Founded in 1971, L&S Engineers is one of the country’s leading suppliers of spare parts and consumables to plant hire and construction industries, as well as the general public.

By 2020 they were facing significant bottlenecks amid rapid growth, putting severe constraints on their ability to scale further.

• Lack of storage

• Labour shortages

• Overloaded staff

• Increased manual picking errors

• Overcrowding

• Supply Chain disruptions

Preparing for the future

Consideration for their workforce was a top priority – increased pressure to fulfil orders on time often resulted in pickers walking up to 10 miles over the course of an eight-hour shift. Ten-fold growth in recent years had, ironically, become a major issue for L&S. Out of the box thinking was required.

With this in mind, Autrix and L&S Engineers decided to look ahead and implement technology not normally seen as accessible for Small to Medium Enterprises: Robotic Automation. This would allow L&S to catch up, and push on with further growth in the coming years.

Ian Shay, Commercial Director of L&S Engineers, said of this decision: “We’re looking at expanding into a larger warehouse in a few years. We anticipate growth and the robotic solution allows us to scale with that ambition.”

Working closely with L&S, we implemented the Autrix Control System and provided the following:

Automation accuracy

The result was immediate and dramatic. Staff and management reported a transformational change in operational confidence and scalability – with picking error rates halved and order throughput increased by 30%.

“One of the biggest improvements we’ve seen is the reduction of picking errors. We’ve got a pick-to-light system that highlights the bin to pick from. Because we’re at a fixed station and we’re not trying to do the operation at the bin, we’ve seen our error rate reduce by half.” Ian Shay, Commercial Director at L&S Engineers.