How Healing Hands Scrubs Increased Productivity with Industrial Automation

4 min read

Just like most manufacturers who are going through a major growth phase, Healing Hands Scrubs, a medical fashion company, wanted to streamline their operations with automation. Over 35 years, the company has grown from a small company in New York City’s garment district into a booming business that quickly began to feel the pains and gains of sudden growth.

We sat down with Jeff Wasserman, Chief of Staff and Srini Varadharaj, Supply Chain Engineer at Healing Hands, to learn more about how they integrated technology into their workflows to achieve better outcomes. 

The Problem

When Healing Hands outgrew their old warehouse and moved to a new one, they quickly realized that they needed a faster and more efficient fulfillment process. The old, manual ways simply weren’t scaling.

The company wanted to increase pick rates and order accuracy while simultaneously creating a same-day delivery business model to stay competitive in the eCommerce marketplace. They knew that they had to provide the best possible shipping experience for their customers.

However, it was also important for the solution to continue scaling with their business. Healing Hands didn’t plan on stopping their growth anytime soon, so they anticipated moving to an even bigger facility down the line, meaning that they would have to pick up and move their automation solution to the new warehouse.

The Solution

After researching many options, Healing Hands decided to invest in The Chuck by 6 River Systems. This autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) is their ideal flexible transport solution for a few key reasons.

First, the system’s mobility would allow for rapid growth and future scalability. Remember, as a future-forward company, Healing Hands was already planning for their next upgrade.

Second, these mobile robots work alongside warehouse associates to optimize routes and maximize efficiency. By automatically grouping together orders that are located near one another, it can accommodate 4-5 orders at a time while also alleviating the necessity of employees having to remember where each product lives in the warehouse. Employees simply follow the robots on their route, pick products off the shelves, and place them on the Chuck.

Third, 6 Rivers made integration easy. They handled all the mapping and routing of the robot’s navigation systems over a 3-4 week period when the mobile robots first landed in the warehouse. Healing Hands also made sure this automation solution integrated with their existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Finally, Jeff and Srini stressed how easy it was to train employees to work alongside the Chucks. “The robots are very intuitive,” Srini explained. “Even when minor issues arose, such as putting the wrong product in the wrong box, it was extremely easy to fix with just a little additional training.”

The Results

After less than a month from their introduction, 6 River’s robots were helping warehouse associates pick orders. Over the course of the next four months, they continued to optimize their process as their artificial intelligence systems learned more about Healing Hand’s workflows and warehouse.

The company began to immediately see a return on their investment. “Before we integrated the Chucks, we were able to do about 60 to 80 units per hour per person,” said Jeff. “Now we can do bulk orders at a rate of 250 to 300 units per hour per person or up to 200 units per hour for smaller orders.”

Simply put, their overall productivity has more than doubled.

Not only has this enabled Healing Hands to continue to grow their business and save money, but it’s also opened up new opportunities. For instance, they’re now able to accommodate much smaller orders as well as handle drop shipping orders.

And it all started with twelve mobile robots from 6 River Systems. Over the course of the past two months, Healing Hands has continued to invest in industrial automation, adding three more Chucks to their warehouse. These add-on robots arrive pre-programmed and pre-configured, meaning they only take about 15 minutes to fully commission for duty.

“The Chuck robots from 6 River Systems have been pivotal to our ability to grow and scale,” concluded Srini. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work with our industrial automation partners to integrate even more advanced technologies into our manufacturing and logistics processes.”

At the end of the day, this all comes down to Healing Hands’ commitment to providing their customers with the best possible experience and products. They decided to focus on integrating technology into their operations because they recognized the huge potential that robotics and other automation solutions bring to the table. As a result, their investment has already begun to pay huge dividends and their customers are reaping the benefits.