximize both utilization of the warehouse floor space and hard-to-reach vertical storage space in a challenging Japanese warehousing design caused by strict fire codes. It has additionally provided productivity gains that are key to the growth of Skechers in the Japan market.”
“We are honored to help Skechers elevate the operations in their new facility and be a key part in the facility’s ability to quickly reach their customers,” said Brian Reinhart, Chief Revenue Officer at Hai Robotics U.S.A. “We are grateful for the trust that MHE and Skechers have placed in us and thrilled with the success seen so far. We will continue to work closely with MHE Solutions and Skechers to further support their warehouse automation journey and help them go above and beyond in their operational efficiency goals.”
About Hai Robotics
Hai Robotics is a leading global provider of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) committed to elevating the world’s access to inventory through intelligent, fast, efficient warehouse automation that is more accessible to all facilities.
Their award-winning equipment drives highly flexible ASRS constructed of standard racking and almost any container. Hai Robotics’ solutions maximize vertical storage up to 32+ feet, reduce storage footprints up to 75%, increase workflow efficiency gains up to 4x, and improve order pick accuracy to 99.9%+.
Founded in 2016, Hai Robotics is trusted in 1,100+ projects across 40+ countries and supported by 8 offices globally. For more information, visit HaiRobotics.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240220854625/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Forrester’s 2027 Budget Planning Guides: After A Year Of Caution, Business And Tech Leaders Are Ready To Invest Again15.7.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release
While leaders are betting on growth, in the age of AI, spending more is no longer enough According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2027 Budget Planning Guides, business and technology leaders are approaching 2027 with renewed confidence as they increasingly accept volatility as a permanent feature of the business environment. After a year of more cautious spending, more than 80% of leaders expect their budgets to increase over the next 12 months, with as many as one-quarter anticipating growth of 10% or more. But planning in the age of AI demands more than bigger budgets: Increasing investment without modernizing operating models, strengthening data foundations, and improving AI readiness will only accelerate fragmented data, duplicated work, and technical debt. To realize AI’s full potential, leaders must rethink their strategies and prioritize investments in operational foundations, governance, and experimentation that drive tangible outcomes. This year, optimism is widespread across f
Post-Quantum’s Algorithm - Classic McEliece - Achieves Global ISO Standardization to Protect the World From Quantum Cyber Attack15.7.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Ultra-secure encryption algorithm added to ISO standard for Asymmetric Ciphers Classic McEliece is first PQC algorithm to achieve global standardization Organisations in 177 ISO member states can now adopt Classic McEliece to remain secure from attack by both classical and quantum computers Governments including Germany and the Netherlands already recommend the highly secure Classic McEliece algorithm due to its unmatched security credentials It’s proven that today’s encryption is vulnerable to attack by a sufficiently mature quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm - a catastrophic event commonly known as Q-Day. Even before such a cryptographically relevant quantum computer emerges it is known that adversaries are stealing encrypted data now, which can be decrypted later - also known as Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL). Google’s recent use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise Shor’s algorithm reduces the number of physical qubits required to break today’s encryption, therefor
Thredd Joins The Visa Agentic Ready Programme, Bringing Agent Network Readiness To Issuers Across Europe, Starting With Zilch15.7.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release
Thredd, the AI-first issuer processing platform, today announced it has joined the Visa Agentic Ready programme, enabling issuers across Europe to participate in agent-initiated payments without rebuilding their payments infrastructure. Consumer payments platform Zilch will be among the first issuers on the platform to enable agent-initiated payments for its cardholders. As a processor and enabler, Thredd sits at the trust layer of the payments ecosystem. By joining the programme, Thredd is ready to support Visa and its clients as the market moves into agentic commerce. Agentic commerce introduces a new type of payment initiator: An AI agent acting on a cardholder's behalf. The core payments principles do not change. Cardholder permission, issuer approval, authentication and fraud monitoring all still apply. What changes is how trust is established and enforced at the point an agent transacts. Taking a Zilch customer as an example, a cardholder might ask an AI agent to find a product w
Surgerii Robotics Announces First European Installation of the SHURUI® Single-Port Surgical System at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital15.7.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release
Surgerii Robotics today announced the first European installation of its SHURUI Single-Port (SP) Surgical System at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, one of Europe's leading academic medical centers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260713209503/en/ The first pediatric procedure performed with the SHURUI SP system was a nephroureterectomy on a twelve-year-old boy whose kidney and ureter had become infected and non-functional due to multiple stones. The SHURUI SP system is CE-marked for adult and pediatric use, making it the only CE-marked single-port robotic surgical system currently indicated for pediatric procedures in Europe. The installation marks an important milestone in the international expansion of Surgerii Robotics and the introduction of the technology into a major European reference center. As part of this collaboration, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital has become the first hos
SES, Airbus and Dutch Municipality of Noordwijk to Build Satellite Optical Ground Station for EAGLE-115.7.2026 08:50:00 CEST | Press release
The parties signed a ground lease agreement allowing installation of the optical ground station (OGS) at the NL Space Campus SES, a space solutions company, jointly with Airbus Netherlands B.V. signed a ground lease agreement with the Dutch municipality of Noordwijk for a plot at the NL Space Campus, next to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) technical center ESTeC. The facility will host a dedicated optical ground station (OGS) to communicate with the EAGLE-1 satellite and receive quantum safe keys via laser technology. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260714786947/en/ Breaking the ground of the EAGLE-1 Optical Ground Station, Municipality of Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Pictured left to right: Pim van Strien, Alderman for the Municipality of Noordwijk; Rob Postma, President and Managing Director, Airbus Netherlands; Alan Kuresevic, Managing Director, SES Techcom, SES. The station, to be built by Airbus for SES,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom