Client Spotlight

From Startup to Leader: Contextant’s Journey in Warehouse Automation

About Contextant

The business was founded in 2014 by Keith Patel and Eric Farris.

With a headcount of approximately 30-40 staff based in North America, Contextant are an exciting start-up organisation experiencing a journey of growth. With the head office based in Illinois, Chicago, there are office locations both in Dallas and Colorado, with plans to expand presence in the Northeast of America, where several of Contextant’s clients are based.

“Contextant can design warehouse automation solutions and gradually implement them in a way that is simply, programmatic, and can grow with you over time.”

Contextant design warehouse management solutions which can be seamlessly integrated with vendor, legacy and custom platforms and this remains the core service offering of the business. However, with 70 to 80% of the US market not having warehouse automation implemented within their processes, warehouse automation is a growing area for Contextant and will be a focus over the next 5-10 years.

Explore how Contextant provides viable solutions for both customers and clients.

Warehouse Automation Solutions with Seamless Integration

LoT-based Technologies

Smart Induction
Picking
Replenishments and Inventory Transfers
Task Interleaving
Task Detection
Route Planning
WMS Interaction

Warehouse Automation Solutions Features

Smart Induction
Picking
Replenishments and Inventory Transfers
Task Interleaving
Task Detection
Route Planning
WMS Interaction

I’m hoping in the next five to ten years we will see less emphasis on the education piece and more and more businesses will see and understand the value of warehouse automation opportunities. This is where we will spend more time supporting clients with integrations and offering solutions, they are reaching out to us for, once more awareness is built up of the capabilities and impact they can have.
Scott Wilson Director of Business Development

Automating the Future: How Software is Shaping the Warehouse Automation Landscape

Join our host Euan Russell for this episode of Conversations with CSG as they're joined by Scott Winston, Director of Business Development at Contextant. Scott shares their personal experiences of coming through in this exciting space and the lessons they've learned along the way as well as giving valuable insights at to how Contextant are providing solutions alongside their powerful technology.

Listen to the Podcast

Vision, Values and Culture at Contextant

Contextant strive to build long-standing relationships with their clients, as a reliable partner who helps them bridge the gap between existing WMS and new warehouse automation technologies.

“I’m big into building effective teams. Both Scott and I have played sports, we talk about this a lot. Generally, people who have played sports understand the team concept. It’s ‘we’ versus ‘me’, we really stress this with our team. We need to back each other up. I think being a core, effective team, working together, understanding roles and how to work together to paramount to our success.” - Keith Patel

As a team, Contextant accomplished great things and they have a strong network of longstanding clients who work with them on an ongoing basis and receive positive feedback from businesses and their employees. They have strong accountability, strong expectations and clear communication and this allows the business to accomplish great things.

Growth and Innovation for a Start Up

Contextant as a business is in an early phase of development and growth, effectively a start up organisation within a market that is forever evolving and adopting innovation.

Startup organisations may not appeal to all working professionals as it can mean increased workload and a wider set of accountabilities, you also have much greater visibility which can be both a positive, or sometimes a challenge. The team at Contextant all have the opportunity to play a key part in the organisation’s growth and innovation which is a huge benefit of working for a start-up experiencing significant change and development.

Ultimately, at Contextant there’s nowhere to hide and all team members, activities and processes are transparent. This means that everyone plays different roles, challenges are tackled head on and it’s important for people with that kind of entrepreneurial mindset and great initiative are part of the team.

Automation Solutiions and Integration - Education

For many businesses, they have little awareness of education of what businesses like Contextant can do to enhance legacy systems they have in place. Businesses don’t need to go through a process of adopting entirely new systems and processes, Contextant help integrate existing systems, allow them to talk to each other and sync up. As a result, businesses can benefit from the features and efficiencies of new and more evolved systems, while retaining older models.

“Ultimately, Automation is here to help and the supply chain world needs automation to happen. Generations that work in the Gig economy in the US are decreasing and this is impacting the number of people wanting to work in warehouse roles – so really, automating these processes isn’t having a negative impact on labour in the way many people believe.” - Keith Patel

Productivity in warehouse operations can decrease as a result of workforce absenteeism, leave and high staff turnover. Warehouse automation and robotics is a cost-effective way to make supply chain and warehouse processes more efficient and Contextant educate clients and customers on what solutions are on the market for businesses to really seek the benefit from.

Explore the benefits and functionalities of warehouse automation here.

Forward Thinking Business and The Future of Contextant

Contextant have a strong vision and plans in place to grow within their respective market, and expect growth in headcount and business partnerships by 2028, it’s an exciting time for the business.