nGroup Performance Partners

As a third-party logistics provider, nGroup Performance Partners operates a 1 million square foot distribution facility in Franklin, IN that handles significant volumes of returned goods. The putaway process required associates to manually push loaded baker's carts across a 30,000 square foot zone to place items across more than 500 Gaylord bin locations — a physically demanding and time-consuming workflow. In reverse logistics, putaway speed and accuracy directly affect downstream processing and inventory availability. The manual cart-push model created ergonomic injury risk, constrained throughput during return volume peaks, and limited nGroup's ability to scale its reverse logistics operation competitively.

nGroup deployed Locus Robotics autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to automate putaway across their returns processing zone. Rather than workers navigating the floor independently with heavy carts, Locus LocusBots guide associates directly to the correct Gaylord bin location — handling navigation and bin assignment autonomously while workers focus on the physical sort. A key factor in selecting Locus Robotics was its native integration with Optoro, the returns optimization platform already embedded in nGroup's workflow. This allowed the AMR system to receive real-time putaway directives from the existing returns management layer without requiring a separate WMS integration. The collaborative human-robot model reduced implementation complexity and enabled rapid associate onboarding across the large facility footprint.

The deployment delivered a 229% increase in putaway productivity — validating nGroup's decision to automate one of the most labor-intensive steps in their reverse logistics workflow. Accuracy in returned goods placement improved across the 500+ Gaylord bin locations, reducing missorting and downstream inventory reconciliation work. Associates no longer push loaded baker's carts across 30,000 square feet per shift, meaningfully reducing ergonomic strain and injury exposure.

Key outcomes:

• 229% productivity gain in warehouse putaway operations
• Improved placement accuracy across 500+ Gaylord bin locations
• Reduced ergonomic risk and physical burden for warehouse associates
• Increased throughput capacity for reverse logistics volume spikes

• Native integration between the AMR platform and an existing returns system (Optoro) eliminated middleware complexity — prioritize vendors whose robotics stack connects directly to your current software.
• Collaborative AMRs that augment workers rather than replace them reduce change management friction and enable faster deployment in large-footprint facilities.
• Physically demanding tasks like heavy-cart putaway offer dual ROI: measurable productivity gains alongside reduced ergonomic injury exposure.
• 3PLs can differentiate on reverse logistics quality — deploying scalable robotics in returns processing improves both throughput and service reliability without requiring a full WMS overhaul.