The Challenge: Counting on Efficiency
Before partnering with Cypher Robotics, Leon’s relied on traditional, manual inventory counting methods across its extensive network of retail and warehouse locations. This manual process was inefficient and presented multiple challenges including labour shortages, safety concerns, and high operational costs.
Operational Halt: The labour-intensive counting process required warehouse aisles to be shut down and the ERP system access to be halted for those locations, effectively stopping sales and fulfillment in the counted zones.
Massive Resource Drain: The task consumed an average of 20 hours per week, per store, diverting valuable employees from core, customer-facing roles like sales and order processing. With over 300 locations, this resulted in thousands of lost productive hours nationwide.
Inconsistent Coverage: The showroom, a high-value area, could only achieve a 20% daily cycle count, meaning it took a full five days to confirm 100% of the showroom inventory, leading to delays and potential stock-outs.
The Solution:
Intelligent Automation
Cypher Robotics introduced an innovative robotic solution designed to address these critical pain points without disrupting Leon’s existing infrastructure.
See the robots in action in the video below.
Tailored Technology:
Cypher Robotics deployed its flagship Captis solution—an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) that utilizes an integrated, tethered drone for warehouses and/or RFID reader for retail spaces. The unique AMR/Drone combination allowed the system to perform complete, precise scans of inventory stacked up to 15 meters high on warehouse racks, a height that was unsafe and inefficient for manual counting.
Seamless Integration:
The Cypher systems required minimal changes to Leon’s physical infrastructure. They quickly and seamlessly integrated with their existing Warehouse Management System (WMS) for real-time data synchronization. The implementation involved initial site mapping and minimal training for the Leon’s team, ensuring a rapid path to deployment and ROI.
Autonomous Data Collection:
The robots autonomously navigated Leon’s facilities, scanning the showroom and warehouse shelves to capture precise item-level data, including quantity and location, and transferring that data directly into the existing ERP.
The Results: Precision and Productivity
99.8% Inventory Accuracy
Leon’s achieved an industry-leading inventory accuracy of 99.8%, eliminating the human error inherent in the old process and providing a single source for all inventory data.
Elimination of Downtime
By shifting to autonomous counting, Leon’s completely eliminated the need to shut down aisles or restrict ERP access, maximizing operational hours and speeding up order fulfillment.
90% Time Reduction
The weekly cycle counting task, which previously required 20 hours of employee time and operational shutdown, was reduced to an autonomous task completed in just 2 hours.
Enhanced Operational Value
Freed from repetitive, low-value counting tasks, staff were reallocated to high-value, customer-facing roles—such as detailed customer service, sales support, and order processing—that directly contribute to revenue and satisfaction. The introduction of this cutting-edge technology boosted employee morale, reinforcing Leon’s commitment to modernization and customer experience.
“We met with the major players expressing what success would look like from our perspective given our operational processes. This included sharing reports, distribution centre walk throughs, efficiency projections and financial implications. Cypher Robotics was the one company willing to work closely with our operations teams to ensure the proposed solution aligned with both our culture and our processes. Cypher was very accommodating to ensure our project vision and success were achieved. We’re extremely happy with the returns that we have received, not only on productivity and efficiency but also overall acceptance into the organization.”
Looking Ahead
Leon’s continues to leverage Cypher Robotics solutions, setting a new standard for inventory management in the retail industry. This partnership exemplifies how intelligent automation can drive significant operational improvements, a strong return on investment and a foundation for future business growth.
About Cypher Robotics
Cypher Robotics is a Canadian company that provides autonomous robotics solutions to modernize warehouse operations. Their flagship product, Captis, is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with an integrated, tethered drone that performs fully autonomous inventory cycle counting with high accuracy.
This solution, along with the RFID counting robot, eliminates manual scanning, improves inventory accuracy, and boosts overall efficiency.
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