Robotics: is it the next distribution centre revolution?

Axium inc.

November 05, 2010 — Montréal, Quebec

First published November 5, 2010; updated July 2013

Although many companies today rely on automation in their production plants, few warehouses and distribution centres (DCs) are automated. Today’s typical DC still builds orders manually—a labor-intensive method where mistakes are more easily made.

Robert Jodoin and his team, whose business, Axium Inc.—a provider of complete turnkey robotic solutions—can improve this situation dramatically. A combination of strong mix palletizing software and robots can fully solve many of the logistical challenges of manually building orders.

Axium’s strongest expertise is in robotic palletizing. Jodoin says competition in this market will become very stiff over the next few years as multinational giants seek to lead the way, but he expects that Axium, with only 125 employees, can set a new standard in this demanding market.

“We’re not a small player, but we’re not a huge player either,” he says. “We can handle fairly interesting projects in terms of size, and fairly complex ones. The way we’re structured internally, we have all the expertise from different fields starting with a strong mechanical and electrical design team, fully supported by controllers, IT and industrial engineering. So we can serve a client very well for a mid-size project ranging between one million and six million dollars, since they will not necessarily go knocking on the doors of multinational players.”

In fact, Axium has found such clients over the past few years. Proctor and Gamble has purchased Axium’s complete mix palletizing solution—one of the first fully operational systems of its kind. More recently, Axium signed a partnership with a large equipment manufacturer in Australia to carry out more prototype testing with customers.

Jodoin credits much of this progress to the company’s collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). This agency works closely with small and medium-sized enterprises, helping them to grow, increase their competitiveness and make a bigger impact in the marketplace.

Since 2004, Axium has worked closely with NRC-IRAP Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) Jean-Claude Brisson, whose specialties include automation and robotics. Brisson initiated a market survey that revealed there were only few other firms capable of selling to this wide and under-served market. Axium continued to improve its mix palletizing software and developed the next generation of high-speed mix robotic palletizers to meet this need.

“Our ITA’s support has been very valuable to our success,” says Jodoin. “NRC-IRAP’s financial support has been crucial in the realization of our mix palletizing development project.”

Today, Axium can demonstrate a full mix palletizing operation in its shop. A client can send seven or eight dozen cases (of different sizes) to Axium. On a screen, the client selects the number of cases of each size to build an order. Within 10 seconds, the system automatically builds a pallet with these cases.

“Our business comes from how much time and money companies can save in a warehouse,” explains Jodoin. “The potential is huge, and the barrier to entry is high. It’s not only having expertise in robotics, or designing equipment or using software—it’s a multidisciplinary expertise where you first need to analyze the client’s data to figure out the ideal match of technologies to make it work.”

Axium’s sales reached record levels in 2012. In addition, the firm now:

• Has more than 125 employees and has recently acquired three companies (Gem Electric, Enico and SPG Data);
• Is working closely with head hunters to hire specialized engineering staff;
• Is recognized as a world-class, custom machine manufacturer.