Logistics Tech Outlook

ForwardX Robotics
Robotics Fulfillment for Warehousing and Material Handling

Jonathan Chang, Director, Global Expansion, ForwardX RoboticsJonathan Chang, Director, Global Expansion
Even in the prepandemic world, warehousing and material handling was a robotically underserved domain. Today, with every passing day in the wake of intense labor shortages and workforce restrictions resulting from the pandemic, the need for warehousing robotics becomes all the more profound, something which the plethora of robotics solutions in the market couldn’t address satisfactorily. Except for fulfillment centers run by a few e-commerce giants, material handling in most warehouses and manufacturing shop floors continues to be laborintensive. Not to mention the robotics resources that reduce the manual workload overheads of e-commerce warehousing tend to be proprietary and unshared. Many purpose-built robotics solutions for warehousing and material handling are too attuned to function under very specific sets of circumstances, and this inhibits their capability to be multi-purpose even within the scope of material handling. Aligning them with even minor changes in operations or workflows can be an arduous affair. For instance, a QR code following robot—an evolutionary descendant of the line-following robot—isn’t the best fit for today’s omnichannel fulfillment practices, where multiple methods exist for collecting, sorting, storing, and processing and delivering inventories. An all-encompassing, multi-purpose robotics solution that can adapt to nuances of warehousing and material handling continues to be a pipe dream and a desperate need. This is where ForwardX Robotics is changing the narrative by bringing versatility to warehousing and material handling. By embracing a platform-based approach for product development, the company has positioned itself as one of the first movers in warehousing and material handling robotics. In many ways, they are pioneering in broadening the scope of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for warehousing and manufacturing industry needs.

A Unique Robotics Automation Platform

ForwardX Robotics has developed an automation platform for AMRs that focuses on e-commerce and the changing face of warehousing and manufacturing industry needs. “Our core value proposition is that our platform can easily be applied to new industries and workflows to cater to a variety of markets,” mentions Jonathan Chang, Director, Global Expansion, ForwardX.

The company’s robotics software platform is the foundation for developing solutions for various industries like logistics, retail, industrial production, and more. “Rather than creating discrete software to support different industries, we have developed a Platform-as-a-Service that includes robots, a fleet management system, and an integrated delivery platform for third parties to use and minimize development,” says Chang.

Based on its Platform-as-a-Service solution delivery model, ForwardX has built a fleet management system, f(x) Fleet Manager, built of two key parts that include f(x) Plus and f(x) Core. f(x) Plus is a warehouse management system focusing on strategy, data, and analytics. f(x) Core, on the other hand, is a control system responsible for mapping and path planning. ForwardX’s fleet management system can integrate with clients’ ERP systems to collect all the information to orchestrate a fleet of robots and human workers to complete a task.

The company also offers a range of AMRs, including Flex and Max. With Flex visual AMRs, clients can easily automate labor-heavy workflows in their warehouse or factory and replace heavy carts.


Our core value proposition is that our platform can easily be applied to new industries and workflows to cater to a variety of markets


Similarly, the Max solution enables clients to automate dangerous and heavy workloads to protect workers from unnecessary accidents in their facilities. The Max range goes from 300 kg payload capacity all the way up to 1200 kg payload capacity. To provides complete performance insights of AMRs to managers, the company offers its f(x) Dashboard, a web application that gives clients complete visibility into how the robots and their entire workforce is operating. Through the dashboard, users can check the performance of their AMRs, investigate any kinds of errors that need to be handled, and examine warehouse performance, including its heat maps. The software that powers ForwardX’s robots is one of the finest of its kind globally, working in perfect harmony with the hardware. All of the company’s robots are fully equipped with LiDAR scanners, 3D and 2D cameras, wheel encoders, and all of the typical sensors that would typically be found in any cutting-edge autonomous robot. This, augmented with the prowess of AI, allows the fleet of robots to work in tandem with real-time information exchange. The robots are therefore capable of breaking any information or process siloes in warehouse and shop floor environments.

Holistically Customer-centric

ForwardX embraces a client-centric approach in regard to helping clients deploy their solutions. For delivering the apt robotics solution for any warehouse or manufacturing floor, ForwardX conducts site surveys and interviews through which they identify the clients’ operational workflows, pain points, and objectives. The clients can get a clear picture on how the robotics-augmented workflows would be carried out in their premises. “We will then move into calculating serious return on investment with the customer, to understand how quickly our solution can pay back,” adds Chang. Rolling out the customized robots entails ForwardX testing and optimizing the robotics process. This is followed by the company delivering in-depth training sessions for all different user roles that they’d identify within a facility. In addition to training the users on interacting with the robot, they would also be taught how to best customize dashboards and analyze the data that the system collects. The company also brings to the table several after service options—from remote support to full priority on field support—depending on the customers’ needs and how mission-critical their operations are. Further, being a Chinese company, ForwardX is well resourced and positioned to deliver its solutions at lower price points.

The success story of one of their clients best exemplifies ForwardX’s value proposition. They recently worked with a B2B warehouse client that serves retail stores across Beijing.

