Category: Press Release

New solution will combine the power of Fetch’s autonomous mobile robots with VARGO^®’s leading warehouse execution software system to enable optimized picking

San Jose, CA, October 22, 2020 — Fetch Robotics, the leader in cloud robotics, today announced a partnership with VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, to launch an integrated fulfillment solution. The new solution will combine the power of Fetch’s Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) with Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE^®), VARGO^®’s industry-leading warehouse execution system (WES), to enable distribution centers to optimize order fulfillment with the latest technology in real time.

The growth of e-commerce and omnichannel fulfillment has pushed companies to optimize their order fulfillment processes to gain efficiencies and to do so with more speed and accuracy. This trend has been further accelerated by COVID-19, which has placed additional strain on distribution centers to increase throughput while keeping employees socially distanced. Many companies have begun applying more automation in their systems in response to this continued pressure and also integrating social distancing into the workflows by dynamically reassigning tasks to specific workers and orchestrating AMR movement. This enables distribution centers to maintain high worker productivity and high worker safety at the same time.

“Distribution centers today are under more pressure than ever before, both in terms of operational efficiency and worker safety. To contend with steadily growing order volumes and an ongoing labor shortage, distribution and fulfillment centers must embrace smarter technology to keep fulfillment operations running,” said Stefan Nusser, Chief Product Officer at Fetch Robotics. “COFE^®’s history of providing system-wide pick optimization and orchestration across different workflows and types of automation equipment makes it a perfect complement to robot-assisted picking.”

The combined solution from Fetch and VARGO^® enables a single system to provide optimized piece, batch and case picking workflows with payloads up to 1 1/2 tons for e-commerce, retail distribution and omnichannel operations. The COFE^® WES, built on over five decades of warehouse industry know-how, is the only WES that controls all the processes that take place inside a distribution center, from material handling equipment to the devices, people and processes. COFE^®’s “pull-based” fulfillment optimization can yield efficiency gains of over 30 percent compared to sites driven by traditional “waved/push-based” warehouse management systems. When combined with Fetch’s AMRs, COFE^® can offer further efficiency gains by allowing workers to spend more time picking as opposed to manually moving material throughout a facility and can use insights about overall warehouse operations to improve robot workflows.

“As e-commerce fulfillment operators face ever-increasing pressure to reduce labor and deliver higher levels of production in a more scalable and flexible way, the combination of VARGO^® and Fetch Robotics, under this alliance, provides a powerful and compelling fulfillment solution,” said Bart J. Cera, president and COO of VARGO^®. “We are excited about our company’s formal alignment with Fetch Robotics to further deliver industry-leading, robust and expansive solutions for the challenges that e-commerce and distribution operations face.”

About Fetch Robotics

Fetch Robotics is an award-winning intralogistics automation company headquartered in Silicon Valley. By combining autonomous mobile robotics with the power of the cloud, the Fetch Cloud Robotics Platform provides on-demand automation solutions for material handling and inventory management, with the power to find, track, and move almost anything in any facility. Fetch Robotics’ solutions and services are deployed in leading distribution, fulfillment, and manufacturing centers around the world, augmenting workforces to drive increased efficiency and productivity. For more information, please visit www.fetchrobotics.com or follow the company on Twitter @FetchRobotics.

HILLIARD, Ohio (Sept. 14, 2020) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, today announced that it has developed a cloud-based version of its Warehouse Execution System (WES). The cloud-based version of the WES is now an option as part of VARGO^®’s rollout of COFE^® 4.

VARGO^®’s Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE^®) is the industry’s first waveless warehouse execution system (WES) software that organizes, synchronizes and optimizes for e-commerce orders and powers numerous leading retailers’ fulfillment centers.

This cloud-based version of COFE^® is best suited to run off-premises as a cloud solution platform for low-mechanization fulfillment centers, according to Michael McSweeny, director of software at VARGO^®. “Cloud-based solutions are attractive to chief information officers because they can provide a cost-savings and off-load hardware and IT security maintenance activities,” McSweeny said.

“With the growing trend in cloud-provided services, we are excited about adding this new deployment model to our product offering. With this cloud option, we are also offering a SaaS (software as a service) pricing model to reduce the burden of necessary upfront capital expenditure spend,” said Bart Cera, president and COO of VARGO^®. “VARGO continues to lead the industry in the WES space and these latest product enhancements and pricing flexibility further demonstrate the trend-setting ways in which we have impacted the e-commerce fulfillment industry.”

Several new features — social distance picking and enhanced order mining logic for example — are also available with the COFE^® 4 release. In addition, McSweeny said, COFE^® 4 is now also capable of running on Oracle’s version of Linux 7 as well as Red Hat / IBM.  More information about COFE® and how it organizes and optimizes order fulfillment, can be found here.

