As labor shortages continue to cause issues for c-stores, automation is offering stores the ability to streamline tasks and processes, refocusing employees on more important responsibilities.
This January, Kum & Go introduced the Ice Cobotics Cobi 18 robot, which can clean 5,000 to 7,000 square feet of floorspace per hour, ensuring customers experience a clean environment anytime they enter a Kum & Go store. But the robot is also a boon for labor management, freeing up staff to focus on stocking shelves and coolers, delivering fresh food offerings and engaging with customers.
“All an associate must do is push a button and Cobi 18 does the rest,” said Marty Roush, vice president of operations for Kum & Go, which operates more than 400 stores in 13 states. “There is limited manual labor involved, which includes filling and emptying the tank and some minor maintenance cleaning of the robot.”
Cobi, which can be deployed multiple times a day, is being rolled out at all of Kum & Go’s new builds and is also replacing floor scrubbers at existing stores when they reach the end of their lifespan, Roush explained.
“We’re projecting Cobi to be in at least 20 and up to 50 stores by the end of this year. At this time, we don’t have plans for all of our 400-plus locations,” he said.
In addition to offering labor savings and support to stores during times of staffing challenges, Cobi is also a novel and fun addition for both employees and customers.
“Kum & Go’s continuous improvement culture drives us to find equipment and process improvements that make it easier for our store associates to execute,” Roush said. “Our associates and customers think Cobi is fun, which means it gets used more than any scrubber we have utilized in our stores to date.”
Kum & Go’s continuous improvement team persists in seeking new ways to make work more efficient for associates.
“We’ve launched numerous other projects, both as pilots and company-wide initiatives, including cash weighing machines, self-checkout (both cash/card units and card only units), leaf blowers, canopy-mounted washer-fluid buckets and fully automated ice baggers,” he said.
“Using automation and striving to make tasks and processes easier and more efficient for our associates creates for a better workload and culture in stores,” Roush said. “We want to ease complexity and increase efficiency, while labor savings is also an added benefit.”
Robots at Work
Distributors are also using robots to aid efficiency and labor management as well. Huntsville, Ala.-based distributor C-StoreMaster, which serves independent c-stores, recently opened a 130,000-square-foot warehouse that incorporates three robot technologies.
“We have deployed RS-5 high-density shuttle robots, P-800 goods-to-person robots and a Wulftech robotic wrapping machine,” said Sharan Kalva, president of C-StoreMaster. “P-800 brings the products to the picking stations. RS-5 transports the tobacco products between the picking station, the high-density storage and tobacco stamping area. The wrapping machines wrap the order automatically once an order is complete.”
The multi-level shuttle system is the first of its kind in the country. Not only have the robots increased picking productivity by three to four times, but they’ve eliminated the need for employees to have to lift heavy goods for order fulfillment.
“The average steps for picking staff have been reduced from 14,000-plus to under 1,000, reducing effort and strain,” Kalva said. “The new robotic picking stations are also better ergonomically, reducing injuries.”
“We have seen immense pride in our team members knowing they are working with cutting-edge technologies and seeing C-StoreMaster’s commitment to them,” Kalva added. “In fact, we have a significant number of new applicants wanting to join our team.”
Integrating Automation
Convenience stores have numerous options today for incorporating automation beyond adding an actual robot.
Country Fair, for example, relies on automation to create efficiencies within human resources from hiring to training to payroll and beyond.
“Having a good applicant tracking system (ATS) has been key for us,” said Stephen Seymour, director of personnel for Country Fair Inc., a subsidiary of United Refining Co., which operates 72 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. “When applicants can, for example, parse a resume directly into an application, it saves them time and simplifies the process.”
Seymour noted an ATS will usually be able to integrate directly with a c-store chain’s payroll provider, tax credit provider, learning management system (LMS), human resources information system and even the chain’s retirement savings company.
Country Fair also uses an LMS, which saves on time-consuming paperwork, enhances the overall employee experience and makes things easier for store management. Employees simply complete training modules, which are tracked through the LMS.
“No more stacks of training ‘checklists’ in employee files,” Seymour noted.
But Country Fair doesn’t rely exclusively on its LMS to train new hires.
“We still have professional corporate trainers that work with all new hires,” he said.
The LMS is used to enhance the chain’s personal training program.
Country Fair has also automated its payroll features, including using electronic timekeeping, which integrates with its payroll provider.
“Employees choose direct deposit or pay card options (unless a state/municipality requires that a paper check be provided). The employee may look at their pay stub — and print them if they wish — on the payroll provider’s website. No more printing and mailing costs,” Seymour said.
Automation also extends to the sales floor, where foodservice ordering kiosks make the process of ordering made-to-order food easier for both customers and associates. Seymour pointed out that even bean-to-cup coffee technology makes store labor more efficient, as employees are no longer brewing fresh pots of coffee during the morning rush.
Self-checkout is another automation trend that can help with labor management.
“We are actually working on our fourth store with self-checkout as we speak,” he said. “The hope would be that using self-checkout would allow us to reallocate some labor to other parts of the store — helping to provide less stress on our associates and better service for our customers.”
“As to whether all of this tech can help us offset labor challenges, I think it helps some,” Seymour said. “Technology certainly streamlines processes and can make us more efficient.”
He doesn’t see automation as something that replaces employees, but an opportunity for retailers to reallocate employees to other parts of the store to better serve customers.
As technological advancement continues and c-stores adapt, Seymour said he doesn’t see a downside to leveraging tech, but that it’s important to use technology to enhance the business, rather than to replace key human interactions, especially in a “people business” like convenience stores.
“If we put all of this tech in place and think we are ‘all set,’ I believe we are sorely mistaken. I firmly believe that people should be constantly monitoring their ATS. When an application comes in, a phone call to the applicant should be made as quickly as possible,” Seymour said.
This lets the applicant know the application has been seen and a potential interview can be scheduled, but it also creates a competitive advantage for the company.
“You have to assume that, if this applicant is applying at your company, they are applying at others — your competitors,” Seymour said. “The human touch here can give you a jump on those competing for the same talent pool. This is just one example of how tech can be combined with the human touch to help create good relationships.”