  • We have developed a Platformas-a-Service that includes robots, a fleet management system, and an integrated delivery platform for third parties to use and minimize development


The client had a complicated workflow where multiple orders poured in throughout the day, and pickers had to pick, pack, and sort the orders on time, or the retail stores would end up remaining

From Humble Beginnings to Customer-propelled Growth

The factors that spurred the conception of ForwardX are, in many ways, as enticing as the value proposition that they deliver. Early on in his career, Nicholas Chee, the Founder, and CEO of ForwardX found himself at the intersection of robotics, automation, and supply chain industries. From his role in Microsoft as an algorithm engineer, followed by a senior leadership role in SAP, to serving as the Regional VP at Oracle—where he was the company’s youngest-ever VP—Chee recognized how intelligent robotics and computer vision could augment the supply chain industry. In light of his experience, ForwardX has always nurtured a vision to use the ‘latest and greatest’ technologies to influence people’s lives, as Chang terms. “We developed some consumer products to perfect the use of computer vision in robotics to apply to our main focus: robotics for material handling.”

Through a series of pilot projects by working in close partnership with companies like DHL, ForwardX was able to zero in on the nuances of robotics for material handling. The company acquired a clear understanding of aspects like the kind of environments that robots work in, the types of payloads they interact with, and the ideal shape and dimensions for the robots. The rest, as they say, is history. Now ForwardX has seen success with a leading Chinese e-commerce giant, bringing its productivity to an absurd 500 UPH.

Continuing to script success stories—where, at times, they have brought ROI time frames as short as two years even in regions where labor costs are relatively cheap—ForwardX leaves no stone unturned in their quest to democratize the value proposition of their holistic warehousing robotics solution. The company is constantly developing new business models aimed at making the cost of their robots even cheaper, such as their SaaS (Software as a Service) model that allows investment to be pushed to operational expenditure (OPEX) as opposed to capital expenditure (CAPEX) through leasing the technology. ForwardX is determined to provide its stellar AMR abilities across markets and geographies. The company aims to cover all continents of the world either through its regional offices or through partnerships. “We are already the only AMR company in the world with customers in retail, manufacturing, and logistics environments. We will continue developing new products for new markets to grow our client base,” mentions Chang. Be it an MNC or an SMB, everybody deserves the chance to leverage cutting-edge robots. In that accordance, ForwardX continues to explore and improve its technology, pricing, and purchase models. The company is evidently at the forefront of revolutionizing warehousing and material handling domains with the prowess of robotics.

ForwardX Robotics News

ForwardX Robotics Brings End-to-End AMR solutions to North America

ATLANTA - ForwardX Robotics, announces the establishment of its U.S. office and expansion of operations into the North American Market.
"We are excited to announce our U.S. operation," said Yaxin Guan, Chief Operating Officer of ForwardX Robotics. "Our AMR solutions prove to have effective output throughout Asia, and we are thrilled to help support the supply chain industry across North America."
FowardX will debut its AMR lineup to the North American supply chain at one of the largest material handling trade shows, ProMat 2023. ProMat 2023 takes place March 20-23, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Event-goers will find ForwardX in booth #N7352 and get the chance to interact with multiple AMRs including its autonomous forklift.
In May 2023, ForwardX will open its state-of-the-art experience center in Chicago to support operations in North America. The U.S. team has immediately deployed AMR solutions for two clients' distribution centers. ForwardX North America is well positioned for future growth.
ForwardX Robotics designs warehouse automation solutions that include autonomous robots and fleet management software. Their person-to-goods AMRs are used for order picking in distribution centers, manufacturing facilities and retail stores. With offices in APAC, EMEA and now North America, ForwardX has a global network of proven solutions serving customers such as JD.com, DHL, IKEA and TCL. Their AMRs serve industries including 3PL, retail, eCommerce, grocery, healthcare and consumer packaged goods.
While ForwardX is focused on autonomous mobile robots, the organization is human-centric at its core. By providing solutions that help solve labor shortages, increase accuracy, and maximize warehouse capacity, they ultimately improve overall customer experience. ForwardX values helping supply chain managers unlock new levels of productivity, increased safety and supply chain visibility.

