Industries

Kiva solutions deliver accuracy, productivity and flexibility across a wide range of products, processes and industries. Kiva distribution operations handle products from aspirin to audio components, books to bath towels, crutches to candles, diapers to dishes, elbow pads to earrings, fan belts to folders, golf balls to ball gowns, hair gel to hand bags...well, you get the picture. If a product is picked as eaches or cases to satisfy orders, a Kiva system will handle it more accurately, productively and cost-effectively than any traditional automation approach.

Read more about Kiva implementations in these markets.

• eCommerce
• Retail
• Medical Devices & Supplies
• Apparel & Footwear
• Health & Beauty
• Other

Kiva automates eCommerce and catalog direct-to-consumer fulfillment, business-to-business order fulfillment, retail store re-stocking operations, industrial MRO and parts distribution, work-in-process parts supply functions, medical and hospital restocking programs and other order processing operations across a diverse spectrum of vertical markets.

Videos - see additional videos below

The Magic Shelf Concept Video

The Magic Shelf is a concept video that explains the idea behind the Kiva approach to automating order fulfillment.  It is a fun video that starts out with an average picker roaming the aisles of a large warehouse who dreams of a better way to pick, pack and ship orders.  His fantasy of a Magic Shelf can be your reality with a Kiva System.  Watch the video to see how.
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Featured Videos

Crate & Barrel EVP of Global Operations PerspectiveIn this video Crate and Barrel's executive vice president of global operations talks about what lead them to implement the Kiva solution in their California fulfillment center, why the solution works so well for them and how they are achieving a 6X improvement in order picking over their traditional facilities. (runtime 5:29)

Crate & Barrel - Operator PerspectiveThe Kiva solution is innovative, sophisticated and technically powerful yet incredibly easy to use. In this short video, you will hear directly from Crate and Barrel's Director of Distribution for the Western Region, the Manager who runs the Tracy, CA facility and a floor supervisor in the building who uses the system every day. Each has a different perspective on Kiva and how the mobile-robotic fulfillment system has changed the way they approach what they do and how they manage. (runtime 2:11)

Von Maur COO TestimonialHear from Von Maur's COO "why Kiva had to happen first" for them to grow and continue to exceed customer expectations. (runtime 6:42)

Crate & Barrel - Why Speed to Deploy MattersCrate and Barrel was able to exceed customer expectations during peak season by rolling out their Kiva solution in 6 months, opposed to more traditional automation that would have taken 12 - 18 months to implement. (runtime 1:48)

Working With Kiva - Von MaurWhen Von Maur decided to build a dedicated building for their non-store channel fulfillment the Kiva design was updated in a matter of days to fit the building layout. The actual solution implementation took just a couple of months and the training for the associates was completed in just a few days. Hear from some of the facility managers on what it was like to work with Kiva during this exciting project. (runtime :45)

Customers

Diapers.com DC Case StudyDiapers.com was founded in 2005 as a pure-play eCommerce company that supplies baby related merchandise. Their moto is "Everything but the baby delivered to your door in 2 days or less." Diapers.com's growth has been phenomenal, and in 2010 they shipped over 500 million diapers. They operate 3 fulfillment centers and all of them use a Kiva system to pick, pack and ship orders. Watch this video to see how a diapers.com facility operates. (runtime 7:49 min)

DJO Executive TestimonialDJO is a leading global developer, manufacturer and distributor of high-quality medical devices. Their products are used by orthopedic specialists, spine surgeons, physical therapists, and other healthcare professionals. Some of DJO's popular brands include: Aircast®, DonJoy®, and ProCare®. DJO uses Kiva's automated material handling system to pick products, pack orders and ship next day to hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices and medical distributors across North America. In this video, DJO's chief operating officer, Luke Faulstick, discusses why DJO chose the Kiva solution, provides commentary on how they operate today and reveals the performance metrics they achieve using Kiva. (runtime: 6:25 min)

DJO Kaizen & KivaAt DJO medical devices, continuous improvement and lean practices are part of the culture and Kaizen events are standard operating procedure. When DJO looked at applying lean principles to distribution operations they discovered Kiva Systems. Kiva provides the fulfillment speed, accuracy, productivity, and flexibility that matches DJO's need for lean. Watch this video to see how DJO executives think about continuous improvement and Kiva. (runtime: 4:23 min)