Program provides access to VARGO^® software and services to supplement  McCombs-Wall product offerings under a unique operating model

HILLIARD, Ohio (Sept. 10, 2020) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, today announced a preferred partner alliance with McCombs-Wall, a California-based materials handling solutions provider.

This new alliance program provides for cross-business referral activity and joint branding of solutions by allowing McCombs-Wall access to VARGO^®’s Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE^®) warehouse execution system (WES) and other VARGO^® products and services. The goal of this program is to open additional sales channels for the continued promotion and growth of COFE^® and, at the same time, enable alliance partners, like McCombs-Wall, to competitively differentiate their e-commerce fulfilment solutions through the addition of industry-leading WES functionality. The alliance unites the companies under a common mission: to support their customer base with the best technologies, solutions, automation, equipment and services available in the market.

“As a leading WES provider and systems integrator, VARGO^® applies proven “pull-based” lean manufacturing principles to e-commerce fulfillment through our design, implementation and support of highly optimized solutions based on our customer’s needs and their customer’s demands,” said Bart J. Cera, president and COO of VARGO^®. “Retailers are under more pressure than ever for greater speed of fulfilment with less cost in this increasingly demanding e-commerce world. This agreement with McCombs-Wall benefits both of our companies in various ways to provide our collective customers with complete, robust and expansive proven fulfillment solutions that solve this challenge.”

“The level of service expectations are higher than ever before,” said Jeff Livesay, president and CEO of McCombs-Wall. “This partnership with VARGO^® shows our continued commitment to providing our clients with solutions that will enable them to fulfill their products faster and more accurate. We felt it a privilege to be partnered with VARGO^® and look forward to the future.”

HILLIARD, Ohio, August 24, 2020 — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, has hired Anthony Nembhard as a software support specialist.

In his role, Nembhard provides on-site and remote support to VARGO^® customers and he assists in customer implementation and installations of COFE^® (Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine), VARGO^®’s warehouse execution system software. COFE^® is a leading waveless fulfillment solution that synchronizes and sequences all resources — people and equipment — and responds to dynamically changing requirements within a fulfillment center.

“Anthony makes an excellent addition to the software support team, and we know he will add strength to that group, which is focused on providing excellent service to our customers,” said Bart Cera, president and COO. “We look forward to seeing how he grows in his role here.”

Nembhard grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and in December 2019, he graduated from Regis University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems.

He currently lives in Galloway, Ohio. (ZIP Code 43119).

HILLIARD, Ohio (AUGUST 17 2020) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, has promoted Eric Griffin to software manager.

Griffin joined VARGO^® in June 2012 as a software engineer, responsible for engineering Python applications for the company’s COFE^® (Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine) warehouse execution system software. COFE^® is a leading waveless fulfillment solution that synchronizes and sequences all resources — people and equipment — and responds to dynamically changing requirements within a fulfillment center. As software manager, engineering, Griffin will continue to work on the Python applications, but he also will be mentoring and fostering the development of the junior developers on the software engineering team.

Prior to his work at VARGO^®, Griffin was a software tester at Primatech, where he tested chemical process safety software. He also served in the U.S. Army from 2004-2007, and earned a Combat Action Badge and an Army Commendation Medal.

“We are excited to see how Eric has grown in his role at VARGO^® and greatly appreciate the contributions he has made to our Warehouse Execution System software,” said Bart Cera, president and COO. “We know that his leadership and intelligence will help in the development of our growing software engineering team.”

Griffin grew up in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and in 2011, he graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems. Griffin currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. (ZIP Code 43204).

HILLIARD, Ohio (AUGUST 17, 2020) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling systems integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, has promoted Joel Raymond to senior software manager.

Raymond, who joined the VARGO^® team in February 2012, has held numerous roles of increasing responsibility. Since September 2018, he has served as a software manager, overseeing the design and development of VARGO^® software and managing a team of software engineers. Prior to that, he was a senior software engineer and software developer, and he assisted with software design, development and support. He has had a significant impact on the company’s COFE^® (Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine) warehouse execution system software, a leading waveless fulfillment solution that synchronizes and sequences all resources — people and equipment — and responds to dynamically changing requirements within a fulfillment center.

“Joel has become an invaluable part of our Tech Center team and has grown in his leadership and his ability to inspire his team,” said Bart Cera, president and COO. “We’re happy to recognize his contributions and look forward to his continued impact within our software group and our company.”

Raymond grew up in Lancaster, Ohio. In 2011, he graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Art in Computer Science.

Raymond currently lives in Gahanna, Ohio. (ZIP Code 43230).