ForwardX Robotics Releases the First Cage Trolley Docking & Towing AMR—Flex 60-T

Representing the latest addition to its Flex product series, Flex 60-T sets a new standard in handling cage trolleys, revolutionizing material movement within warehouses and various commercial environments.
ForwardX Robotics, a global leader in vision-based autonomous mobile robot (AMR) technology, is proud to unveil its latest breakthrough in automation technology: the Flex 60-T, a cutting-edge AMR equipped with an advanced docking and towing system. Representing the latest addition to its Flex product series, Flex 60-T sets a new standard in handling cage trolleys, revolutionizing material movement within warehouses and various commercial environments. Attendees at CeMAT Australia, taking place from July 25-27, will have the exclusive opportunity to witness the Flex 60-T in action for the first time.
The development of Flex 60-T is the result of a successful collaboration between ForwardX Robotics and their exclusive distribution partner for Australia and New Zealand, Richmond Rolling Solutions, as recently announced. ForwardX Robotics has introduced an innovative solution that specifically addresses the challenges associated with docking and towing cage trolleys. These cage trolleys, also known as roll cages, are extensively used in various industries such as warehousing, manufacturing, distribution centers, retail, hospitals, supermarkets, hospitality workplaces, and catering establishments, particularly in Australia and other regions. With the introduction of Flex 60-T, new levels of efficiency and safety are unlocked in the transportation of heavy loads of products and equipment.
Traditionally, the manual transportation of roll cages in warehouses has limited productivity and exposed workers to safety risks. The purposeful design of Flex 60-T aims to revolutionize this process, significantly enhancing efficiency while prioritizing the safety of employees and workers.
"At ForwardX Robotics, we firmly believe that safety is of paramount importance in every business, particularly in labor-intensive workplaces," said ForwardX CEO & Founder, Nicolas Chee. "Our Flex 60-T provides a safer work environment while empowering businesses to enhance overall productivity by eliminating the strenuous physical labor associated with manually operating heavy carts."

The Flex 60-T offers an impressive maximum towing capacity of 300kg and is fully compatible with both Australian Standard Z & A base roll cages. Equipped with state-of-the-art multi-sensor fusion technology, visual SLAM navigation, and 180-degree obstacle detection and avoidance, it provides a secure, efficient, and obstacle-free solution. Its exceptional versatility and operational flexibility empower warehouses and manufacturing facilities to optimize workflows and reduce operational costs.
This latest addition to ForwardX's exceptional range of AMR products further solidifies the company's position as a leading orchestration engine for end-to-end automation. ForwardX Robotics continues to be at the forefront of AI and Robotics applications, delivering cutting-edge material handling solutions for warehousing and manufacturing facilities, ultimately enhancing operational efficiency while substantially reducing costs.

ShipSage Corporation Partners with ForwardX Robotics for New Era of Efficiency

BEIJING - ForwardX Robotics, a global leader in vision-based autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), has formed a strategic partnership with ShipSage, a prominent US-based 3PL company. This collaboration automates ShipSage's intralogistics processes at their warehouse in Tracy, California.
ShipSage deployed ten of ForwardX's Max 600-L robots to automate case picking tasks by navigating through dynamic, complex areas that include inbound, picking, and outbound sections. This solution has significantly boosted productivity, stability, and reliability while eliminating unproductive and wasteful walking time. As a result, work is now easier, faster, and more accurate. Warehouse workers no longer have to push heavy carts or follow slow-moving robots, allowing them to focus on more valuable tasks.
First, the Max 600-L AMRs are assigned tasks to pick empty pallets and take them to the designated picking points. Here, the AMRs collaborate with human workers who use PDAs to receive picking assignments, print labels, scan barcodes, load items, and verify items. The on-site printed labels are made possible by a handheld Bluetooth printer. After loading, the AMRs transport the pallets to the unloading area, where they are either packed or directly moved to outbound logistics.
ForwardX's f(x) Fleet Manager integrates with ShipSage's existing systems, serving as the orchestration engine for the case picking solutions. Additionally, the AMRs are capable of autonomously charging, returning to their stations when battery levels drop to a level set by ShipSage's preferences, ensuring the operation runs with no downtime.
ShipSage's deployment of ForwardX Robotics' AMRs has led to over an 80% improvement in Units Picked Per Hour (UPH) and an impressive 99.99% picking accuracy across their 8,235 square meter warehouse. The key pain points addressed include long picking distances, high labor intensity from heavy cargo, and the need for flexible automation to handle mixed SKUs of varying sizes.
ShipSage's transformation with ForwardX Robotics' solutions demonstrates a significant leap towards intelligent, data-driven operations. By automating labor-intensive tasks, ShipSage can focus on high-value activities, ensuring enhanced accuracy, efficiency, and sustainability in their distribution center. This partnership supports ShipSage's decision to be an early adopter of AMR technology as it showcases the power of smart warehousing solutions.
Top 10 Logistics Tech Startup - 2021

Company
ForwardX Robotics

Management
Jonathan Chang, Director, Global Expansion

Description
The company’s robotics software platform acts as the foundation to develop solutions for various industries like logistics, retail, industrial production, and more. Based on its Platform-as-a-Service solution delivery model, ForwardX has built a fleet management system, f(x) Fleet Manager, built of two key parts that include f(x) Plus and f(x) Core. f(x) Plus is a warehouse management system focusing on strategy, data, and analytics. f(x) Core, on the other hand, is a control system responsible for mapping and path planning. ForwardX’s fleet management system can integrate with clients’ ERP systems to collect all the information to orchestrate a fleet of robots and human workers to complete a task. The company also offers a range of AMRs, including Flex and Max. With Flex visual AMRs, clients can easily automate labor-heavy workflows in their warehouse or factory and replace heavy carts