Diapers.com DC MoveQuidsi, Inc. is the world's fastest growing e-commerce company, and parent of Diapers.com and Soap.com. In the spring of 2010, Quidsi recognized that business in their Western Region would soon exceed capacity at their 100,000+ square foot Western Fulfillment Center. Quidsi relies on Kiva's mobile robotic warehouse automation system to pick, pack and ship orders so with help from Kiva's professional services team they were able to relocate the entire facility including all automation systems in less than 48 hours to a bigger, better building. This video documents the story of the move, and includes time-lapse footage of the load-out and load-in of both facilities. (runtime 5:00 min)

Quiet Logistics WarehouseAl Dekin, Senior Vice President, Quiet Logistics & Amy Villeneuve, President & COO, Kiva Systems narrate a tour of Quiet Logistics facility. (runtime 3:32 min)

Staples Denver Case StudyThe Staples Denver Fulfillment Center relies on a Kiva solution to pick, pack and ship customer orders. This video details the solution and processes that Staples uses in Denver. You will hear from both managers and operators as they give a video tour of the operation. Performance metrics are discussed and processes are highlighted including: replenishment, carton induction, picking, packing and shipping. (runtime 12 min)

Staples Denver TestimonialThe Staples Denver Fulfillment Center is the top performing operation in the Staples delivery network. The backbone of the facility is a Kiva solution. In this video you will see the solution in action and hear from Staples operators and management about how the system delivers world-class accuracy, productivity and safety. (runtime: 5:38 min)

Acumen Brands Kiva Systems Go LiveeCom startup Acumen Brands chronicled their rapid 90 day install of a Kiva System, narrated by CEO John James.

Demonstrations

Split-Case Picking with KivaKiva ItemFetch™enables operators to pick items from cases into totes or cartons. Mobile robotic drive units bring inventory pods to workers who use a simple pick-to-light/put-to-light interface to fill each order -- the operator completes the entire order without moving. In addition, you control the sequence in which items are retrieved, allowing heavy-to-light box loading or pick-to-plan-o-gram for store restocking. (runtime: 4:31 min)

Shipping Sortation with KivaKiva OrderFetch™ allows completed split-case orders to move directly to the shipping area at the right time, in the right sequence. Split-case orders are picked into cartons or totes on shipping pods. When the orders are complete, the pod is either temporarily stored or travels directly to the dock door, where it is combined with other split-case and full-case orders to fill a particular truck. (runtime: 4:50 min)

Basic Warehouse TourSee a Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System in operation at this split-case fulfillment center. Operators are shown picking and packing customer orders with high speed and accuracy. (runtime: 2:45 min)

How to move your Warehouse in a WeekendOne customer moved an entire Kiva order fulfillment operation to a new building over a weekend, using only a handful of humans. Workers logged out from their stations Friday night and came back to a new, larger facility on Monday. (runtime: 3:45 min)

Press

CNN Money November 2011CNN Money's 'Innovation Nation' segment: Robot army helps run warehouses

CNBC May 2011Mick Mountz, Kiva Systems CEO and CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera discussing "disruptive technology" and how retail robots are changing the way we shop online. CNBC May 2011 (runtime: 4:13 min)

Wall Street Journal December 2010This Wall Street Journal video accompanied the article 'Holiday Help: People vs. Robots.' It compares the Crate & Barrel Tracy, CA facility automated by Kiva this year to an Amazon all-manual warehouse outside of Phoenix. (runtime: 5:07)

Kiva CEO interviewed on Fox Business December 2010Mick Mountz, interviewed about the Kiva approach to automating fulfillment, and growing business in the U.S. (runtime: 3:09 min)

History Channel - The Works 'Robots'Originally aired in 2008 on this History channel series The Works hosted by host Daniel H. Wilson "puts the everyday under a microscope to reveal unseen secrets and history, and finding enough fascinating facts that would make anyone scratch their head in amazement". (runtime 4:00 min)

Boston Globe HighlightRobotics Warehouse Workers: Innovation Economy The Boston Globe February 2008 (runtime: 3:06 min)

Fast CompanyStaples Enlists Robots to Boost Efficiency Fast Company July 2007 (runtime: 2:21 min)

NECN Robots that work alongside humansRobots that work alongside humans NECN October 2006 (runtime: 3:54 min)

Segment on the Daily Planet 2006The Discovery Channel -Segment on the Daily Planet 2006 (runtime: 7:09 min)