Quality Innovation Awards were presented for Finland's best innovations on December 4, 2019. The Solteq Retail Robot won the 'Potential innovations' category and will join the winners of other categories at the international Quality Innovation Award final.
Success in the Quality Innovation Award competition was based on the Solteq Retail Robot's solution-orientation and extensive usability: The robot brings the benefits of machine vision and deep learning to store environments, recognizing shelves in need of replenishment and errors in product pricing, while monitoring its environment in 3D. A real-time store map contains the products' exact locations, providing an efficient tool for space management and product replenishment. The robot produces data for the store's check-out, ERP and warehouse management systems, and for store design and chain management needs. According to a study* by Wakefield Research, 99% of retailers suffer from inaccurate inventory and product data, and challenges in purchase and supply chain management.
There have already been several Solteq Retail Robot pilot projects, with the robot being tested in locations such as Prisma stores. Development work has been performed in close collaboration with the customers.
"Our experiences of the Retail Robot pilot projects have been extremely encouraging. We estimate that, when integrated with the sales environment, the Retail Robot can accelerate sales and save up to millions of euros annually. Given the tighter and more international competitive situation, this is crucial for many retailers. We are tremendously proud to receive public recognition for our innovation,” says Ilkka Brander, EVP Solteq Software / Solteq Oyj.
Solteq Retail Robot is a masterpiece of Finnish technology expertise. Solteq has made major investments in the development of its own products during the recent years. Most of these investments were made in Solteq Retail Robot.
*) Source: Wakefield Research (2019), https://www.wakefieldresearch.com/ retail operational issues