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Digital Andon
When every second in the pack area translates into on-time deliveries and satisfied customers, the last thing you need is an operator abandoning their station to chase down a supervisor.
Rabot
Content Contributor
Jun 8, 2024
When every second in the pack area translates into on-time deliveries and satisfied customers, the last thing you need is an operator abandoning their station to chase down a supervisor. Yet that’s exactly what still happens in most fulfillment centers: a printer jams, a SKU is missing, a scanner freezes and productivity falls off a cliff while the packer hunts for help.
Rabot’s new Digital Andon turns those frantic moments into controlled, data-driven workflows. It combines the instant visual cues of a traditional andon light with the intelligence of Vision AI and real-time messaging, so issues are flagged, routed, and resolved before they snowball into late trucks or chargebacks.
Why the old way falls short
Lost time: In busy 3PLs, packers can walk 100+ yards to find a lead, killing throughput.
No audit trail: Most andon pull-cords or flashing lights don’t capture why the stop occurred, making root-cause analysis guesswork.
Siloed alerts: A red beacon on the floor is invisible to remote managers, off-shift CI teams, or vendor partners who could help.
Digital Andon was built to eliminate those gaps and give operators the confidence to stay focused on the box in front of them.
How Digital Andon works
Mode | What the Operator Sees | What Management Gets |
|---|---|---|
Operator Mode | A single tap on Rabot Pulse marks the issue. The andon light above the station flips green ✅ for “verified” or red 🚨 for “re-check,” keeping the workflow crystal-clear. | Full video context, SKU data, and a timestamped event pushed to the Rabot Portal so continuous-improvement (CI) teams can slice the incident by client, shift, or SKU. |
Warehouse Mode | If assistance is needed, the same action turns the andon light red and fires a Slack/Teams alert to the right lead, displaying station, reason, and priority. | Response-time metrics and heat-maps to spot staffing or training bottlenecks perfect fodder for weekly CI stand-ups. |
Immediate gains you’ll see
Focused Operators
Packers stay at their benches while leads triage remotely, keeping lines balanced during peak.Faster First-Response Times
Early pilots saw >35 percent cuts in “time-to-first-touch” for floor issues crucial when you’re racing a parcel cutoff.Actionable Data for CI
Every alert is stored alongside video and order metadata. Say goodbye to “he-said-she-said” debates and hello to data-driven kaizen.Scalable Across Modules
Digital Andon plugs into Rabot’s broader Physical AI stack so the same alert that tells you a barcode won’t scan can also trigger Hands-Free Scanning or Digital QA next quarter, no rip-and-replace required.
Real-world use case
Imagine a cosmetics 3PL shipping influencer kits. A packer discovers the branded insert is missing:
One tap on Rabot Pulse logs “Insert Missing.”
Station light turns red; Slack notifies the area lead on a Zebra handheld.
Lead grabs a replen box en route to the next station, scans to clear the alert, and the light returns to green.
Meanwhile, the incident auto-tags under Client X → Inserts → SKU 12345 for monthly SLA reporting.
The result? No station abandonment, no overtime make-ups, and most importantly no disappointed unboxing videos.
Getting started
Digital Andon ships as part of the Starter, Pro and Enterprise tiers of Rabot Pack and can be live in a single shift often using existing cameras and edge devices. If you already leverage “Call for Help,” Digital Andon is the natural next step; if not, it provides the quickest ROI of any module in the platform.
Ready to keep your pack stations flowing?
Book a 30-minute demo and see Digital Andon in action or reply to this post with your biggest pack-line headache and let’s tackle it together.
